Comment on “Persistent effects of pre-Columbian plant domestication on Amazonian forest composition”

Authors
  • M.B. Bush
Publication date 20-10-2017
Journal Science
Article number eaan8347
Volume | Issue number 358 | 6361
Number of pages 2
Organisations
  • Faculty of Science (FNWI) - Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED)
Abstract Levis et al. (Research Articles, 3 March 2017, p. 925) concluded that pre-Columbian tree domestication has shaped present-day Amazonian forest composition. The study, however, downplays five centuries of human influence following European arrival to the Americas. We show that the effects of post-Columbian activities in Amazonia are likely to have played a larger role than pre-Columbian ones in shaping the observed floristic patterns.
Document type Comment/Letter to the editor
Language English
Related publication Persistent effects of pre-Columbian plant domestication on Amazonian forest composition
Published at https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan8347
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