Contrasting human influences that shaped the vegetation of the Upano Valley, Ecuador.

Contrasting human influences that shaped the vegetation of the Upano Valley, Ecuador. | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Contrasting human influences that shaped the vegetation of the Upano Valley, Ecuador. Mark Bush, Rachel Sales, David Neill, Susana León-Yánez, Wyllana Sinkler, and 5 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5066338/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Long histories of human occupation are emerging for the wet forests of the Andean flank, even ones that are apparently ‘pristine’. The past habitations were societally and temporally complex with sophisticated cultures emerging, flourishing, and disappearing. The Upano River in eastern Ecuador supported such cultures, and yet the timing of occupation and whether their impact on the local ecosystem resulted in lasting ecological changes is not known. Here, using paleoecological reconstructions from Lake Cormorán, located immediately adjacent to the Upano Valley and within 5 km of abandoned mound complexes, we provide a timeline of human influence spanning the last 2770 years. We document the onset of maize cultivation c. 570 BCE, changes in land use within the occupation phase, with evidence of slash-and-burn, slash-and-mulch and silviculture. A gradual decline in forest exploitation presaged an apparent abandonment of the site c. 550 CE. A much later wave of land use that began about 1500 CE, coupled with a regional transition to a wetter climate, produced a distinctive forest composition unique to the last 120 years. Biological sciences/Ecology/Palaeoecology Social science/Anthropology/Archaeology Archaeology Charcoal Chronology Fossil pollen Indigenous Paleoecology Upano Zea Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5066338","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":353723605,"identity":"7ad29ad5-e719-4853-8a98-25789ba1aeda","order_by":0,"name":"Mark Bush","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAnklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCQYGZoYKOR4om2gtZ4x5eEjTwthmzEC8Ft3ZPcafC+cZyNgzMB+8zUOMFrM7Z8ykZ24zADqMLdmaOC03csyYebf9AWrhMZMmVovxZ945IFv4vxGtxUCatwGkhYeNSC13jpVJ8xwDajnMZmw5hygtt5s3f+apMbBnb29+eOMNMVoQgJk05aNgFIyCUTAK8AEAjgsmD39CRSwAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6894-8613","institution":"Florida Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mark","middleName":"","lastName":"Bush","suffix":""},{"id":353723606,"identity":"868cd744-c408-4de6-a454-3a8826904e95","order_by":1,"name":"Rachel Sales","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6625-7261","institution":"Florida Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rachel","middleName":"","lastName":"Sales","suffix":""},{"id":353723607,"identity":"04f8e7f5-452c-49b1-a684-0ac99d776e5b","order_by":2,"name":"David Neill","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5143-9430","institution":"Universidad Estatal Amazónica","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"","lastName":"Neill","suffix":""},{"id":353723608,"identity":"408f2f5a-2299-4901-b5ca-424af27825c8","order_by":3,"name":"Susana León-Yánez","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador,","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Susana","middleName":"","lastName":"León-Yánez","suffix":""},{"id":353723609,"identity":"221c2170-85b6-483c-bcb4-3e082e3567a9","order_by":4,"name":"Wyllana Sinkler","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Florida Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wyllana","middleName":"","lastName":"Sinkler","suffix":""},{"id":353723610,"identity":"4b47b131-0327-4b14-9245-d5515f453e2e","order_by":5,"name":"Amie Stanley","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Florida Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Amie","middleName":"","lastName":"Stanley","suffix":""},{"id":353723611,"identity":"a05e0107-843c-473e-92d8-37ad96d8c8dc","order_by":6,"name":"Isabel Bennett","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Florida Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Isabel","middleName":"","lastName":"Bennett","suffix":""},{"id":353723612,"identity":"5e775b82-ba97-48dc-a559-0eeb4a8b5102","order_by":7,"name":"Bianca Tacoronte Gomes","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Florida Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bianca","middleName":"Tacoronte","lastName":"Gomes","suffix":""},{"id":353723613,"identity":"cc0f769a-be33-44ca-b610-ce9200c1a2d0","order_by":8,"name":"Klaas Land","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Amsterdam","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Klaas","middleName":"","lastName":"Land","suffix":""},{"id":353723614,"identity":"d6dcb2a0-b7b5-495e-a402-62399dd82838","order_by":9,"name":"Crystal McMichael","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Amsterdam","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Crystal","middleName":"","lastName":"McMichael","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-09-10 17:41:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5066338/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5066338/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":65270309,"identity":"dbf78641-32ea-4345-b7bc-1c9117e8562e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-09-25 12:53:17","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1473794,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Cormoranmssubmission.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5066338/v1_covered_03f17f49-743c-4049-b3ca-df86dc0d9456.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Contrasting human influences that shaped the vegetation of the Upano Valley, Ecuador.","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Archaeology, Charcoal, Chronology, Fossil pollen, Indigenous, Paleoecology, Upano, Zea","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5066338/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5066338/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Long histories of human occupation are emerging for the wet forests of the Andean flank, even ones that are apparently ‘pristine’. The past habitations were societally and temporally complex with sophisticated cultures emerging, flourishing, and disappearing. The Upano River in eastern Ecuador supported such cultures, and yet the timing of occupation and whether their impact on the local ecosystem resulted in lasting ecological changes is not known. Here, using paleoecological reconstructions from Lake Cormorán, located immediately adjacent to the Upano Valley and within 5 km of abandoned mound complexes, we provide a timeline of human influence spanning the last 2770 years. We document the onset of maize cultivation c. 570 BCE, changes in land use within the occupation phase, with evidence of slash-and-burn, slash-and-mulch and silviculture. A gradual decline in forest exploitation presaged an apparent abandonment of the site c. 550 CE. A much later wave of land use that began about 1500 CE, coupled with a regional transition to a wetter climate, produced a distinctive forest composition unique to the last 120 years.","manuscriptTitle":"Contrasting human influences that shaped the vegetation of the Upano Valley, Ecuador.","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-09-25 12:45:09","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5066338/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"53d09434-2bfb-47a8-bc06-d45d3f53601d","owner":[],"postedDate":"September 25th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":37591565,"name":"Biological sciences/Ecology/Palaeoecology"},{"id":37591566,"name":"Social science/Anthropology/Archaeology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-09-25T12:45:09+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-09-25 12:45:09","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5066338","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5066338","identity":"rs-5066338","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}