TY - JOUR
T1 - Demographic threats to the sustainability of brazil nut exploitation
AU - Peres, Carlos A.
AU - Baider, Claudia
AU - Zuidema, Pieter A.
AU - Wadt, Lúcia H.O.
AU - Kainer, Karen A.
AU - Gomes-Silva, Daisy A.P.
AU - Salomao, Rafael P.
AU - Simões, Luciana L.
AU - Franciosi, Eduardo R.N.
AU - Cornejo Valverde, Fernando
AU - Gribel, Rogério
AU - Shepard, Glenn H.
AU - Kanashiro, Milton
AU - Coventry, Peter
AU - Yu, Douglas W.
AU - Watkinson, Andrew R.
AU - Freckleton, Robert P.
PY - 2003/12/19
Y1 - 2003/12/19
N2 - A comparative analysis of 23 populations of the Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa) across the Brazilian, Peruvian, and Bolivian Amazon shows that the history and intensity of Brazil nut exploitation are major determinants of population size structure. Populations subjected to persistent levels of harvest lack juvenile trees less than 60 centimeters in diameter at breast height; only populations with a history of either light or recent exploitation contain large numbers of juvenile trees. A harvesting model confirms that intensive exploitation levels over the past century are such that juvenile recruitment is insufficient to maintain populations over the long term. Without management, intensively harvested populations will succumb to a process of senescence and demographic collapse, threatening this cornerstone of the Amazonian extractive economy.
AB - A comparative analysis of 23 populations of the Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa) across the Brazilian, Peruvian, and Bolivian Amazon shows that the history and intensity of Brazil nut exploitation are major determinants of population size structure. Populations subjected to persistent levels of harvest lack juvenile trees less than 60 centimeters in diameter at breast height; only populations with a history of either light or recent exploitation contain large numbers of juvenile trees. A harvesting model confirms that intensive exploitation levels over the past century are such that juvenile recruitment is insufficient to maintain populations over the long term. Without management, intensively harvested populations will succumb to a process of senescence and demographic collapse, threatening this cornerstone of the Amazonian extractive economy.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0347623373&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.1091698
DO - 10.1126/science.1091698
M3 - Article
C2 - 14684819
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 302
SP - 2112
EP - 2114
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 5653
ER -