Amazon Ecology and Adaptation

Abstract

Amazonia is awesome in the complexity, diversity, and richness of its ecosystems and cultures. Research in Amazonia has made impressive advances since the early 1970s, yet it remains in its infancy. Simultaneously, in this region at every level old and new processes of change are intensifying, often with destructive results. Consequently, this period in the history of the region and research on it is not only exciting but also increasingly challenging and urgent. This particular context provided the basis for the orientation, scope, and aims of this review. For more than a decade the animal protein hypothesis (see p. 76) and related concerns tended to dominate anthropological studies of human ecology and adaptation in Amazonia. While these concerns are important and not ignored, this review attempts to transcend them by surveying the literature within a framework that is more holistic, penetrating, contemporary, and applied. Although it focuses on cultural adaptations of indigenous populations, the latter are not treated as pristine, stable isolates, but instead are viewed as dynamic systems that are part of larger systems. Cultural and ecological change, especially that stimulated by nonindigenous societies, is a major concern here. For convenience the review is organized around the following domains: ecosystem, cultural system, change, and research trends and needs. An ecosystem is composed of abiotic and biotic components which interact through the flow of energy, matter, and information, and all of this varies in space and time. Adaptation refers to phenomena that influence the survival, maintenance, and reproduction of a biological population, including nutrition and health (cf 1, 8). In the case of human populations, these phenomena