Northwest Amazon Research Articles

Música popular indígena: encantar-se ou desencantar-se para entender?

Apresento um conjunto de expressões que surgiram no decorrer do trabalho de campo entre músicos indígenas de São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Amazonas, Brasil. Esta lista de expressões representa práticas e conceituações utilizadas entre indígenas do Noroeste Amazônico que praticam e escutam música popular. Sobre as bases de certo repertório, os músicos indígenas praticam sequencias musicais que duram mais de 12h, criam um gênero local chamado kuxiymauara e praticam o “amanhecer o dia”. Em tese, a música popular proporciona um contexto profícuo para a lógica, escuta, prática e interpretação indígena de um repertório que agrega música brasileira, colombiana e venezuelana. Desenvolve-se a ideia de uma agenda política na medida em que a música popular apresenta uma cena, um espaço no qual se articula a prática e o pensamento ameríndio sobre música.

Nova Pesquisa Sobre as Coleções de Richard Spruce na Amazônia: uma Colaboração Brasil - Reino Unido

The Northwest Amazon comprises a large region of equatorial forest on the border of Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, which has been inhabited by indigenous peoples since the pre-colonial period. Today they occupy 80% of its area. Travellers such as Richard Spruce, who visited the region in the 1850s-1860s, described the vitality and dynamics of these populations, demonstrated by the size of their longhouses, their extensive inter-communal ceremonies, and their rich material culture. The biocultural objects and associated information collected by Richard Spruce constitute a unique point of reference for the useful plants, ethnobotany, anthropology and environmental history of the region. Housed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the British Museum, both in London, this under-researched collection incorporates indigenous plant-based artefacts, samples of useful plant products, detailed archival notes on the use of plants by inhabitants of the Amazon, and accompanying herbarium voucher collections. This paper focusses on an ongoing research programme aimed at building capacity in Brazil to research, cataloguing and mobilising data from these biocultural collections, and developing these important resources for improved understanding of the useful and cultural properties of plants. It aims to build collaborative relationships, making biocultural collections and associated data freely accessible online, and above all to strengthen capacity of indigenous communities on the Rio Negro for autonomous research into material culture and plant use. We present the activities we have developed in the first two years of the programme. Workshops at Kew, Rio de Janeiro and São Gabriel da Cachoeira have enabled the Spruce collections to be fully digitised and artefacts made available through the Reflora portal (reflora.jbrj.gov. br). Training has been given in collection and study of biocultural objects, both to museum staff and representatives of indigenous communities, and a research agenda developed that focuses on better understanding of the shifting relationships between people and natural resources over the last 200 years. We discuss how a broad collaboration has led to constructive, culturally appropriate engagement with local communities, providing a portal into the world of scientific knowledge and helping to mobilise both scientific and indigenous knowledge in a mutually beneficial manner.

A new species of Vanilla (Orchidaceae) from the North West Amazon in Colombia

A distinctive species, Vanilla denshikoira, is described from the North West Amazon, in Colombia, within the Guiana Shield region. The species has morphological features similar to those of species in the Vanilla planifolia group. It is an important addition to the vanilla crop wild relatives, bringing the total number of species in the V. planifolia group to 21. Vanilla denshikoira is a narrow endemic, known from only a single locality, and highly vulnerable to anthropological disturbance. Under IUCN criteria it is categorized CR. The species has potential value as a non-timber forest product. We recommend a conservation program that includes support for circa situm actions implemented by the local communities.

First record of Embiratermes ignotus Constantino 1991 (Termitidae: Syntermitinae) in Colombia

Embiratermes parvirostris Constantino 1992 is recorded for the first time in Colombian Amazon in soil of secondary rain forest. With current report E. parvirostris distribution is not only restricted to east and southwest Amazon, but includes northwest Amazon too. But, the distribution of this species continues being restricted to the Amazon basin.

Nova Pesquisa Sobre as Coleções de Richard Spruce na Amazônia: uma Colaboração Brasil - Reino Unido

<p>The Northwest Amazon comprises a large region of equatorial forest on the border of Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, which has been inhabited by indigenous peoples since the pre-colonial period. Today they occupy 80% of its area. Travellers such as Richard Spruce, who visited the region in the 1850s-1860s, described the vitality and dynamics of these populations, demonstrated by the size of their longhouses, their extensive inter-communal ceremonies, and their rich material culture. The biocultural objects and associated information collected by Richard Spruce constitute a unique point of reference for the useful plants, ethnobotany, anthropology and environmental history of the region. Housed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the British Museum, both in London, this under-researched collection incorporates indigenous plant-based artefacts, samples of useful plant products, detailed archival notes on the use of plants by inhabitants of the Amazon, and accompanying herbarium voucher collections. This paper focusses on an ongoing research programme aimed at building capacity in Brazil to research, cataloguing and mobilising data from these biocultural collections, and developing these important resources for improved understanding of the useful and cultural properties of plants. It aims to build collaborative relationships, making biocultural collections and associated data freely accessible online, and above all to strengthen capacity of indigenous communities on the Rio Negro for autonomous research into material culture and plant use. We present the activities we have developed in the first two years of the programme. Workshops at Kew, Rio de Janeiro and São Gabriel da Cachoeira have enabled the Spruce collections to be fully digitised and artefacts made available through the Reflora portal (reflora.jbrj.gov. br). Training has been given in collection and study of biocultural objects, both to museum staff and representatives of indigenous communities, and a research agenda developed that focuses on better understanding of the shifting relationships between people and natural resources over the last 200 years. We discuss how a broad collaboration has led to constructive, culturally appropriate engagement with local communities, providing a portal into the world of scientific knowledge and helping to mobilise both scientific and indigenous knowledge in a mutually beneficial manner.</p>

The return of giant otter to the Baniwa Landscape: A multi-scale approach to species recovery in the middle Içana River, Northwest Amazonia, Brazil

Commercial hunting for the 20th century international fur trade was responsible for the collapse of giant otter populations throughout Amazonia. Some thirty years after the wildlife trade was outlawed, giant otter populations have begun to show signs of recovery. The Baniwa indigenous people from the Upper Rio Negro region of Brazil have witnessed the recovery of otter populations in areas where they had been wiped out by hunting. To evaluate the giant otter recovery process, we identified local and landscape variables contributing to the reestablishment of the species throughout Baniwa territory. We conducted transect sampling in lakes and streams in search of direct and indirect signs of giant otter occurrence. During surveys, we recorded three local variables, and through radar and satellite image, obtained six landscape variables in buffers of 250 m, 500 m and 1000 m. Using generalized linear models we identified the 250 m buffer as the most suitable scale within which to study giant otter habitat use. Connectivity between shallow and elongated waterbodies were the most reliable landscape indicators of otter population presence on the middle Içana River. Our results highlight the importance of small and connected water bodies to species recovery, a fact that should be taken into consideration in the creation of protected areas and local resource management plans. With this study we hope to contribute to the advancement of giant otter conservation strategies, as well as to an increased role for indigenous people in managing their territory and resources towards more effective biodiversity conservation.

Contrasting linguistic ecologies: Indigenous and colonially mediated language contact in northwest Amazonia

This paper investigates the dynamics of multilingualism and the linguistic outcomes of contact involving indigenous languages in the northwest Amazonian Vaupés region. Despite points of continuity, a significant contrast exists between the processes and products of multilingual interaction among indigenous groups and that involving colonial entities. While indigenous interactions have tended to involve language maintenance, grammatical diffusion, and limited lexical borrowing, contact between indigenous and European languages has tended toward more code-switching, lexical borrowing, and large-scale language shift. These findings illustrate that attention to differing linguistic ecologies, with their associated social and cultural dynamics, is crucial to understanding the mechanisms and outcomes of language contact, and that we must be cautious in projecting the patterns of one context upon another.

Vulnerability of Amazon forests to storm-driven tree mortality

Tree mortality is a key driver of forest community composition and carbon dynamics. Strong winds associated with severe convective storms are dominant natural drivers of tree mortality in the Amazon. Why forests vary with respect to their vulnerability to wind events and how the predicted increase in storm events might affect forest ecosystems within the Amazon are not well understood. We found that windthrows are common in the Amazon region extending from northwest (Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and west Brazil) to central Brazil, with the highest occurrence of windthrows in the northwest Amazon. More frequent winds, produced by more frequent severe convective systems, in combination with well-known processes that limit the anchoring of trees in the soil, help to explain the higher vulnerability of the northwest Amazon forests to winds. Projected increases in the frequency and intensity of convective storms in the Amazon have the potential to increase wind-related tree mortality. A forest demographic model calibrated for the northwestern and the central Amazon showed that northwestern forests are more resilient to increased wind-related tree mortality than forests in the central Amazon. Our study emphasizes the importance of including wind-related tree mortality in model simulations for reliable predictions of the future of tropical forests and their effects on the Earth’ system.

Language in an ontological register: Embodied speech in the Northwest Amazon of Colombia and Brazil

Speakers of Eastern Tukanoan languages in Brazil and Colombia construe linguistic differences as indices of group identity, intrinsic to a complex ontology in which language is a consubstantial, metaphysical product—a 'substance' in the development of the person. Through speech, speakers of the same language signal a corporality based in theories of shared ancestry and mutual belonging while speakers of different languages signal difference. For Tukanoans, then, one creates one’s self in the act of speaking. These ontological beliefs underlie speech practices, influencing language maintenance and contributing to one of the most extreme examples of multilingualism reported in the literature.

Reducing language to rhythm: Amazonian Bora drummed language exploits speech rhythm for long-distance communication.

Many drum communication systems around the world transmit information by emulating tonal and rhythmic patterns of spoken languages in sequences of drumbeats. Their rhythmic characteristics, in particular, have not been systematically studied so far, although understanding them represents a rare occasion for providing an original insight into the basic units of speech rhythm as selected by natural speech practices directly based on beats. Here, we analyse a corpus of Bora drum communication from the northwest Amazon, which is nowadays endangered with extinction. We show that four rhythmic units are encoded in the length of pauses between beats. We argue that these units correspond to vowel-to-vowel intervals with different numbers of consonants and vowel lengths. By contrast, aligning beats with syllables, mora or only vowel length yields inconsistent results. Moreover, we also show that Bora drummed messages conventionally select rhythmically distinct markers to further distinguish words. The two phonological tones represented in drummed speech encode only few lexical contrasts. Rhythm thus appears to crucially contribute to the intelligibility of drummed Bora. Our study provides novel evidence for the role of rhythmic structures composed of vowel-to-vowel intervals in the complex puzzle concerning the redundancy and distinctiveness of acoustic features embedded in speech.

Nominalization in Northwest Amazonia: Introduction

The chapters in this volume describe the forms and functions of deverbal nominalizations in a selection of indigenous languages of the northwest Amazon basin, with an eye the wider typological implications. We define nominalization as a process by which a non-nominal unit is converted into a nominal one through some derivational process. More pecifically, deverbal nominalization is the ability of a language to reify a verbal predicate and present it as a nominal argument or modifier (Deutscher 2009: 199); in other words, allow a verbal predicate form (part of) a referring expression, that is, a noun phrase. This is a wide definition, subsuming such traditional terms as action-nominal, masdar, participle, infinitive, gerund. Aikhenvald (2011: 316) points out that deverbal nominalizations often have somewhat different properties than those derived from other classes of words. A few published volumes that draw our attention the importance of nominalization in the Americas include works on functions of nominalizations as subordination strategies (van Gijn et al. 2010, van Gijn 2014) and in the context of relative clauses (Comrie and Estrada-Fernandez 2012). The evidence suggests that nominalization has been a major force in both synchronic and diachronic phenomena, but has not seen the concentrated research that has been apparent in (especially Southeast) Asian languages (e.g. Yap et al. 2011). For Amazonian languages, it is clear from the relatively small amount published so far that the phenomena encountered are also central the grammars of various languages, a fact noted by Derbyshire and Pullum (1986) and Dixon and Aikhenvald (1999: 9). Notably, there are many typological parallels with better described languages that demand further investigation.

Comparative Constructions in Murui (Witotoan, Northwest Amazonia)

This paper focuses on the forms and functions of various comparative constructions found in Murui, a Witotoan language of Northwest Amazonia (Colombia, Peru). It analyses different types of comparative construction, their forms and semantics. This includes a set of special markers that express comparison, as well as those forms that are used in equative and similative constructions.

Movement behavior of a tropical mammal: The case of Tapirus terrestris

Animal movement characteristics are not species-specific traits, but rather individual features that respond to various selective pressures. To understand patterns of animal movements, it is especially important to explore how they are affected by differences in landscape and habitat configuration. This paper presents an analysis of the movement patterns of a species of conservation concern in Northwest Amazon, the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris), in relation to landscape elements identified as resource concentration areas (palm stands and natural salt licks). We identify the structure of the movement behavior of a sub-adult male lowland tapir using Behavioral Change Point Analysis (BCPA) and a set of metrics capturing velocity and variance. We also estimate this tapir’s Utilization Distribution (UD) using the dynamic Brownian Bridge Movement Model (dBBMM) in order to better understand its trajectories and space-use patterns. Our results provide insights about this animal’s movement, making it possible to differentiate between foraging behaviors, characterized by long trips and selective resource use, and explorative behaviors, characterized by short displacements and a notable decrease in the usage of resource areas and its trajectories. The high influence of landscape elements on movement characteristics suggest that tapirs may perceive the Amazonian forest as heterogeneous rather than homogeneous mosaics. Therefore, the study of movement characteristics proves to be useful for the development of future studies and conservation plans.

Asymmetrical niche determinism across geological units shapes phylogenetic tree communities in the Colombian Amazonia

We evaluate the role of differences in substrate age and environmental conditions, as represented by different geological units, in determining the phylogenetic structure and distribution of tree communities in the northwest Amazon. We used 412 0.1-ha plots distributed across the three main geological units (craton, tertiary and alluvial) in the Colombian Amazon, to answer the following research questions: i) To what extent do environmental filtering and dispersal limitation determine the phylogenetic composition of tree communities across geological units in the Colombian Amazon? and ii) Are there differences between geological units in the extent to which niche conservatism shapes the phylogenetic structure of indicator species (i.e., strong habitat-specialists) in tree communities? The results of our study give support for both environmental filtering and dispersal being important drivers of the phylogenetic structure and turnover of tree communities. Nonetheless, the extent to which geology explained the phylogenetic turnover of tree communities was surpassed by the geographic distance between plots, which was used to account for effects of dispersal limitation. This finding suggests that most of the lineages have had sufficient time to migrate and establish into adjacent geological units, contradicting claims that geological conditions are the dominant factors determining the distribution of tree communities across northwestern Amazonia. However, in the craton unit, indicator species were more closely related than expected by chance, while in the alluvial and tertiary units, observed relationships were not statistically different from null expectations. These results indicate that environmental filtering is asymmetrical among geological units, with the craton environment being the most restrictive. In contrast, the alluvial unit may be relatively easy to colonize and hence ecological strategies may be more labile through evolutionary history.

Reconsidering the “Makú” Language Family of Northwest Amazonia

The so-called Maku or Maku-Puinavean language family of the Northwest Amazon has long been assumed to include the languages Hup, Yuhup, Dâw, and Nadeb (the “Naduhupan” group), the sisters Kakua and Nukak, and the language Puinave (or Wansojot). Here we evaluate these putative relationships, drawing on a range of newly available lexical and grammatical data. We argue that, although there is solid linguistic evidence of genetic relationship among the four Naduhupan languages, as between Kakua and Nukak, the association between these two groups is unfounded. A distant relationship between Kakua-Nukak and Puinave is more plausible but cannot at this point be confirmed. Many of the shared lexical and grammatical features that do exist among these languages are more easily attributed to contact than genetic inheritance. We conclude with a discussion regarding the choice of names for the distinct family groupings established here and urge the abandonment of the name “Maku.”

Climate mitigation from vegetation biophysical feedbacks during the past three decades

The surface air temperature response to vegetation changes has been studied for the extreme case of land-cover change; yet, it has never been quantified for the slow but persistent increase in leaf area index (LAI) observed over the past 30 years (Earth greening). Here we isolate the fingerprint of increasing LAI on surface air temperature using a coupled land–atmosphere global climate model prescribed with satellite LAI observations. We find that the global greening has slowed down the rise in global land-surface air temperature by 0.09 ± 0.02 °C since 1982. This net cooling effect is the sum of cooling from increased evapotranspiration (70%), changed atmospheric circulation (44%), decreased shortwave transmissivity (21%), and warming from increased longwave air emissivity (−29%) and decreased albedo (−6%). The global cooling originated from the regions where LAI has increased, including boreal Eurasia, Europe, India, northwest Amazonia, and the Sahel. Increasing LAI did not, however, significantly change surface air temperature in eastern North America and East Asia, where the effects of large-scale atmospheric circulation changes mask local vegetation feedbacks. Overall, the sum of biophysical feedbacks related to the greening of the Earth mitigated 12% of global land-surface warming for the past 30 years.

Dos nuevos registros de vertebrados en la dieta de la boa de jardines Corallus hortulanus (Squamata: Boidae) en el noroeste de la Amazonía

Two new records of vertebrates in diet of garden tree boa Corallus hortulanus (Squamata: Boidae) in the northwest Amazon. Previous reports from the Brazilian Amazon demonstrated that the diet of Corallus hortulanus consist on small vertebrates. We add two new records to diet of Corallus hortulanus : a bird, Atticora fasciata and, a rodent Hylaeamys perenensis , from two localities in the Yasuni National Park in Ecuador, western Amazon. Our reports are based on field observations and the review of museum collections. We suggest that this snake present a day-night activity.

Herpetofauna of the Northwest Amazon forest in the state of Maranhão, Brazil, with remarks on the Gurupi Biological Reserve.

Understanding the biodiversity of an area is the first step for establishing effective interventions for conservation, especially when it comes to herpetofauna, since 4.1% and 9.2%, respectively, of Brazilian amphibians and reptiles are endangered. The aim of this study is to identify the composition of the herpetofauna occurring in the Northwest Amazonian state of Maranhão, with a focus on the Gurupi Biological Reserve and surrounding areas. Samples were collected between May 2012 and October 2013 (18 months), through pitfall traps, time constrained active search, and opportunistic encounters, and these records were supplemented by specimens collected by third parties and by bibliographic records. A total of 131 species were recorded: 31 species of amphibians and 100 species of reptiles (six testudines, 30 lizards, two amphisbaenas, 60 snakes and two alligators), including some species new to the state of Maranhão and the northeast region of Brazil. This inventory contributes to the knowledge of the herpetofauna for the Belém Endemism Center, the most devastated region of the Brazilian Amazon, and considered poorly sampled.

Body Tubes and Synaesthesia

Los flujos a través de formas tubulares en el cuerpo, en la cultura material y en el medio natura juegan un papel clave en el pensamiento de los pueblos indígenas del noroeste amazónico. Usando ejemplos de la vida cotidiana, la mitología y el ritual, este artículo examina el tubo como un concepto abstracto que une fisiología, sicología y procesos productivos con aspectos sociológicos y cosmológicos más amplios. Las manifestaciones materiales, visuales y acústicas del flujo tubular ("cabello") también plantean los asuntos de sinestesia y nociones fractales de totalización/destotalización. Siendo los tubos equivalentes a la vida misma, la atención ritual se enfoca en regular las aperturas corporales y de otros tipos para asegurar un flujo balanceado y bien temperado. El artículo concluye sugiriendo que la elaboración cultural de tubos y sinestesia en el noroeste amazónico puede estar relacionada con los rasgos lineales exogámicos de la estructura social característica de la región.

Notas cromáticas sobre os sonhos ameríndios: transformações da pessoa e perspectivas

Este trabalho tem como foco os sonhos ameríndios. Dedicar-me-ei a analisar alguns sonhos que foram relatados pela literatura etnológica das terras baixas da América do Sul; entre estes relatos estão aqueles que os Baniwa, povo arawak do Noroeste Amazônico, narraram para mim durante o meu trabalho de campo no médio rio Içana. As transformações explicitadas pelos sonhos serão compreendidas e descritas por meio da noção de cromatismo, provinda da análise de Lévi-Strauss nas Mitológicas, e da noção de perspectiva formulada por Lima e por Viveiros de Castro. Por fim, espero descrever transformações que atravessam a pessoa indígena por meio dos sonhos.