Successional pathways derived from different vegetation use patterns by Lacandon Mayan Indians Article uri icon

abstract

  • Eighty-four censuses were made at 38 acahuals (slash and burn old fields) in the village of Lacanhá Chansayab, Chiapas, México. The time since last cultivation of each field (the fallow period) ranged from one to twenty years. Fields were derived from two physiognomic variants of mature tropical rainforest (monte alto and chaparral). The data was subjected to ordination (DECORANA) and classification (TWINSPAN) and compared to the information on their history of usage. Two disturbance indices were also generated. The analysis allowed the description of successional pathways associated with human disturbance patterns. Acahuals and species were ordered along the first axis according to the current fallow period and disturbance intensity; the second axis corresponded to a gradient between the two original vegetation types from which acahuals derived, and the third axis corresponded to the gradient of disturbance frequency to which acahuals have been subjected. Acahual classification was based on the following groups: (1) acahuals with frequent use and short fallow, subjected to an intensive agricultural use; (2) acahuals with a prolonged use, with no previous fallow periods and derived from monte alto forests; (3) acahuals derived from chaparral forests; and (4) old acahuals (14 years to 20 years) with no previous fallow. Species classification resulted in: (1) non-persistent species; (2) disturbance-susceptible species; (3) acahual-typical species; (4) persisting under frequent and prolonged field-use species; and (5) two groups of species typical of old acahuals. © 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

publication date

  • 2005-01-01