The mesoamerican rain forest environmental history. Livestock and landscape biodiversity at Los Tuxtlas, México
- Autores: Sergio Guevara Sada, Javier Laborde
- Localización: Pastos: Revista de la Sociedad Española para el Estudio de los Pastos, ISSN 0210-1270, Vol. 42, Nº. 2, 2012 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Crazing systems and biodiversity in Latin American Areas: Colombia, Chile and Mexico), págs. 219-248
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
- Dialnet Métricas: 4 Citas
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Resumen
- español
El paisaje de la selva en el territorio de Mesoamérica se ha construido con las especies de plantas y animales, que han estado sujetas al impacto de eventos naturales y a la selección de la intervención humana. Este trabajo se enfoca en el efecto que pudo haber tenido el ganado vacuno, introducido en el siglo XvI y en el siglo XX, en la composición y el funcionamiento del paisaje en la región de Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, México.
La sierra de Los Tuxtlas es un enclave del paisaje del sureste mexicano, dominado por la selva húmeda que se formó con especies de flora y fauna provenientes del neártico y del neotrópico, que se adaptaron a los intensos cambios climáticos, a la violenta actividad volcánica y a las frecuentes tormentas tropicales que azotan la región de manera continua. También fue modelado por el manejo del suelo y la selección de especies vinculadas con la caza, recolección y cultivo, llevados a cabo por el pueblo Olmeca, la civilización más antigua de Mesoamérica.
Entre los eventos más recientes e influyentes en la construcción del paisaje, se destaca la llegada del ganado durante la Colonia. En el siglo XvI se introdujeron razas de Bos taurus, provenientes de la cuenca del Guadalquivir. En Los Tuxtlas, las vacas se adaptaron a la vida libre, probablemente debido a la ausencia de los grandes herbívoros nativos que desaparecieron a fines del Holoceno y a la gran extensión de vegetación secundaria en los campos agrícolas abandonados por los cultivadores indígenas.vacas ramonearon y pacieron en la selva y la vegetación secundaria durante 500 años, dispersando árboles, arbustos y hierbas, con lo cual se enriqueció el proceso de sucesión secundaria. Un ejemplo de ello es el desarrollo de los pastizales nativos o de grama, donde pacieron hasta principios del siglo XX. Fue entonces cuando se substituyeron con razas de B. indicus, originarias de Asia y Brasil, que se criaban en potreros sembrados con especies de pastos africanos, lo cual provocó un déficit repentino de la herbivoría, una defaunación muy intensa, que empobreció la vegetación secundaria (actualmente casi desaparecen los pastizales de grama) y aumentó la deforestación y la fragmentación de la selva, que ahora son las principales amenazas para la biodiversidad regional.
La sierra tiene todavía una gran diversidad biológica. Probablemente debido a las constantes e intensas perturbaciones de pequeña y gran escala ocasionadas por los eventos naturales y por la intervención humana, cuyos asentamientos ocuparon profusamente la comarca con altas densidades de población, una influencia que se inició hace más de 5000 años.
Una prueba de ese manejo son los numerosos individuos y especies de árboles de la selva que se ven en los campos abiertos. Hoy están incorporados al paisaje por costumbre o tradición, mitigando como lo hicieron desde que se asentaron los primeros pobladores en la región, el efecto negativo de la deforestación y atenuando las condiciones provocadas por la presencia y ausencia de herbívoros nativos y exóticos. Estos árboles son determinantes para la conectividad ecológica, que contraresta el aislamiento de los fragmentos de la selva y para sostener el proceso de sucesión secundaria y de regeneración de la selva.
El reconocimiento que el paisaje está cambiando constantemente como efecto de los factores naturales y humanos y que algunos de ellos, como la agricultura vernácula y la llegada del ganado han dejado memoria, como es el caso de los árboles solitarios, plantea nuevas alternativas para mantener la biodiversidad e impulsar el desarrollo racional, empleando elementos remanentes en el paisaje.
- English
The current landscape of the Mesoamerican rain forest has been shaped by the migration of plant and animal species, natural events, and human intervention. This current reflection on the effects of livestock ranching in this region focuses on the impact to both the structure and the functioning of the landscape. Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico, is both a case study and a reflection of the larger Mesoamerican landscape, where cattle livestock were first introduced in the 16th century and subsequently replaced with a new variety of cattle in the 19th century. Thus, Los Tuxtlas is an enclave of tropical rain forest in southeastern Mexico and illustrative of the environmental history of Mesoamerica as a whole, representing a landscape of flora and fauna that have resisted climatic changes, intense volcanic activity, and frequent hurricanes and tropical storms that have continuously occurred across time. More recently, human activities, such as hunting, gathering, and agriculture, have also formed the landscape beginning with the Olmecs, considered to be the mother culture of Mesoamerica. In the 16th century the European colonizers introduced on the northern tip of the volcanic range of San Martin in Los Tuxtlas several cattle varieties of Bos taurus, imported from the region of Guadalquivir, Spain. These cattle rapidly adapted to free-range grazing, probably due to the absence of large native herbivores that had disappeared in Mesoamerica by the end of the Holocene, as well as due to the considerable extensions of secondary vegetation of abandoned agricultural fields, resulting from the disappearance of the indigenous farmers after the arrival of the Spanish. The cattle grazed on �grama� grasses, which proliferated during this time and emerged as part of the process of secondary succession, in addition to other plants and shrubs found within the rain forest. The livestock were adapted to this form of grazing for over 500 years, dispersing trees and bushes and enriching the process of secondary succession. In the 20th century, Bos taurus was substituted for Bos indicus, a variety of cattle coming from Asia and raised only in pasturelands sown with African grasses, resulting in a lack of herbivorous activity compatible with the local ecosystems, as in the case of Bos taurus. A resulting defaunation and deterioration of the secondary vegetation has since occurred, and many �grama� grasses have since disappeared. In addition, the management practices associated with Bos indicus have stimulated an increase in deforestation and fragmentation of the rain forest, signifying a threat to regional biodiversity. However, numerous individuals and species of rain forest trees still persist in open fields across the landscape, mitigating, as they have throughout history, the impact of deforestation. The trees that are left behind are an element of the historical landscape management practices, implemented by the very first inhabitants of the region. These isolated trees form in many instances �living fences� that help to maintain the ecological connectivity between the remaining fragments of vegetation, in addition to sustaining processes of secondary succession and regeneration of the rain forest. The main objective of this essay is to demonstrate that by understanding the environmental history of the rain forest landscape of Mesoamerica, new possibilities may be presented for its design and management with the explicit goals of conserving biodiversity, preserving environmental services, and innovating productive and agricultural systems. Our objective is illuminated by examining historical landscape practices surrounding the introduction of cattle livestock in the region of Los Tuxtlas in southeastern Mexico and considering the relevance that they may hold for contemporary landscape management and the natural regeneration of the rain forest.
The current landscape of the Mesoamerican rain forest has been shaped by the migration of plant and animal species, natural events, and human intervention. This current reflection on the effects of livestock ranching in this region focuses on the impact to both the structure and the functioning of the landscape. Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico, is both a case study and a reflection of the larger Mesoamerican landscape, where cattle livestock were first introduced in the 16th century and subsequently replaced with a new variety of cattle in the 19th century. Thus, Los Tuxtlas is an enclave of tropical rain forest in southeastern Mexico and illustrative of the environmental history of Mesoamerica as a whole, representing a landscape of flora and fauna that have resisted climatic changes, intense volcanic activity, and frequent hurricanes and tropical storms that have continuously occurred across time. More recently, human activities, such as hunting, gathering, and agriculture, have also formed the landscape beginning with the Olmecs, considered to be the mother culture of Mesoamerica. In the 16th century the European colonizers introduced on the northern tip of the volcanic range of San Martin in Los Tuxtlas several cattle varieties of Bos taurus, imported from the region of Guadalquivir, Spain. These cattle rapidly adapted to free-range grazing, probably due to the absence of large native herbivores that had disappeared in Mesoamerica by the end of the Holocene, as well as due to the considerable extensions of secondary vegetation of abandoned agricultural fields, resulting from the disappearance of the indigenous farmers after the arrival of the Spanish. The cattle grazed on �grama� grasses, which proliferated during this time and emerged as part of the process of secondary succession, in addition to other plants and shrubs found within the rain forest. The livestock were adapted to this form of grazing for over 500 years, dispersing trees and bushes and enriching the process of secondary succession. In the 20th century, Bos taurus was substituted for Bos indicus, a variety of cattle coming from Asia and raised only in pasturelands sown with African grasses, resulting in a lack of herbivorous activity compatible with the local ecosystems, as in the case of Bos taurus. A resulting defaunation and deterioration of the secondary vegetation has since occurred, and many �grama� grasses have since disappeared. In addition, the management practices associated with Bos indicus have stimulated an increase in deforestation and fragmentation of the rain forest, signifying a threat to regional biodiversity. However, numerous individuals and species of rain forest trees still persist in open fields across the landscape, mitigating, as they have throughout history, the impact of deforestation. The trees that are left behind are an element of the historical landscape management practices, implemented by the very first inhabitants of the region. These isolated trees form in many instances �living fences� that help to maintain the ecological connectivity between the remaining fragments of vegetation, in addition to sustaining processes of secondary succession and regeneration of the rain forest. The main objective of this essay is to demonstrate that by understanding the environmental history of the rain forest landscape of Mesoamerica, new possibilities may be presented for its design and management with the explicit goals of conserving biodiversity, preserving environmental services, and innovating productive and agricultural systems. Our objective is illuminated by examining historical landscape practices surrounding the introduction of cattle livestock in the region of Los Tuxtlas in southeastern Mexico and considering the relevance that they may hold for contemporary landscape management and the natural regeneration of the rain forest.
The current landscape of the Mesoamerican rain forest has been shaped by the migration of plant and animal species, natural events, and human intervention. This current reflection on the effects of livestock ranching in this region focuses on the impact to both the structure and the functioning of the landscape. Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico, is both a case study and a reflection of the larger Mesoamerican landscape, where cattle livestock were first introduced in the 16th century and subsequently replaced with a new variety of cattle in the 19th century. Thus, Los Tuxtlas is an enclave of tropical rain forest in southeastern Mexico and illustrative of the environmental history of Mesoamerica as a whole, representing a landscape of flora and fauna that have resisted climatic changes, intense volcanic activity, and frequent hurricanes and tropical storms that have continuously occurred across time. More recently, human activities, such as hunting, gathering, and agriculture, have also formed the landscape beginning with the Olmecs, considered to be the mother culture of Mesoamerica. In the 16th century the European colonizers introduced on the northern tip of the volcanic range of San Martin in Los Tuxtlas several cattle varieties of Bos taurus, imported from the region of Guadalquivir, Spain. These cattle rapidly adapted to free-range grazing, probably due to the absence of large native herbivores that had disappeared in Mesoamerica by the end of the Holocene, as well as due to the considerable extensions of secondary vegetation of abandoned agricultural fields, resulting from the disappearance of the indigenous farmers after the arrival of the Spanish. The cattle grazed on �grama� grasses, which proliferated during this time and emerged as part of the process of secondary succession, in addition to other plants and shrubs found within the rain forest. The livestock were adapted to this form of grazing for over 500 years, dispersing trees and bushes and enriching the process of secondary succession. In the 20th century, Bos taurus was substituted for Bos indicus, a variety of cattle coming from Asia and raised only in pasturelands sown with African grasses, resulting in a lack of herbivorous activity compatible with the local ecosystems, as in the case of Bos taurus. A resulting defaunation and deterioration of the secondary vegetation has since occurred, and many �grama� grasses have since disappeared. In addition, the management practices associated with Bos indicus have stimulated an increase in deforestation and fragmentation of the rain forest, signifying a threat to regional biodiversity. However, numerous individuals and species of rain forest trees still persist in open fields across the landscape, mitigating, as they have throughout history, the impact of deforestation. The trees that are left behind are an element of the historical landscape management practices, implemented by the very first inhabitants of the region. These isolated trees form in many instances �living fences� that help to maintain the ecological connectivity between the remaining fragments of vegetation, in addition to sustaining processes of secondary succession and regeneration of the rain forest. The main objective of this essay is to demonstrate that by understanding the environmental history of the rain forest landscape of Mesoamerica, new possibilities may be presented for its design and management with the explicit goals of conserving biodiversity, preserving environmental services, and innovating productive and agricultural systems. Our objective is illuminated by examining historical landscape practices surrounding the introduction of cattle livestock in the region of Los Tuxtlas in southeastern Mexico and considering the relevance that they may hold for contemporary landscape management and the natural regeneration of the rain forest.
- español
