as Ped ns made lr lamente guar lela ] 2 ss SE SR REELS ‘THE FERAL FORESTS OF THE EASTERN PETEN DAVID CAMPBELL ANABE FORD, ARENS, LOWE, 47 WALKER, FREY LAKE CONSTANZA QCA AEDER ANDREW TONMESMITA, ‘ano micnaer oxuce We new os<}UNE of historia egy renga tha human cule an the envionment raul influence each ker (Bale 198) rather than fo Jowig the conventional one-way paadign in which humans ae eet adap ing tothei envioaments, We etamine the coterporaty May fof the «astm Ped fom this aie vanae pin, sggeting tha ts pis Sor Postion and phytonciolgy are Auman arcs dating from the ate Cate ig, Wiseman (578) wa the isto ue the team man-made dsr che ‘Mara fore, About the sume time, Turner (98) and Hammond (978) wrote ‘he epithe fr the Mays avin and mip, sagging instead» mach more ‘ophitiatt snd bilo dive ym of mined fanning and sbi Ta an cvoling sees of papers, dwar (986), Fick (996,196; Fei ‘and Fon :390), Ford (38619911998; Ftd and Weinecke 003), and Gime Pomp (io) sugges tha the comempurary oreo the Yeti Penis swe aglyancropogenic de to dhe ancient Maps manipulation ofa pe, es composition. Moree, Ger Pomp, lore, and San (8) provided ‘moder-day mechani co esplin dis ransforiation the Yucce Maya ‘fore gue, known asthe pr ho—and they dete how twas read ak _manage Very simply, the May actly secede specs thas sand dcouraged others. Moreover, the bounday of pt land free snot cnc. Each ws deed om de acher Maya fll ealogy reves a inate knowledge of myriad free ules (Aran 1993), and the Yaetean Mayan Language ines evocative of hefner a8 gate: aun Fas, rated st. ‘walcied fr fre implies sure cust elaonship ro the ores ‘We apres tht the contemporary forests of te southeastern Pet that is, cawern Guatemala and western Belie—areandvopogeni, she resale of the ative enichmens, encouragement, and cling of various woody planespeci bythe Maya and of disuance by prod Ries, wheter intenonal or tninensional, dha svepe de area beginning withthe Ineoduction oF siviul- ture and acute inthe Peas pesod tn otetwoeds, the contemporary ‘Maya foes ay be one huge fel Forest gd, she origin of which date ace ‘atlas 4200 9 Pol et a. 1996 ‘Wecsplor his hinoril esgic concept, however fiom a vantage point fen om story and exchaeology alone by using the analytical methods ‘of phyrosocilogy. Toward this end we owe and ts thre hypotheses: () the Alpha vents af these fore te ow compared tothe lp diverse of ea file lane and climate that have noe been somite to ich pervaive sudan) dhe bes diversity among widely spaced amples of hese oe ‘ssl Gi other words te fre ofthe eastern Peén have uniform species, ‘ompostin) and G) the ligule of thee frets are composed principally ofspeles that were—and area exonome value tthe May [RESEARCH BACKGROUND ‘We conduct bani inventor of thre fet ttn ditt stings lila 0 kilometers of each other, lncte inthe Cayo Distric of weer Baie the extreme eastern Pte) Hla Tea Nova, and lx Chel (igure). All dee sites were abandoned ard 1000 a8 and have nor been reclonizad of sbod snd bumed in any subancve way sce. Ou fort inves were Inally conducted in support ofthe Bele Fahaobocay Project (Balk 19: [alc and Mendel 193: Balik 2000), designed to proide dats at to he dvesy. quanti, and pares of dsribaion of s may economicly ‘valuable plants a possible in Cayo Distt, For his reson, we chase he ts for thei edaphic herogensity in ens of inclination, een, and drainage E1Pila the site of major Classic peiod Maye cig is in she undulating, wel- rained uplands oo an escarpment north of he Belize River alley. Tema Nora ‘sin cheney level, poor rane lowlands non ofthe Bele River and is the sc ofthe words isc etnomsediinal plane rere (Balik, Arig, and Romero 1994 x Cel ona tp rocky slope above the Maca Rives, he ste ‘fa mec! plans wal (Arig 99 1994) The setdement dense ofthe ‘ate Clase peti onthe sites eles these pacers HP, Tera Nova, td IheChel repent a paien of autre deny during the Late Clase pcod of 20,50 and 2 per aque lamer, exponvely (edi and ond 1990) All woody ters (eluding las) gree han o equa to 25 etneters DBI were sampled on each site (append 1), This creo pve a far eter species number than the cometional 1 enimeers DBH thrabal of nelson (ie 3) won the sj of yeni es (Campbel 3), We coinued sampling unt agp was approximated on a spear exe, ORE Tam Mw fring ws a eatomablecersiny that we hal sampled ost f the specs inthe ae (gue 12) We measured the DBH ofeach se, fmm which we ected ‘i bala (for nv with mull tems Lana, he sus of te baal ares) and the eave dominane fx each aon able) ‘We elced voucher specimens fr each individual plant unl we were ‘confident of ou abil to recognize dice spc (or oephoctsgrie) in ‘he eld. Represotatve voucher specimens of every exon were Meni by ‘comparing them with reeence specimens in the hears of the New Yok ‘Bouanicl Garde, For vaio reasons (uch as damage or lo), we were unable o deniy 4 percen ofthe plans to cher species ox tnouphortegory. swe clasifed hee plans as “unknown.” We detrinined ce Mayas ethnobotanical ‘ofthe species in our samples fom she Inercue Fr ling ubgraps ofthe Maya, ot jus the Yoesea May) a wel a from interview wth con- ‘emporary Yacteean May in Cayo Disc (apendi a.a Since fit being appli othe phytoecologr of tropical ore Pee a 1985), the word aligrfy has undergone varios deinisins (Camplell 994 Puma eal. 20002 generale fe meas tha 2 small umbe fsa, ‘supa doproportionae shar ofthe exouten-ia tesa space and igh Ot xample—hileche majo of pein ep force mainder, Pri chap, we dfineoliercy athe sues oft (and 20) pais Inch spe with the highest reaivedominanes. Having ideied the species that compe tt ‘lgarchies, we ted the Rypethess thatthe olparches were nthropogeni. “The ts involved: (0 determining whether he meta lane dominance of he ‘ligahic pecs wa signe higher han shat of nollie spec oF shan tha of eFax whole a 2) wheter the percentage ulation of te olgarehic species was sigieendy higher than that of the noalighcie species than ha of he ort 2 whale ANALYSIS OF A FERAL FOREST ‘We dense 7 specs in the hes inves af the Pla, Tera Nova and i Chel forest. (They and the number and ease dominance ofeach ar led in appendix.) Table 1 summaries te gener prcenees fhe ate ‘ores the at of dhe simple, the numberof tm baal area (extrapolated 0 fone care, numberof specs, Shannon inder of dives, and Shannos, index of equitably! The eve sts showed asking uniformity of species, ‘ches (3 88 and 0 spies, repel) a approaimatesymprote on the ‘pecs cave, Fah se alo approached symp apy ge 2g ‘ting that a smal samplo—les than 2 heeare (and inthe ce of x Che, {thio a hecare)—sould be erecentative ofthe fre as a whoe: Not Pring therefore the sinless mead by Soren index among ‘he vats pied stes wee alo high, ranging loz O46 so fra Specs ln che the fore (able 12), ach se hada relay low ind of equitably (2.80, 2.77, nd 090, sespriely)—ahinc of the presence of olga denied len although the tnd of inary mong the olgehis ofthe testes wee more aie [Not thar the oligarchy of Chl appeert be the outlier among the the ‘erms ofits species compestons we es ths eae in hs chapter, “Among the 179 species found on dhe thee ter, 76 a3 pee) wer ound ‘bare ean, or be nay, of exonomic ae ote Maya appendix). Tis ‘alse would appear to below compared he 80-0 potent zation found In some oaber neotropical ore inhabited by Naive Americas (Boom 1985 however, we dt not coun pei that wate used fr no purpse othe hes “firewood” oc “constuction” In ur analysis. When dese species were added ‘© ou anaes, our sis had tes of wlan comparable to chose of othe,HOLE Summa af Tne May oes “TheFed ReeaietaerPain 2? "MLE Toy Most Donia Te pes 1 eter DH at Pe ALES Toso Mow Dinan Tie pes = tie DB at Pip sreces RELATIVE DOMINANCE Sse pu ks I Soi nb aT Pal 2 ae Se TauNow 040i >iSeu 502 3383 8 34 OW? ‘Abt ommend a0 Ged 03k ison 4087596, 43 090 Settee meropla King — Sezer ca, 19 = ERP, ec P= wid Wm aah ap eee ae Si, 98. ‘es ee Ticans platypus (emal) Frisch 451 ——— Sao ———— = : sats ———— = 2 Donnan pp: Dostisane Spp. ‘endalmeie pris Gwar) Gig = SS — SSS : =e === 3 ——— = 3 a = == = : ————_— = 2 =. — ‘The species chat composed the oligachies (defined as both the top 10 and. I Zevielemenele(RGedy Bet a tomes | Sea 3 See ee in the cae of Tera Nova an astonishing 73 peeen) of the freer forint in terms of basal ats, Species sha re of ecnomlclaportance tothe Maya (appendix) arin boldface pein ables 13 though Noe that hey oe ise a major ofthe pels in the alice, eng othe principal ques ton ofthis chapter Are the aligaches nempogenc? One way to aes this -qeton ical, Atal dees, she pecemage zaron ofthe lgchie ‘species was lgiicandy gente (P< o.00) than that ofthe noel spe ks (able Another way address thi quecon i ecological and srctua by com- tng the mean clave dominance of pie of economic alt the Maya ith ths of no value (able 7). Aga, a al thee sen, he dlltenes were “nance seen och sexily sguficane (ranging fom P < 0.05 to P < e101), Moreoven ‘ompatton ofthe mean relave dominance of thee specks not of wey to the Maya ad the mean celtve dominance of al of the species in each sample {in vey cate prone oto be signcat, The esp dh te oligany ‘may indced be theres of burn section. In ohet word the speci hae ave fred bess in his fret oner the part several thousand yea have bec shore encouraged by the Maya.214 Towny Mont Domina Te Specie 15h DBM a Tat Nove Hake ey Most Doni ie Spc 2 Cine DBL th ‘et ene nd at | rere Sap a Tiere 7 | geen 76 oe oa | Sarr igs ee i Fra gm 38 | Rider = ‘Shami i Ka Ga EL Waar o | tap at emt 356 x f ‘asleep 200, a as | ina cts 176 sree) Ron a f Pic pial 0) Sarg, Ae zeroes Ea ae Sinaia ehadronis Sean) eye 38 OO ere = lnc Dosa pe se | | ama aac ie terete aaa | ‘Rew he eee 0 Reich teins es aa? f ‘Poweriacampechiana (HLBK) Baths ove eal) DE t Tuten canescens» paws Sa at ———— | Saree ene DC 139) ——— t Pprvoniewm CDE AE Govt) Eo “iperbue wesicone Mies a akon | “Seernie cabo on AE Wo) Sandy a6 es f ‘Mpa bow is.) Orb, 1 —— os 093 Dendropanesarbreus (1) Deeme Planch OO | etna Danie ama ena ig a ———— a iki iasce Rasp Ulan bythe Maye ee ‘Baten ena n ta R 20, iim rick calla napster Fa hapa eget onnmlnnbanncepocog {ASL€17 Dean Relive Dominio Spd of Esme ave No Bosom ae edie laa Ta) —— Tass — ‘Value Maya ‘ — oped aa asa or RS ren they a biscussion nc mira ha heh ly of hele pa ven eater osc spire eon binge Gnd non he ne ps do ae ‘or ye use hh iin her whe ae si igh bea te sce we uments Ice ac show oy te cote acne se es arisen mony in hooper comnon swe Re te ‘Stewalnenond ta fp ‘hand pe vo te ap of re awl sea de none hs a ine Tan hap peo Theale fi Fae ada 31 selected the tic sts fr thir edaphic hetrogenciy. Dats st fromm other seusonal subtropical New and Old World forest ae tare king till, ‘0 tate igorous comparisons. Coser, for example, inventories of sexsonal lowland Amonan forests (Camptell 994; Campbell ea 1986), whch do ‘noe approach aymprote even afer 3 hectares (ung 3 thabold of inchon of to cenimeses DBH, no les). Inventories (ng comparble DBH wo ‘out Belizean studies) of seasonal subropicl fre in southern Chg, cose ‘the same lane Bel, yield approximately wo esa many species, a aympooe (An et al 1999: Wang e199), nd sures ofthe Atanie ‘oat foes of Besa, which have «comparable (ut souer) lade 0 ‘hac of Balas, have revealed some of te higher apa and bet esis ve ‘mesure (Mod etal 18 Thomas a. 1998) Likewise, the exreme alithis ofthese Maya forests are comparile 29 ‘what one would expec in anata dad copia forest suck t occurs onthe ace lodpins of Amani. nthe drs thee tinct postive ‘orelaon beeen the magniude of diusbace andthe magne ofthe sligachy (Campbell 954). Clete lage oigrchi fthe ee Maya for (9 shes nae thatthe sites hare been suber a perivedsarbance repime. We submie dha chi diturhance es a iglcan exert anther tl, contig of enichent wih specie of contri vale o hur ae, coi, alin by fre, Homer iis impertane co note thatthe alice of ‘ethics ses ar not composed of re adapted ey aucrtion poses specie wit the exception of Ann coun). Ye fie may nverthles hae been and ay sill be an porate gene for the ceton ofthe lgtchies, ‘Throughout the easter Pei, we have obcrved the Maya wing sane walle tnd cleared rela wo protect desiable forest sapling or garde fom he wld esha pei range ores the and The reso th cling, but the Maya do the secon, ‘These condison are supposed by our airman da he lige spe- sto of che the forts havea sigan rater ate of wlio tan the ‘sonolguchie species and tat dhe mean elaine dominance ofthe aligachie species signin grexer than chat ofthe moneliguchic specs, Our rls sugges an explice intenconalley and bara agency (ae Eschon and Bale, chapter 7, his volume in the cretion ofthe contemporary Maya forest. The ‘mois parsimonious explanation for dese patent of lnpoveidhtment 2nd concomitant high tliy in our amples ofthe Maya fore Is tha hey ar ‘he descendant fan ancient hansan Kane tha nce covered vast ara ofthe pene Pein. ‘The ix Chel forse disnc fom the ocersin ers of ligarciespe- ‘es composition —peaps because acta on step oy ein use able for agriculture and, aoe surprisingly had low element dea daring ‘he Cs pri. For his eso simpy may no have been a extensively‘manipulated overtime asthe other sts, For example, it abounds with pobonwood (Mcp browne), by any measare an undeseabe pei (i ‘he Anacardare family infious frien piniples) chat the Bi be calla fom contemporary Maya Fors gardens and tht, lehough presen, Irae on the other evo sites. Therefore, ofthe heel Chel my moe lol eee the orignal pre May fot. Reged, n apie of eda snd oligarch dismal wh the other sts, pat the sane pease “onumuniny asthe evo other ses, eapeily Tera Nova. We une that we may neer be able o locate a pre Maya (coat fren Cayo Dison ‘thx would be epresenative ofthe Cayo forest belts human petbatione 4 fusrating concession. Crain screw ach forest would ily val deo invalidate our hypothe. Hower tm simply be the chcumance ‘har humaa perturbations and mudifeations ofthe Maya ftest oer the pas 44000 yt fave heen so pervasive eta con oe the loan Maya fon doe note, Fores pland area within 100 lilometes of our sys ace know, however to have been sparsely ecupid bythe ancient Mea nha ates ere the fore may not hea anapogeic. Ou the sue eal of the Mays Movoain whee Brewer and We (202) conducted to chectae ventric fll sens gente than or equal to 5.0 cetimeces DBE on the aden Nace Reserve (BNR). Is regan of complex goog conuncion franc, shal, ad limestone (Wight el 199), discted by steam and encomitast alli deposits (Dua 996). Although te eerene pers ofthe eon are noe wel uid he evidence pons to low retest dent ‘ies for mast of the Maya occupation (Geabam 187, Hamu gh) In he BNR repon, hae aes of small sale mineral extraction andl the Late (Classic pid a few raed erases pockes ofall ai Evens hel threshold of inclusion of ceminters DBH, the eo BNR font pls having mg and 14 specie, re mote dives than those of Cayo Dist. Aone hectare the BNR plo cdo not pproachasymprotson sepsis area curve. These high dvs ar sone would expect in elon of iid Iuamaa agen Like the Cao fr the BNR forest te highly liga wees, ullae Cay forest she BNR ciguchics ate nosey cher, Im pects of exonomlc vale (lites dered fm the vamevlrenees en cate than de nonoigachis able), Moree, there 9 sgn i ference inthe ean elative dominance of the spas of econ norte ‘eras thos of wo value (ble 1.7) These rel are peste to what we fond in Cayo Disc and precisely whatone would expect om afr dae wag not evly manila by humans, ‘The Maya sgn on the Cayo fet la penned mor than aileniam 8, dscerible not usin ie phytsociologies, howe. es phyla el ilssated by the imvere Funes of ol frst bal wea and the deny ‘TheFel otlieEaeeeda 23 ‘of May srucrures. Where blocky inexone structs andre ocupy such ‘ofthe foresclooy ther isles oom fr the esabihment of ase wee tvs and ots. Liana equeny by contradict fintion ofthe suse den. sg: In several pare ofthe Neotopoy high mambers of lass have ber cor ‘lad with human perubation and, in Aronia, wit anthropogenic date ‘ath (Bake and Campbell oye; Graham, chuper2,and Neves sad Peon, hope 9, ths ware) Tandon, the contemporary Maya forests of Cayo Dac mnay be ped fom vais perspectives. A perro wou argue ht hy tee sro ‘ofa much hes lori communty hs wa dela by mans aha he Tres we so today are the aide ofthat inpoeriiment Remar fo ‘2 more thn millennia afer the Mays htop and abandoned. ‘hem, tl bear the ses of hasan perurbon in oth phy and phytsao opi ems—casing a ominous pepetve on the cues amp defor ‘i in he operand subuopn inching the Neoaopi in geal Anthropologie mig be more opal. They might agua the fren sa ahumanengineced wonder hat once napportd a lupe Maya population, esl maiotaned « moderate biological dives and fret ener, Ceti, the high degre of uslity of thee fora evens the Mayas mary of tei ‘bots and a concominan knowlege oft visa vost tha has bee threatened snc the Faropean oeciption fron, ‘Aconservatonis might employs hyd argument tha the pater of Maya lund se (bs ancient and contemporary) may show us the pal = owe ao- alway of making living rom he May fore without deoying tcl a ber aerate wo contemporty cite nching and agen monocular, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ‘We deca his pape o Leopoldo Romero, Yuctecn Maya bushastet, parumonomis, and teacher fant Hen, Blt, without whom this see ‘would have been imposible This resach war supported by funds fom the ent Luce Foundation, USAID, Grinnell Clleg, and shelate Ann Sele ‘Wethankthe New York Botanical Gatdes (NYBG fr making Bela co- ection aaah sn onder eo dey our voucher specimens, Daniel Aaa ‘ofthe NYBG for reviewing our botanic nomencatir,o Wilam Bale and ‘Chr icon fr aamers lp siggestions,