Idea Transcript
$80.00 June, 2006
Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology: Studies in the Neotropical Lowlands
cloth 432 pages 27 illus. ISBN: 0-231-13562-9
Edited by William Balée and Clark L. Erickson from the series Historical Ecology
Columbia University Press This volume, an important contribution to the emerging field of historical ecology, reveals the ways in which the landscape reflects human history and culture. The collection combines cutting-edge research with new perspectives on the effects of human societies on the neotropical lowlands of South and Central America. The contributors show that rather than adapting to preexisting environmental constraints, as has been traditionally assumed, local peoples have changed the landscape to fit their needs. They have altered their environment by managing and modifying species diversity, enhancing landscape heterogeneity, and controlling ecological disturbance. Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology includes essays from anthropologists, botanists, ecologists, and biologists. The contributors examine changes in the landscapes of the Ecuadorian Andes, Amazonia, the desert coast of Peru, and other regions in the neotropics. In exploring thousands of years of ecological history, the book also addresses important contemporary issues, such as biodiversity and genetic variation and change. Contributors include: William Balée, Michael Balick, Daniel Brinkmeier, Eduardo S. Brondízio, David Campbell, Charles R. Clement, Loretta A. Cormier, William M. Denevan, Clark L. Erickson, Anabel Ford, Elizabeth Graham, Christine Hastorf, Michael Heckenberger, Jeffrey K. Lake, Karen S. Lowell, Eduardo G. Neves, Constanza Ocampo-Raeder, James B. Peterson, Peter W. Stahl, Andrew Townesmith, Jay Walker. About the Authors William Balée is professor of anthropology at Tulane University. He is the author of Footprints of the Forest: Ka'apor Ethnobotany-The Historical Ecology of Plant Utilization by an Amazonian People (Columbia) and the editor of Advances in Historical Ecology. Clark L. Erickson is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. and associate curator of the American Section of University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.