Tropical Forest Disturbance: Paleoecological Records from Darien, Panama

The first paleoecological data from the Darien of Panama, a remote region rich in endemic species and purported to be one of the last untouched neotropical wilderness, demonstrate a 4000—yr history of human disturbance. Unstable climate is recorded as changes in precipitation inferred from the diatom record, but a more important source of disturbance has been human activity. Pollen, and phytoliths of Zea mays, and charcoal from grass fires confirm historical and archaeological judgments that the region has a long history of human settlement.The data are consistent with depopulation and abandonment of most agriculture following the Spanish conquest, showing that the local modern forest has developed in recent centuries. Four millennia of disturbance that preceded the decline of human populations may have had a profound effect upon the modern forest associations. The apparently pristine forests appear to have regrown in just 350 yr, probably from populations fragmented by previous agricultural disturbance. However, the modern richness of the Darien forests suggests that local biodiversity was maintained throughout 4000 yr of indigenous agriculture.