Abstract
Fifty seven percent of the 138 cultivated plant species present in Amazonia at contact probably originated in the Amazon Basin and another 27% originated in lowland northern South America. The relationship between probable indigenous human population density and resultant agricultural intensification and crop diversity is used to propose the existence of a mosaic of crop genetic resource concentrations in Amazonia at contact, including two centers of diversity, four outlying minor centers, and five regions of diversity. This methodology is extrapolated to present a synthesis of South American crop genetic biogeography at contact.
Résumé
Cinquenta e sete por cento das 138 espécies cultivadas na Amazônia no momento do contato provavelmente originaram na bacia amazônica e mais 27% originaram nas terras baixas do norte de América do Sul. A relação entre a densidade populacional indigena hipotética e a intensificação agrícola e a diversidade genética dos cultivos resultantes é usada para propor a existência de um mosaico de concentraçÕes de recursos genéticos na Amazônia no momento de contato, incluindo dois centros de diversidade, quatro centros per-iféricos menores, e cinco regiÕes de diversidade. A mesma metodologia é extrapolada para apresentar uma síntese da biogeografia da diversidade genética dos cultivos na America do Sul no momento de contato.
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Dedicated to Victor Manuel Patiño, one of Latin America’s foremost economic and ethnobotanists and fellow student of crop origins, domestication and biogeography.
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Clement, C.R. 1492 and the loss of amazonian crop genetic resources. ii. crop Biogeography at contact. Econ Bot 53, 203–216 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02866499
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02866499