Rainforests are one of the world's largest carbon storages and help regulate the global climate. But they are erased from the face of our planet with terrifying speed. Deforestation destroyed trees in an area the size of Belgium in 2018. These habitats are often cleared to make way for plantations of raw materials for the production of palm oil and grazing land for livestock.
For most forests, destruction on such a scale is a fairly modern phenomenon.
Biological diversity
Ecosystems tend to have high biological diversity, but often not in places where this is expected. According to research, in areas with an ancient history of human activity, you can find more wildlife.
Indigenous peoples maintained biodiversity in the Amazon rainforests and other territories, despite the fact that some species of trees were domesticated, cities were built and crops were grown. How did this happen? A new study, which was published in the journal Trends in Plant Science, suggests that the answer can be found on trees.
Ancient time capsules
Recall the history of mankind. More than 50 thousand years ago, people controlled tropical forest vegetation using fire. They burned the edge of the advancing forests, and thanks to this targeted violation, the dominance of a large number of tall tree species was prevented. Thus, the habitat was restored, enriched with wild food plants and was attractive to animals, and it was people who hunted them.
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Another traditional method of forest management was the control of forest cover and the careful selection of trees for felling. The light that flooded the forest litter stimulated edible species to grow, and the regenerating vegetation was not an obstacle. These methods are similar to modern concepts of agroforestry, which maintains relatively high biological diversity and preserves nutrient reserves, as well as carbon in the soil. The greatest losses are observed when moving to a ranch, industrial plantations.
Modern forest management practices undermine biodiversity
Scientific discoveries confirm that due to traditional forest management biodiversity is preserved, while modern methods undermine it. In the past, indigenous peoples were managed in such a way with vast areas of rainforest.
It has always been believed that tropical trees have a short lifespan, usually less than 400 years. But recent studies confirm that many of them live very long and retain more than 1000 years of history in their wood. The trees themselves can not only tell about this.
You probably heard that you can find out how old a tree is by counting the rings on its log house or by taking a sample of wood from a growing specimen using a special drill. One ring is one year of life, so dendrochronology (the science of studying tree rings) offers a fairly simple way to understand the life of a tree. The thicker rings indicate that the conditions were good for growth - there was abundant sun and water - but if there are thin rings, you can judge crop failure, drought.
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Many tropical trees do not lay rings, but in a new study of dendrology, scientists have identified more than two hundred species that are characteristic of this. With wide rings, more intense rainfall can be assumed, but many trees show good growth if the light intensity is increased. This happens after the felling of other trees around them, resulting in a large amount of light breaking through the canopy. If researchers manage to detect these markers, they can identify past episodes of forest clearing. On the Amazon, thanks to these records, scientists have an idea of the enormous scale of pre-Columbian forest management and agriculture.
Researchers extract the core of the tree, measure the rings and determine its age.
What else can rings on trees tell
Rings can also tell about climate change through the various isotopes (types) of oxygen and carbon that are found in wood. By the isotopes of carbon, as a rule, one can judge the availability of light and other factors controlling photosynthesis, while the isotopes of oxygen, scientists track changes in a nearby water source and annual rainfall. So, isotopic studies have revealed that the abandonment of Angkor Wat in the 14th century coincided with severe drought.
New DNA Research
Forest history is also being studied with new DNA studies. Hardly developing plant species go through what we call “genetically bottlenecks” when part of the genetic material of the species is lost as many individuals die or cannot reproduce and transmit their genes. Their gene pool as a result is very limited.
Researchers would like to discover the same patterns in species that were greatly affected by logging or fires that people started in the past. Genetics can also identify plants distributed by ancient people, such as Brazil nut.
