Catálogo de publicaciones - revistas

<jats:title>Pre-Columbian reforestation in Amazonia</jats:title> <jats:p> An early 17th-century temporary reduction in global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO <jats:sub>2</jats:sub> ) levels was previously attributed to reforestation in Amazonia after the catastrophic loss of life of the indigenous population caused by diseases brought by European invaders. Using fossil pollen data from Amazonian lake sediments with temporal resolution over the past millennium, Bush <jats:italic>et al.</jats:italic> found that forest recovery began 300 to 600 years before the population crash. The more recent nadir in atmospheric CO <jats:sub>2</jats:sub> was not associated with rapid reforestation at that time. The vegetation changes appear to be the result of changing patterns of land use in the centuries preceding the European arrival and the resulting devastation, whereas the cause of the CO <jats:sub>2</jats:sub> decline remains enigmatic. </jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:italic>Science</jats:italic> , this issue p. <jats:related-article issue="6541" page="484" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="372">484</jats:related-article> </jats:p>

<jats:title>Accelerating ecosystem disruption</jats:title> <jats:p> Oceanic islands are among the most recent areas on Earth to have been colonized by humans, in many cases in just the past few thousand years. Therefore, they are important laboratories for the study of human impacts on natural vegetation and biodiversity. Nogué <jats:italic>et al.</jats:italic> provide a quantitative palaeoecological study of 27 islands around the world, focusing on pollen records of vegetation composition before and after human arrival. The authors found a consistent pattern of acceleration of vegetation turnover after human invasion, with median rates of change increasing by a factor of six. These changes occurred regardless of geographical and ecological features of the island and show how rapidly ecosystems can change and how island ecosystems are set on new trajectories. </jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:italic>Science</jats:italic> , this issue p. <jats:related-article issue="6541" page="488" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="372">488</jats:related-article> </jats:p>