The Apparent Resilience of the Dry Tropical Forests of the Nicaraguan Region of the Central American Dry Corridor to Extreme Variations in Climate over the Last c.1200 Years

Author(s): William Harvey; Sandra Nogué; Nathan Stansell; Kathy Willis

Year: 2019

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Reconstructing the Political Organization of Pre-Columbian Nicaragua" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Central American dry corridor is currently and has historically been the most densely populated area of the Central American Isthmus and is subject to the greatest covariance in precipitation between seasons. The vegetation of this region was typically composed of dry tropical forests, which are suggested to be highly susceptible to variations in climate and anthropogenic activities. This study examines the vulnerability of past dry tropical forests surrounding the Asese Peninsula, Nicaragua to climatic and anthropogenic disturbances over the past c.1200 years. Past vegetation, climate, burning, and animal abundance were reconstructed using proxy analysis of fossil pollen, diatoms, macroscopic charcoal, and dung fungal spores (Sporormiella). Dry tropical forests reduce during wetter conditions associated with increased fire and expand during relatively drier conditions associated with reduced fire. Heightened seasonality (1030-1180 and 1450-1600 CE) coincides with dry tropical forest community reorganization as well as the abandonment of the pre-Columbian settlement of El Rayo (1100-1150 CE). There is no palynological evidence for traditional agriculture during this time, therefore pre-Columbian hunter-gatherer subsistence is suggested to have persisted up until European contact. Results from this research also suggest that dry tropical forests have been highly resilient to past climatic and anthropogenic perturbations.

Cite this Record

The Apparent Resilience of the Dry Tropical Forests of the Nicaraguan Region of the Central American Dry Corridor to Extreme Variations in Climate over the Last c.1200 Years. William Harvey, Sandra Nogué, Nathan Stansell, Kathy Willis. Presented at The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, NM. 2019 ( tDAR id: 450865)

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Keywords

General
Environment and Climate  • Intermediate Area • Nicaragua, palynology, Greater Nicoya

Geographic Keywords
Central America and Northern South America

Spatial Coverage

min long: -92.153; min lat: -4.303 ; max long: -50.977; max lat: 18.313 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24071