Search

Summary Resource histories determine how particular parts of the environment come to be defined as valuable. As elsewhere, protected areas in Latin America link the governance of people, territory, and resources by reinterpreting and reclassifying practices and environments. Set in highland Peru, the article focuses on how such revisions imply contestation of both history and future. It explores particular modes of claiming space through an archeology of the claims to knowledge and legitimacy put forward by a national park and a campesino community, respectively. Claims to space entwine with social struggles about local development where territorial claims are based on different notions of history and interpretations of the esthetic and productive values of the landscape. While the park officials navigate interests of conservation, tourism, and extraction, the campesino community mobilizes a different set of values and interests based on their historical occupation of the territories. These processes of contestation over authority and legitimacy highlight different views on the role of landscapes in the history and progress of local communities. Conservation may not only dispossess people of their land and natural resources, but also of labor and territorial sovereignty. This case shows how an Andean campesino community counters such movements by a wide repertoire of legal and social actions that works simultaneously in legal and extra-legal domains. Paper works mediate claims to territorial sovereignty, people, and resources. These claims involve contestations over interpretations of history which, besides their oral forms, materialize in paperwork such as official communications, community records, and cadastral maps, as well as in visual representations, internal statutes, and deliberate history writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de la Sociedad Entomológica Argentina is the property of Sociedad Entomologica Argentina and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Kañawa/Cañihua (Chenopodium pallidicaule Aellen) is the lesser-known cousin of the domesticated Andean pseudocereal quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.). In 1970, Daniel Gade hypothesized that Andean farmers may have domesticated volunteer wild kañawa plants that occupied quinoa or potato fields after observing that they could survive harsh climatic events such as drought or frost. To revisit this question of kañawa domestication, this paper provides an overview of the current botanical, genetic, and archaeological knowledge of kañawa domestication. It then provides patterns in the presence of wild and domesticated kañawa seeds from archaeological sites in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin of Bolivia, spanning the Formative and Tiwanaku periods from approximately 1500 BCE to 1100 CE. This archaeobotanical evidence supports Gade's hypothesis that kañawa was a later domesticate, not appearing until after 250 CE. Regional paleoclimatic evidence of frequent climatic fluctuations lends support to the argument that kañawa contributed to a diversified food supply, which could provide a buffer against climate risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A complete, fluvial stratigraphic record for the last glacial period of the Western Andes in Peru is not available due to preservation issues and spatial variability in sedimentation. Deposits are typically restricted to incomplete records of fluvial terraces or localised occurrences of alluvial fans and landslides. These landforms are thought to have formed under a regime of climate cyclicity controlling increases in precipitation. Because of the fragmented preservation of these deposits, as well as dating uncertainties, it remains unclear if orbital climate cycles, such as the precession cycle, or suborbital cycles, such as the wet Heinrich events, are driving Andean sedimentation. In this paper, we try to answer this question through a sedimentological–stratigraphical analysis of a much more complete sedimentary sequence than usually found in the region. We present the results of a grain size analysis of 5000 clasts and 13 new luminescence ages of a 52‐m‐long, stratigraphic section of the Lima fluvial fan in Peru. Bayesian age–depth modelling resulted in a robust chronostratigraphic framework and derived sedimentation rates. The stratigraphic record registered sedimentation from 121.7 ± 4 to 6.3−1.6+1.5 ka. Three major sedimentation periods occurred between 121.7 to 110−5+4, 87 ± 1 to 67−3+2, and 31−3+4 to 6.3−1.6+1.5 ka. These periods registered various unconformities and coarsening–fining upward sequences which chronologically correlate to suborbital pluvial periods, recognised from speleothems and lake records, that drove fluvial deposition. They also correlate with the timing of other recognised sedimentation events throughout the Western Andes. Marine regression resulted in fan progradation and not in incision. The Lima fan stratigraphy represents therefore the most complete, last glacial fluvial record for the Peruvian Western Andes to date and it highlights the potential of fluvial fans as recorders of suborbital climate variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore what campesino [peasant] livelihoods in the rural Andean mountains of Colombia offer to understandings of more-than-human co-existence and care. For, while new conservation paradigms promise to transform economic and social horizons, being "paramuno" [resident of the "paramo," or high moorlands] in the small community of Monquentiva is already characterized by becoming-with-other-beings-and-practices; a disposition toward incorporation of elements that are at-hand, and an ethics of care toward other beings in the landscape. We draw on ethnographic data to present this case study, emphasizing the forms of social organization and persistence that have enabled the emergence of economically and ecologically sustainable livelihoods. We explore these processes in terms of what we call world-making practices, showing how relationships with Indigeneity and collectivity are being renegotiated, and arguing for modes of conservation that engage with existing forms of peasant innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional, Indigenous houses in Puno, Peru, were built using adobe bricks, stone, and wood. Today, young Indigenous couples are building houses that utilize modern materials such as concrete, brick, and steel. In this paper, I analyze the effects that changing materialities of house construction practices have on the durability and breadth of kin-relationships in Puno. I argue that these changes are possible due to the kind of personhood that houses occupy within kin networks in the Puno and the Andes. Furthermore, I show how access to new materials allows younger families to build houses more quickly than their parents did, shortening the time to develop stronger kin relationships that were once afforded by building with traditional materials. These new materials affect the house's ability to make and maintain kinship in the future where the quality of kin relationships is directly influenced by the material qualia of the house. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information from diversity inventories was used to study patterns of biodiversity and species distribution, to identify potential priority areas for conservation, and to guide future sampling efforts. In this context, we compiled information on non‐volant small mammal communities from the high Andes (>2000 m). Here, we present an open source dataset containing information on diversity (species composition, number of individuals captured), inventory design (type of traps, sampling efforts), and environment (habitat) for both unpublished and published information. This study covers 630 mammalian communities, geographically distributed throughout the Andes in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. We compiled a total of 26,412 individual records belonging to 240 species; the order with greatest number of records was Rodentia (n = 25,319, 96.06%), followed by Didelphimorphia (n = 373, 1.42%), Eulipotyphla (n = 358, 1.36%) and Paucituberculata, (n = 307, 1.16%). Andean non‐volant small mammal communities harbor a range from 1 to 17 species, with 93.06% of sites being composed of one to five species, 27.78% of sites with species richness varying from 6 to 10 species, and 4.17% sites composed of more than 10 species. Multiple sampling methods were used to survey non‐volant small mammals; the most representative methods were snap‐traps and Sherman traps, or a combination of both, in more than 81% of the studies. This data paper represents the first large dataset of faunal species inventories for the Andes. There are no copyright restrictions associated with the use of this dataset. Please cite this data paper when its data are used total or partially in research or teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos Geograficos is the property of Cuadernos Geograficos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Andean cloud forests of Ecuador are home to several endemic mammals. Members of the Thomasomyini rodents are well represented in the Andes, with Thomasomys being the largest genus (47 species) of the subfamily Sigmodontinae. Within this tribe, however, there are genera that have escaped a taxonomic revision, and Chilomys Thomas, 1897, constitutes a paradigmatic example of these “forgotten” Andean cricetids. Described more than a century ago, current knowledge of this externally unmistakable montane rodent is very limited, and doubts persist as to whether or not it is monotypic. After several years of field efforts in Ecuador, a considerable quantity of specimens of Chilomys were collected from various localities representing both Andean chains. Based on an extensive genetic survey of the obtained material, we can demonstrate that what is currently treated as C. instans in Ecuador is a complex comprising at least five new species which are described in this paper. In addition, based on these noteworthy new evidence, we amend the generic diagnosis in detail, adding several key craniodental traits such as incisor procumbency and microdonty. These results indicate that Chilomys probably has a hidden additional diversity in large parts of the Colombian and Peruvian territories, inviting a necessary revision of the entire genus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we develop a genealogy of practice approach for the historical analysis and comparison of Andean ceramic firing. This effort was set in motion by the similarity of two sets of ash mounds observed in the Lake Titicaca Basin of Bolivia, one modern and one from the Late Intermediate Period (A.D. 1100–1450). We eschew an ethnoarchaeological perspective in favor of considering their position within a longer genealogy of potting practice. We argue that a genealogical perspective foregrounds ephemeral evidence that is often ignored in dominant narratives, highlights the emergent nature of practices, and draws attention to subject formation across generations. We examine the extant data for pottery firing in the region, drawing out the genealogy of practices involved in firing facilities and subject formation from the Formative Period (1500 B.C. –A.D. 450) through the present. We then return to the ash mounds, juxtaposing the practices and archaeological traces to consider their historical emergences. These two approaches allow us to begin to map out the particularities of Lake Titicaca Basin production locales and to pose new questions of the social relations associated with ceramic firing contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological change has interested archaeologists since the inception of the field, but persistence – particularly in a broader context of social transformation – is also a phenomenon that demands explanation. This paper examines the persistence of Indigenous silver production in Porco, Bolivia from Inka times to the twenty-first century, arguing that rather than solely being the result of either passive traditionalism or active identity creation, it can be most fully understood in terms of the intersection of technological practice with a changing local political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Confluenze. Rivista di Studi Iberoamericani is the property of Universita di Bologna, Dipartimento di Lingue, Letterature e Culture Moderne and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis provides a powerful means of investigating human migration, social organization, and a plethora of other crucial questions about humanity's past. Recently, specialists have suggested that the ideal research design involving aDNA would include multiple independent lines of evidence. In this paper, we adopt a transdisciplinary approach integrating aDNA with archaeological, biogeochemical, and historical data to investigate six individuals found in two cemeteries that date to the Late Horizon (1400 to 1532 CE) and Colonial (1532 to 1825 CE) periods in the Chincha Valley of southern Peru. Genomic analyses indicate that these individuals are genetically most similar to ancient and present-day populations from the north Peruvian coast located several hundred kilometers away. These genomic data are consistent with 16th century written records as well as ceramic, textile, and isotopic data. These results provide some of the strongest evidence yet of state-sponsored resettlement in the pre-Colonial Andes. This study highlights the power of transdisciplinary research designs when using aDNA data and sets a methodological standard for investigating ancient mobility in complex societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Chilena de Antropologia is the property of Universidad de Chile and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Cremolobus is a genus of seven species distributed along the Andes from northern Argentina and Chile northward into Colombia, and it inhabits a variety of different environments from humid habitats, such as the Yungas in Bolivia and Argentina or the Andean Paramos in Colombia and Ecuador, to the arid regions of the Sechura Desert in Peru. This genus, together with Aimara and Menonvillea, form the South American tribe Cremolobeae, which is morphologically defined by the indehiscent and 1-seeded schizocarpic silicles. To date, phylogenetic analyses in the tribe were mainly focused on Menonvillea and Aimara, but there are no prior studies on Cremolobus. In this paper, we first studied the phylogenetic placement of Cremolobus within Cremolobeae using ribosomal nuclear (ITS) and chloroplast (trnL-F, trnH-psbA, rps16 intron) data, including a comprehensive sampling of taxa. We also analysed morphological variation among species, emphasizing habitat adaptation and characterizing main lineages within the genus. Additionally, we studied the biome/habitat preference by the species and main lineages of Cremolobus and other members of the tribe, as well as characterized their climatic niches along the environmental space. Results from our analyses support the monophyly of Cremolobus excluding C. subscandens and C. bolivianus, which are transferred here to the new genus Yunkia. Furthermore, species of Cremolobeae inhabit a wide diversity of habitats along the Andes that are associated with high ecomorphological diversity and, therefore, differing in this aspect from the related tribes Eudemeae and Schizopetaleae. Climatic niche comparison recovered low niche overlap between main lineages of the tribe, but high similarity among species of the same lineage, suggesting the presence of phylogenetic niche conservatism in the tribe. Systematic implications of these results, including a key distinguishing Yunkia from the remaining genera of Cremolobeae and a synopsis of its species, are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multiproxy analysis—geomorphology, organic matter, and carbonate content, diatoms, pollen, and magnetic properties of sediments—of the Barrancas Pueblo profile, located in Barrancas, Jujuy, Argentina (S 23°18′08,7; W 66°05′15,2; 3666 m.a.s.l.) to explore local environmental change over the last few millennia. This study is part of a broader investigation of the environmental conditions that facilitated and/or triggered the development of a mixed herding and hunting economic strategy during the late Holocene. The results suggest ongoing local moisture availability for most of the late Holocene; between 2400 and 1500 BP there was a stable, low energy environment that supported a vegetated floodplain, resulting in high availability of pasture and water. However, throughout most of the studied period, there were punctual arid episodes and erosion of the river catchment. High environmental variability post‐3000 cal BP could have put a premium on strategies to reduce the risk associated with resource unpredictability, such as economic specialization and intensification and storage practices designed to control and mitigate resource variability. This process could have ultimately lead to the consolidation of the Andean pastoralist way of life ca. 3000–2500 BP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species from the Northern Peruvian Andes (Cajamarca department), Drymaria veliziae sp. nov., is proposed in the present paper. It grows in the high-elevation montane grasslands and it is morphologically similar to D. auriculipetala from which it differs in having elliptic-ovate leaves, blade margin bases glandular, large number of stipules arranged in a pedicel form at the leaf axis and by the short and glandular pedicels. A detailed description, original photographs and a location map are provided, as well as an updated diagnostic key of Drymaria Ser. Frutescens. The IUCN status of the new species is assessed as Endangered (EN). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the profoundly material dimensions of Andean Catholicism, an aspect that has been under-examined by anthropological inquiries of the Catholic expansion in the "New World", and its role in developing a unique Andean "material" ontology. Recent discussions on the inseparability of mind and matter in Andean worldviews manifest their embodiment of mind and matter by a shared matrix of animated substance, with all materials being attributed some kind of potency and agency. My paper presents the analysis of a specific form of jewelry, namely necklaces that combine colored beads, coins, and Catholic items, showing that in the area of fieldwork sacredness and its multiple manifestations are located in the world of Christianity, and manifested through specific materials associated with "light". Here—as elsewhere in the Andes—"enlightened" materials, imbued with the quality of radiance and brilliance, are material manifestations and sources of "the divine". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Andean forests decreased in area over the past decade, and communities throughout the Andes are experiencing environmental degradation and soil fertility loss. But amid deforestation, forests returned to some Andean regions, producing local 'forest transitions', or net increases in forest cover. The mechanisms that drive these local transitions – often in part the actions of residents – are still little studied, but hold key information for creating successful forest and landscape restoration interventions. This paper investigates cloud forest cover dynamics in Intag, a region in northwest Andean Ecuador where people were actively reforesting by planting trees. We used remote sensing analysis of LANDSAT imagery (from 1991, 2001, and 2010) and household surveys and oral histories with residents of four communities. Results from remote sensing show that prior to reforestation projects (before 2001), deforestation rates were high (> 3%/year). But from 2001 to 2010 forest recovery surpassed deforestation – a local forest transition (net 3% forest cover). But although deforestation rates slowed precipitously (< 2%) people continued to clear forests in the highlands even as forests regrew around communities. This change in clearing rates and spatial redistribution of forest cover reflects people's reasons for planting trees – to restore water and other key ecosystem services perceive to be 'scarce'. The results point to a new 'path' by which forest transitions occur – the ecosystem service scarcity path – in which local demand for forest ecosystem services drive forest recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cuisine is a powerful reflection of social and cultural identity. This paper reconstructs culinary change and continuity on the pre-Hispanic north coast of Peru as a window into ancient experiences of collapse and conquest. Using archaeological data from three sites in the Jequetepeque Valley between 600-1500 CE, I identify points of change as well as persistent patterns in how rural farmers procured, prepared, and consumed daily meals. By considering the nature and timing of changes, I suggest that daily meals may have been a site of resistance and an expression of local cultural identity in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As decisions on climate change adaptation involve stakeholders with different values, beliefs and attitudes (VBA), decision outcomes depend on how stakeholders interact and how power is distributed. In this paper, we explore the VBA of stakeholders involved in three water management projects focusing on dams, micro-reservoirs, or wetlands in a Peruvian watershed facing droughts. We apply a framework with the core ideas of the hydrosocial cycle, the decision context perspective, and the VBA hierarchy to show how stakeholders' perspectives and power influence practices on the ground. The analysis of VBA reveals three different perspectives on water management held by different stakeholder groups. First, a community-based perspective, frequent among local communities, favors micro-reservoirs managed by communities. Second, an infrastructure-based perspective, frequent among public sector stakeholders, shows a preference for dams managed by the private sector. Third, a nature-based perspective, with a preference for wetlands managed by the public sector, is found across stakeholder groups. In the three water management projects, different power distributions determine which VBA dominate and influence practices on the ground. Dams on the ground represent power from the public and private sectors, while micro-reservoirs represent local grassroot control. In the wetland project, the outcomes of the evolving hydrosocial cycle are still unclear and will depend on how multiple perspectives are considered. Examining and questioning the decision context in which adaptation occurs can help excluded stakeholders achieve more power and agency and tackle the fundamental question of 'adaptation of what and for whom'. • We analyze values, beliefs, and attitudes (VBA) in climate change adaptation. • We study three water management projects in a Peruvian watershed. • Stakeholders in the projects have contrasted VBA. • Water management on the ground results from power distribution within projects. • Power relationships mediate the interactions between sets of VBA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Salares Norte (SN) Au–Ag belt is here defined as an Upper Miocene-Pliocene metallogenic area, extending for nearly 200 km, located NE of the northern end of the Upper Oligocene-Lower Miocene Maricunga Belt in the central Andes of northern Chile. The belt is located just east of the main reverse NS fault systems which are part of the Sierra Castillo, Potrerillos Mine and Claudio Gay Cordillera faults, limited to the north and south by the NW-striking oblique to the arc Imilac and Wheelwright-Incahuasi regional faults systems. The epithermal deposits within the SN belt are intimately associated with the occurrence of Middle Miocene volcaniclastic basins and Middle to Upper Miocene phreatomagmatic vents and their related high-sulfidation hydrothermal systems. The volcanostratigraphy of the SN epithermal belt comprises volcaniclastic sequences, subvolcanic and volcanic rocks ranging between the Lower Miocene and the Pliocene. High-angle NS reverse faults involving Paleozoic and lower Cenozoic units form the western-southwestern limit of the belt. Folded and faulted Middle Miocene volcaniclastic and volcanic sequences form the main host rock of at least 4 phreatomagmatic events that generated maar-diatreme fields and discrete maar vents, with their related subvolcanic facies, within the widespread Upper Cenozoic volcanic arc, ranging in age between ca. 15 and ca. 4 Ma. These four phreatomagmatic events are spatially and temporarily associated to 4 main high-sulfidation hydrothermal events which have altered both the phreatomagmatic rocks and the Cenozoic country rock of the explosive activity. These hydrothermal systems have formed dozens of discrete hydrothermally altered areas where argillic, advance argillic, silicification and steam-heated alteration are common. Most of the maar fields and the hydrothermal alteration systems are emplaced within a strike-slip tectonic regime with NE-trending shortening which is accommodated in the NW-striking sinistral-normal faults and NE-striking extension structures. These fault systems crosscutting interaction favor the hydrothermal fluid circulation and migration, as well as mineral precipitation on structural and/or primary lithological traps and on NE-striking tension cracks. In summary, the SN epithermal belt is an almost 200 km long and 60 km wide area, mainly NNE-oriented, where epithermal deposits have formed during the Upper Miocene and Pliocene (ca. 13-4 Ma), emplaced within Middle to Upper Miocene volcanic and volcaniclastic sequences associated to small volcanotectonic basins oriented in NS, NE-SW and NW-SE directions, in which most of the high-sulfidation systems are associated to discrete or repetitive structurally-controlled Upper Miocene-Pliocene phreatomagmatic vents and maar fields. • This paper defines a new Au–Ag epithermal belt in the Central Andes of northern Chile. • Novel results in terms of age, volcanic stratigraphyand hydrothermal alteration. • The relationships between Upper Cenozoic HS epithermal areas, local tectonics and phreatomagmatic volcanism are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soils are a valuable renewable resource on human timescales, and they interact with distinctive grassland ecosystems characterized by unique biodiversity and essential provision of ecosystem services, such as water supply and carbon sequestration. However, knowledge of the effects of wildfires on soil properties and nutrient availability in the Andes remains limited. Andean grasslands are currently one of the ecosystems of the Peruvian Andes most affected by wildfires. Our objective is to analyze the effect of fire activity on the physicochemical properties of soil and analyze its social context in Cusco, in the southern Andes of Peru. Soil samples were collected during five periods, spanning both the dry and rainy seasons, to characterize changes in soil properties and monitor vegetation recovery post-fire in two local communities dedicated to livestock activities. The vegetation restored after the wildfire was measured by the "step transect" method. Post-fire changes in soil properties indicate slight increases in pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium during the onset of the rainy season; thereafter, a gradual reduction in these values was observed. This reduction can be attributed to leaching associated with the seasonal rainfall and runoff regime. Our findings indicate that one-year post-fire, the biomass in burned areas is reduced to 30–46% of the biomass in unburned areas. A complete regeneration is likely to occur in up to 4 years; this assertion is supported by the perceptions of the affected population, as expressed in interviews conducted in the two farming communities. These results are significant for decision-makers formulation of policies and regulations regarding grasslands and their seasonal restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas is the property of Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The knowledge of the annual cycle of rainfall is of primary concern for many socioeconomic activities such as agricultural planning, electricity generation, and flood and other disaster management. The annual cycle of rainfall in Colombia has been studied so far using monthly or quarterly information, identifying zones with the unimodal regime (one wet season and one dry season) over the Caribbean, the Amazon, and the Pacific regions and zones with the bimodal regime (two wet and two dry seasons) in the Andes. This paper explores the annual rainfall cycle in Colombia on a daily basis using historical records of 1,706 rain gauges and the Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Station data precipitation data set. We found four types of annual precipitation regimes: unimodal, bimodal, mixed, and aseasonal. The unimodal regime predominates in the low‐altitude zones of the east and the north, the bimodal and mixed regimes over the Andes mountain range, and the aseasonal in the Pacific region. These results improve the statistical diagnosis of the spatial variability of the rainfall seasonality in Colombia. This phenomenon, however, is still far from being fully understood in its hydroclimatic context. The annual migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone is not enough to explain the diversity of rainfall regimes in Colombia. Local factors such as topography and land cover could play an important role in the occurrence and duration of rainfall seasons. Key Points: Four types of annual rainfall regimes were identified: unimodal, bimodal, mixed, and aseasonalUnimodal regime predominates in the north, east, and southeast; bimodal in the Andes; and aseasonal in the westIntertropical Convergence Zone migration, the Choco and Caribbean low‐level jets, and topography are major controls of the rain seasonality [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, published in two parts, is an analysis of the links between the 'agrarian question' in the Ecuadorian Andes and the creation of a network of indigenous-peasant organizations that became the backbone of the national indigenous movement. I explore the relations between agrarian change and social change, drawing on a monographic study carried out in Cotopaxi Province, in the central sierra of Ecuador, from the 1960s to the beginning of the twenty-first century. In the first part, I emphasized how the transformations unleashed by the crisis of the hacienda regime marked a rupture that consolidated the dense organizational scaffolding in the rural milieu. In this second part, I examine how development agencies, especially non-governmental organizations ( NGOs), played a fundamental role in strengthening those structures (1980s and 1990s). The history of the Union of Peasant Organizations of Northern Cotopaxi ( UNOCANC) is one such example: born from the struggle for haciendas, inputs from the development apparatus enabled the rise of local elites who turned the organization into one of the most militant in the country. In this paper, I draw attention to aspects seldom mentioned in the specialized bibliography, namely a detailed study of how peasant differentiation, the origins of which lay in hacienda hierarchies, and which was upheld in turn by the agrarian distribution, was accelerated by the actions of NGOs, which continued to favour those indigenous peasants with more power and economic resources. Thus, divergences were consolidated and internal fissures opened up in organizations that are at the root of the crisis of representation experienced by ethnic platforms in the Ecuadorian Andes today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Soils under anthropic uses showed more remarkable changes in soil properties with rainfall seasonality than soils under natural páramo. • Land-use change from natural vegetation to potato and onion crops followed by fallow reduces soil organic matter and water content and increases bulk density. • Land-use change could impair the ability of páramo catchments for streamflow buffering and this could increase surface runoff and reduce base flow. High-Andean páramos deliver essential ecosystem hydrological services from a combination of soil, vegetation, and climate characteristics, particularly in their natural state. However, agricultural activities considerably affect the páramo's ability to store, regulate, and supply water. Although there is information on the effect of potato crops (Solanum tuberosum) on páramo soils' properties, the effect of spring onion (Allium fistulosum) crops has been studied less. In addition, dry páramos are underrepresented in existent páramoś research. This study assessed the effect of rainfall seasonality (RS) and land-use change (transformation from páramo vegetation to crops) on soil hydrophysical properties associated with hydrological services (streamflow buffering) in a dry páramo in the Eastern range in Colombia. Six dominant land uses were studied: natural páramo vegetation (low slope, steep slope, and dense shrublands) and anthropic use (onion crops, potato crops, and fallow). An in-depth random stratified discrete design (0–5, 10–15, and 20–25 cm) was used to collect samples for analysis of soil organic matter (SOM), bulk density (BD), pH, and electrical conductivity (EC). Hydrophysical properties were measured at the soil surface: water retention capacity (WRC), structural stability (SS), and infiltration capacity (IC). Soils under anthropic uses showed more remarkable changes in soil properties with RS than soils under natural páramo. On the other hand, land-use change from natural vegetation to potato and onion crops followed by fallow leads to a reduction in SOM (9.8 %) and an increase in BD (0.19 gcm−3), especially at the surface level. In addition, this leads to a loss of WRC (20 % at field capacity), an increase in unstable aggregates (13 %), water erosion, and a loss of IC (44 mmh−1). This paper demonstrates the impact of land use on soil hydrophysical properties that compromise the maintenance of hydrological services and contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of Andean páramos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-altitude hypoxia is one of many environmental stressors affecting human populations in the highland Andes. Living highland Andeans show adaptive physiological responses to these conditions through both developmental plasticity and natural selection. Given the longevity of human settlement in this region, these same responses ought to have affected ancient Andeans. This paper tests whether developmental plasticity or natural selection best explains the morphological signatures of adaptations to high-altitude hypoxia in ancient highland Andeans. I compare four groups of skeletons: two groups from lowland regions and two groups from high elevations. Previous work shows that the two highland groups have small bodies and voluminous ribs compared with the lowland groups indicating morphological adaptations to high-altitude environments. This paper compares patterns of intrinsic variation and sexual dimorphism in body size, limb lengths, and rib morphology in highland and lowland groups to test if developmental plasticity or natural selection underlies these morphological differences. The four groups share similar patterns of sexual dimorphism and intrinsic variation in body size and limb lengths. The two highland samples show greater degrees of sexual dimorphism in rib morphology than the lowlanders. Patterns of intrinsic variation in rib morphology do not sort by altitude. Both natural selection and developmental plasticity in response to high-altitude hypoxia likely shaped skeletal morphology in ancient highland Andeans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we assess competing interpretations of a burnt ceremonial structure from the terminal Middle Formative period (ca. 300–100 BCE) by analyzing the stepped platform mound at Chiripa, Bolivia, through a systematic reconstruction of the fire that destroyed it. We developed a model of potential fire pathways, their social contexts, and material indicators. Our approach contrasts incipient fires from accident or arson to planned fires initiated for functional or social ends. We assessed these pathways for the Chiripa mound fire through experimental, geoarchaeological, faunal, and botanical data. Experiments were aimed at deducing the temperature, duration, and oxidation conditions of the fire. The fire temperature and duration were approximated from geoarchaeological analyses of construction materials in comparison with controls, and thermal alteration of faunal bone. Fuels were reconstructed through paleoethnobotanical analysis of charred remains from discrete areas within the burnt structure. We conclude that an intentional fire burned the structures on the Chiripa mound to temperatures of 700 °C or higher under oxidizing conditions for several hours. The pattern of heat-altered materials recovered would have required a substantial supplemental fuel load. At the 3840 masl elevation of Chiripa, the effective control of a high temperature oxidizing fire demonstrates technical expertise in fire management. Our findings indicate the fire appears intentional, likely a ritual event. We believe the structures were burned to facilitate a socio-political change during a period of social transition at the end of the Middle Formative period in Bolivia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paleomagnetic results obtained from 38 Pliocene—Pleistocene volcanic flows from the Knot of the Pastos and surroundings of Puracé volcano and Popayán (southwestern Colombia) are presented. Using stringent quality criteria and excluding sites that classify as representatives of transitional states of Earth's field, a selected group of 27 sites (16 with normal polarity and 11 with reversed polarity) was obtained with a mean direction (Dec = 357.8°, Inc = 6.4°, α95 = 7.5° and κ = 15) that coincides with the geocentric axial dipole field (GAD: Dec = 0o, Inc = 3.2o) and, unlike similar studies at similar latitudes, does not coincide with the GAD plus a 5% axial quadrupolar component (Dec = 0°, Inc = −1.08°). However, when serial correlation (SC) among several sites with high inclination anomalies is taken into consideration, the mean direction of two resulting groups of sites shows greater consistency with a field that includes a quadrupolar component. It is interpreted that the sites treated for SC record states of the field similar to today's field in the area of study, which is being affected by the South Atlantic Anomaly. Plain Language Summary: The only way to study Earth's magnetic field in the geologic past from experimental data is by studying the magnetization of rocks that record Earth's field in a way comparable to the way compasses point close to the geographic north. Earth's magnetic field changes are significant in relatively short time‐scales like years or centuries. In this study the paleomagnetic directions recorded in volcanic products from extinct volcanoes of the Colombian Andes were obtained. Most of the volcanic flows record paleomagnetic directions consistent with the ones obtained from previous studies, which in general differ from the present magnetic directions in the area by being less inclined downwards. However, some of the volcanic flows did record paleomagnetic directions that are similar to the present magnetic directions in the area, which have been linked to an ample low magnetic intensity area in the Atlantic Ocean called the South Atlantic Anomaly. So, as it has been pointed out in other studies, it is possible that this anomaly has acted recurrently during the geologic past. Key Points: The mean paleomagnetic direction among the selected sites from Colombia shows consistency with a geocentric axial dipole (GAD) fieldConsistency with a GAD field with a 5% quadrupolar component is obtained when serial correlation is appliedSerially correlated sites are probably affected by the South Atlantic Anomaly, in a way similar to the present field in the study area [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Complejo Volcánico Doña Juana – Cascabel National Natural Park is located between the departments of Cauca and Nariño in the southern Andean Region of Colombia. Due to the country's social challenges and the difficult access to the Doña Juana – Cascabel National Natural Park the biological knowledge concerning groups such as mammals, is based on studies prior to the park's declaration, reports from park rangers and residents. Between October 2017 and February 2018, eight trail cameras were set up in the Doña Juana – Cascabel National Natural Park and its buffer zone. We reviewed the information captured in these cameras and identified eight mammal species, three of which are new reports for the park. In total, 24 species were reported, including charismatic Andean species such as the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), and the Andean tapir (Tapirus pinchaque). The mammal diversity documented for the park is low (24 species) compared to other Andean areas. Further field work is necessary to complete the species inventories. Nevertheless, this research, to our knowledge is the first effort to study the medium and large mammals of the Doña Juana – Cascabel National Natural Park since its establishment in 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhanced anthropogenic climatic variability challenges small farmers. In the Sumapaz páramo (Colombia), higher irregularity in precipitation and temperature reduces the quality of pasture and cattle health. Data from surveys, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups were analyzed to understand livestock farmers' responses to the impacts of climatic variability. To estimate the communities' resilience in the páramo, we used the capitals framework, the Baseline Resilience Indicator for Communities (BRIC), and cluster analysis. The responses of most households aim to reduce the impacts of climatic variability on the production system, chiefly intensifying practices such as the rotation of paddocks, livelihood diversification, purchase of grass, and buying and selling livestock. Interestingly, farmers did not recognize the value of the types of capital for responding to climatic variability. Results showed that the use of available physical, social, and economic capitals render the farming system resilient. Our probit model estimated that economic and human capitals are the largest and most significant contributors to communities' capacity to respond to climatic variability. However, pre-existing non-climatic vulnerabilities are also important. For example, poverty hinders farmers from using their income in response to climatic variability. The place-based measurements used in this research are easily understood and applicable by local policy makers to address increasing climate variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological GIS is moving towards increasingly detailed, embodied, multidimensional simulations and analyses of human experience in the past. Most of the emerging GIS research synthesizing spatial modeling and subject-centered approaches has been concerned with practices and perceptions of landscape. This paper tightens the analytical focus to the more intimate scale of a single settlement, combining models of movement and visual experience within a planned colonial town in highland Peru. Such a rendering is important, since controlling movement and visual experience were central to the colonial project that built this and other such towns in the Viceroyalty of Peru. This study centers on an exceptionally well-preserved, relict planned colonial town in highland Peru to investigate affordances of movement and visibility within it. Several GIS-based simulations and analytical techniques are brought together, including drone-based high resolution three dimensional modeling, spatial network analysis, walking models, and cumulative viewshed analysis, to simulate aggregate visual experience as people moved through the town. The results are suggestive of how the layout of the town specifically routed transit to facilitate the visual prominence of the church and original Inka plaza of the reducción, as well as the prominence of indigenous elite households. Both continuities and discontinuities of movement and visual experience relative to Inkaic and Spanish colonial spaces are evident. By extension, this paper also provides a pathway for quantitative and reproducible modeling of site-scale movement and visual affordances as dimensions of subject and community formation in other global contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a political ecological framework for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis to examine changes in agricultural land in ancient and early historical contexts. It raises several issues pertinent to archaeological epistemology and science, with a particular focus on the limitations of using fixed data categories to examine fluid environmental processes and ecological relationships. The paper draws on political ecological theories that define land as a social process, moving beyond economic conceptions of agricultural land that rest on productive capacity and phenomenological theories that examine the physical environment in terms of cultural perception. It combines qualitative (archival) and quantitative (archaeological) data in a GIS methodology to address how linked changes in physical land attributes and labor routines can affect regional ecologies and foment social conflict. In empirical terms, the paper traces changes from maize to wheat fields during Spanish colonization (ca. 1533-1670) in Ollantaytambo, Peru, a monumental Inca town near the capital of their empire. It reveals how ecological transformations that occurred during this century–widespread deaths throughout, abandonment of Inca fields, and introduction of European biota–in part framed conflicts between Andean people and the colonial regime, and also empowered local farmers to claim land in previously undeveloped areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continental arcs are associated with volcanism concentrated into two main belts—the main arc and back arc, often separated by fold and thrust belts. The Loicas Trough, Argentina, is a post-orogenic extensional feature that obliquely cuts the fold and thrust belts. The trough hosts large Pliocene–Holocene volcanic centres, including Domuyo and Tromen, that lie between the main arc and back arc and thus provide a rare window into this setting. We present major and trace element data for the Loicas Trough, which we combine with geochemical modelling using the Magma Chamber Simulator (MCS) to explore the origin and evolution of the volcanism. The lavas display a wide continuous range from alkaline basalts to subalkaline rhyolites. Trace elements reveal variable extents of arc enrichment (2 < Nb/U < 28), which correlate with proximity to the trench and differentiation indices. Our results and MCS models indicate that the Loicas Trough parental magmas formed from compositionally zoned mantle. Best-fit models indicate that the differentiation occurs at middle and upper crustal levels, in sharp contrast to lower crustal hot zones beneath main arcs. Assimilation of partial crustal melts drives compositional evolution and obscures source signatures. Pure or high fraction end-member partial crustal melts are also identified at Domuyo based on their low Ba (~ 250 ppm) and moderate Sc contents (~ 8 ppm). We find evidence of similar lavas in transtensional settings adjacent to continental arcs worldwide, which do not adhere to the main versus back arc volcanism binary. We suggest the term arc-adjacent magmatism, where compositions are mainly controlled by extensive assimilation and reworking in the middle to upper crust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, information is added and comments are made about two recently described Peruvian species of Liolaemus from the montanus group: L. balagueri and L. qalaywa. When L. balagueri was described, differences from L. nazca was based on a phylogenetic analysis of a single mitochondrial locus, but without including phenotypic diagnostic traits that might differentiated them. On the other hand, L. qalaywa description was based upon specimens from Apurirnac department and intraspecific variation in meristic traits were missing. In this study, we added a molecular and morphological analyses between L. balagueri and L. nazca, supporting more rigorously the separation between these two taxa. In addition, the geographic range of L. qalaywa is extended to Cusco department (southwestern Peru), intraspecific variation of morphological characteristics and geographic information up to 79 specimens are included, and the conservation issues of this species is commented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suspended and bedload transport dynamics on rivers draining glacierized basins depend on complex processes of runoff generation together with the degree of sediment connectivity and coupling at the basin scale. This paper presents a recent dataset of sediment transport in the Estero Morales, a 27 km2 glacier-fed basin in Chile where suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and bedload (BL) fluxes have been continuously monitored during two ablation seasons (2014–2015 and 2015–1016). The relationship between discharge and SSC depends on the origin of runoff, which is higher during glacier melting, although the hysteresis index reveals that sediment sources are closer to the outlet during snowmelt. As for suspended sediment transport, bedload availability and yield depend on the origin of runoff. Bedload yield and bedload transport efficiency are higher during the glacier melting period in the first ablations season due to a high coupling to the proglacial area after the snowmelt period. Instead, on the second ablation seasons the peak of bedload yield and bedload transport efficiency occur in the snowmelt period, due to a better coupling of the lower part of the basin caused by a longer permanency of snow. Differences in volumes of transported sediments between the two seasons reveal contrasting mechanisms in the coupling dynamic of the sediment cascade, due to progressive changes of type and location of the main sources of runoff and sediments in this glacierized basin. The paper highlights the importance of studying these trends, as with retreating glaciers basins are likely producing less sediments after the "peak flow", with long-term consequences on the ecology and geomorphology of rivers downstream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Neotropical subtribe Pachyphyllinae comprises orchids distributed mainly along the Andes and characterized by the monopodial type of growth. The systematic position of this taxon within Orchidaceae and its generic composition was intensively discussed, but so far no comprehensive morphological study on the group was conducted. In this paper the morphological descriptions of all genera included in Pachyphyllinae are provided and the key to their identification is presented. In addition, the taxonomic position of Raycadenco is discussed. The research revealed the existence of two distinctive species which were classified until now within Pachyphyllum or Fernandezia. Since neither the flower morphology of those two species nor the gynostemium structure fulfils the concept of any known orchid taxon, the new genus is described here under the name Valdiviesoa. The two representatives of the new taxon are illustrated and the photographs of the plants are provided. The information about their distribution and ecology are provided. The morphological characters of all Pachyphyllinae representatives are compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Novon is the property of Missouri Botanical Garden Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Two novel species of Psalmopoeus Pocock, 1895 are described from the north-western and central-western slopes of the Cordillera Occidental of the Andes mountain range in Ecuador. The new species are easily differentiated from other congeners of Psalmopoeus by spermathecae and male palpal bulb morphology and a comparatively distant distribution to the type localities of the geographically nearest known congeners. The diagnosis of P. ecclesiasticus Pocock, 1093 is revised and updated, considering the novel species and observations on spermatheca of this species. Likewise, an evaluation is provided for the new species in terms of conservation due to the various threats impacting ecosystems and ecosystem services of their type localities. Finally, the importance of theraphosid spiders in Ecuador and South America and their possible conservation requirements are discussed and assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water policies tend to misrecognize the complexity of community-managed irrigation systems. This paper focuses on water allocation practices in peasant communities of the Bolivian interandean valleys. These communities manage complex irrigation systems, and tap water from several surface sources, many of them located outside the watershed boundaries, resulting in complex hydro-social networks. Historical claims, organizational capacity, resources availability, and geographical position and infrastructure are identified as the main factors influencing current water allocation. Examining the historical background and context-based conceptualizations of space, place and water system development are crucial to understanding local management practices and to improving water policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in C4 grass distribution and abundance are frequently observed in Quaternary, Holocene and future environmental-change scenarios. However, the factors driving these dynamics are not fully understood, and conflicting theories have been reported. In this paper, we present a very large dataset of modern altitudinal distribution profiles of C3 and C4 grasses covering the entire Neotropical Andes, which was compared with actual climate data. The results of multivariate analysis demonstrate that, in the Neotropical Andes, mean annual temperature is the main factor governing the modern altitudinal distribution of C3 and C4 grass species. The C3 and C4 grass distributions were compared with simulations based on the Lund-Potsdam-Jena dynamic global vegetation model ( LPJ- DGVM), which allowed the present grass distribution to be estimated. Finally, the DGVM was employed to simulate past and future scenarios, using the IPCC's climate projections for 2100 and PMIP2 models for the Holocene Optimum ( HO, 6000 years bp) and the Last Glacial Maximum ( LGM, 21 000 years bp). The results were found to be significantly different from those obtained using a simple photosynthetic model. According to LPJ forced with the PMIP2 models for the LGM, during the LGM, the C4 grasses would not have reached higher altitudes than found in the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper reports new data on qocha ponds from the Rio Pucara–Azángaro interfluvial zone, northern Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru. Qocha are a little known form of Andean agriculture that developed around 800–500 B.C. and remain in use today. Prior estimates suggested that in the study area, there were more than 25,000 qocha. While most Andean sunken beds are excavated to reach groundwater, qocha are rain-fed ponds. How these rain-fed ponds functioned has been an open question, but one that is answered in part by research presented in this paper. We suggest that a thick impermeable stratum of clay that was possibly deposited by paleolake “Minchin” created a perched water table that makes rain-fed qocha reservoir agriculture possible. Field geology shows that within the study area, this stratum only exists under Terrace E. Based on this model, we hypothesized that persistently used qocha should only be found on Terrace E. To test this hypothesis we used remotely sensed data to inventory qocha and to determine their distribution by each terrace present. We identified 11,737 qocha. By area 93.77% and by count 94.33% of the qocha are located on Terrace E. These results strongly supported our hypothesis. This case study illustrates that the long term viability of this form of agriculture is made possible by a physical context that is beyond human control. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper analyzes the material, discursive, and biophysical dimensions of fuelscapes, or energy landscapes. Ethnographic and ecological fieldwork was conducted in the Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary, Peru. Andean land use studies have focused on agricultural patterns such as vertical production zones. Fuelscapes are an important, energy-based means of producing and representing landscape. They show how uncultivated lands fit into livelihood strategies and reflect historic sedimentation of landscape. Fuelscapes are shaped by ecological characteristics, historic settlement patterns and property rights, gendered and intergenerational divisions in household labor, and state conservation policies. Conservation policies delimit fuelscapes to privilege live trees, but the resultant denudation of dead wood may carry implications for ecosystem health. This study elucidates how official policies intersect with household and communal resource use strategies to produce Andean fuelscapes. It provides insight into how uncultivated ecosystems fit into land use politics, practices, and representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicted climate change in the Andes will require plant species to migrate upslope to avoid extinction. Central to predictions of species responses to climate change is an understanding of species distributions along environmental gradients. Environmental gradients are frequently modelled as abiotic, but biotic interactions can play important roles in setting species distributions, abundances, and life history traits. Biotic interactions also have the potential to influence species responses to climate change, yet they remain mostly unquantified. An important interaction long studied in tropical forests is postdispersal seed predation which has been shown to affect the population dynamics, community structure, and diversity of plant species in time and space. This paper presents a comparative seed predation study of 24 species of tropical trees across a 2.5 km elevation gradient in the Peruvian Andes and quantifies seed predation variation across the elevational gradient. We then use demographic modelling to assess effects of the observed variation in seed predation on population growth rates in response to observed increasing temperatures in the area. We found marked variation among species in total seed predation depending on the major seed predator of the species and consistent changes in seed predation across the gradient. There was a significant increase in seed survival with increasing elevation, a trend that appears to be driven by regulation of seed predators via top-down forces in the lowlands giving way to bottom-up (productivity) regulation at mid- to high elevations, resulting in a ninefold increase in effective fecundity for trees at high elevations. This potential increase in seed crop size strongly affects modelled plant population growth and seed dispersal distances, increasing population migration potential in the face of climate change. These results also indicate that species interactions can have effects on par with climate in species responses to global change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RESUMEN Este artículo analiza la adopción informal como lente para observar discursos de parentesco y relaciones sociales y políticas más generales en Bolivia. Demuestro que los padres adoptivos (o “padres cotidianos”) usan ideologías de “relación” así como distinciones entre lo privado y lo público para reclamar niños que son adoptados clandestina e ilegalmente. A veces los Sullk'atas distinguen a sus familiares legítimos pero también enfatizan que la base ontológica de parentesco reside en la circulación de comida, sangre y energía por el universo. Aunque los Sullk'atas emigrantes basan su concepto de parentesco en discursos locales, acuden también a abogados para legitimizar sus adopciones. Los padres cotidianos expresan juicios morales al hablar sobre burocracia y sacrificios personales, incluso cuando no se reconocen jerarquías de género, etnicidad y clase socioeconómica. This paper explores informal adoption in Bolivia as a window onto broader social, emotional, political relationships and discourses. I focus on cases in which an adoptive parent raises a child who has not been officially declared abandoned by the state. Drawing on ethnographic research in the rural highland region of Sullk'ata, Bolivia and in the cities of Cochabamba and Sucre, Bolivia I demonstrate that Sullk'atas draw on local ideologies of relatedness as well as a distinction between public and private to maintain their claims to a child. In Sullk'ata the fosterage and informal adoption of children is generally accepted. Sulk'atas sometimes distinguish their parientes legítimos (Sp.), or “true kin,” from others, but they also emphasize the circulation of energy, food, and blood through bodies as the ground of relatedness. Although Sullk'ata migrants to Bolivian cities draw upon these local ideologies of relatedness, and voice resistance to state bureaucracy, they also turn to lawyers to further legitimate their adoptions. In their talk about these adoptions which are not “really legal” but have demanded personal sacrifices, adoptive mothers voice moral assessments of relationships that at once are embedded in systematic gender, ethnic, and class asymmetries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The Kingdom Fungi is one of the richest in species, most of which are still unknown. Many fungal species are hidden in the tropics, the area richest in biodiversity on earth. In this paper, a mycological analysis is presented on a vast number of soil samples collected in the Aguarongo forest, an important Andean Natural Reserve of Ecuador. The study was carried out by analyzing the total DNA extracted from the soil and unveiled a total of more than 400 species of fungi. The most abundant species belong to Ascomycota and Mortierellomycota; some are important beneficial fungi for the environments such as antagonistics of fungal pathogens or nematode predators, while others are well-known producers of nutraceutical and pharmaceutical compounds. Based on the results of this study, a picture of the mycodiversity of Aguarongo forest soil was obtained. This area hides a huge number of unknown fungal species that could be discovered; thus, the protection of the Aguarongo forest is mandatory. Fungi represent an essential component of ecosystems, functioning as decomposers and biotrophs, and they are one of the most diverse groups of Eukarya. In the tropics, many species are unknown. In this work, high-throughput DNA sequencing was used to discover the biodiversity of soil fungi in the Aguarongo forest reserve, one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in Ecuador. The rDNA metabarcoding analysis revealed the presence of seven phyla: Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mortierellomycota, Mucoromycota, Glomeromycota, Chytridiomycota, and Monoblepharomycota. A total of 440 identified species were recorded. They mainly belonged to Ascomycota (263) and Basidiomycota (127). In Mortierellomycota, 12 species were recorded, among which Podila verticillata is extremely frequent and represents the dominant species in the entire mycobiota of Aguarongo. The present research provides the first account of the entire soil mycobiota in the Aguarongo forest, where many fungal species exist that have strong application potential in agriculture, bioremediation, chemical, and the food industry. The Aguarongo forest hides a huge number of unknown fungal species that could be assessed, and its protection is of the utmost importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Social movements have been viewed as vehicles through which the concerns of poor and marginalized groups are given greater visibility within civil society, lauded for being the means to achieve local empowerment and citizen activism, and seen as essential in holding the state to account and constituting a grassroots mechanism for promoting democracy. However, within development studies little attention has been paid to understanding how social movements can affect trajectories of development and rural livelihood in given spaces, and how these effects are related to movements’ internal dynamics and their interaction with the broader environment within which they operate. This paper addresses this theme for the case of social movements protesting contemporary forms of mining investment in Latin America. On the basis of cases from Peru and Ecuador, the paper argues that the presence and nature of social movements has significant influences both on forms taken by extractive industries (in this case mining) and on the effects of this extraction on rural livelihoods. In this sense, one can usefully talk about rural development as being co-produced by movements, mining companies, and other actors, in particular the state. The terms of this co-production, however, vary greatly among different locations, reflecting the distinct geographies of social mobilization and of mineral investment, as well as the varying power relationships among the different actors involved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Climate variability imposes greater challenges on family farming and especially on rural communities in vulnerable mountainous regions such as the Andes in Latin America. Changes in rainfall patterns and fluctuations in temperatures cause a greater frequency of extreme events, increased pests, and crop diseases, which even lead to food insecurity in communities that depend on self-production for survival. This is why strategies need to be developed to face this new scenario. Two cases of adaptation experiences to the effects of climate variability in rural communities in Chile (Araucanía Region) and Colombia (Cauca Department) were analyzed on this paper. For this, a mixed methodological approach was adopted that included the analysis of climate data, socioeconomic, and productive characterization of the communities, and a characterization of adaptation practices for both cases. The results show various ways of adapting mainly to changes in the availability and access of water for the development of agriculture and for domestic use. Likewise, it is shown that in order to be successful, the measures for facing climate variability must be part of coordinated strategies under a community-based adaptation approach and not developed in isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several coarse-scale studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between biodiversity and human population density. In this paper this relationship is studied for part of the Andean highland, on a finer spatial scale than in earlier studies, and comparing bird distribution data with pre-Columbian as well as contemporary population centres. A particularly close correspondence was found between ancient population centres and high numbers of species with small distributions. This suggests that the growth of resident human cultures was related, in some way, to local factors which--over a much longer time-scale--stimulated the process of evolution of new species. This correspondence may be a consequence of climate moderation in the mountain areas leading to local persistence, of wild species as well as human communities. However, the result also suggests that we need to study to what extent high biodiversity as such, under certain conditions, yields environmental services which were important for people. It also suggests that traditional efforts to preserve biodiversity in wilderness areas with few people should be supplemented with efforts to promote a more sustainable development in the populated areas, allowing cloud forest and other biologically rich habitats to persist in suitable places near population centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]