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Monitoring the status of species is crucial for biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource management in tropical forests, but conventional in situ monitoring methods are impractical over large scales. Scientists have resorted to two potentially complementary approaches: local ecological knowledge (LEK) and remote sensing. To gauge the potential of combining LEK and remote sensing for assessing species status at landscape scales, a large-scale assessment of the reliability of both measures is critical but hampered by the lack of ground-level data. We conducted a landscape-scale assessment of LEK and remote sensing, using a survey of over 900 communities (a near census in our study area) and nearly 4,000 households in 235 randomly selected communities in the Peruvian Amazon—the largest LEK survey as yet undertaken in tropical forests. The survey collected LEK data on the presence of 20 indicator species from both community leaders/elders and randomly sampled households. We assessed LEK and remotely sensed land cover—forest cover and nonmain channel open water—as proxies for species habitat, across species (game, fish, and timber), over time (current and historical), and by indigeneity (Indigenous peoples and mestizos). Overall, LEK and remotely sensed land cover corroborate each other well. Concordance is highest for the current status of game species reported by sampled households, as is the concordance of historical LEK from Indigenous community leaders/elders. The results point to the promise of combining LEK and remote sensing in monitoring the status of species in data-poor tropical forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Recession of 2007–2009 had profound effects on all sectors of the U.S. economy. In this article we assess the relationship between the academic job market in U.S. geography and the business cycle. Specifically, we examine the responsiveness of the job market to the business cycle since the early 1970s, the impacts of the Great Recession on hiring, and how hiring networks changed with the recession. For our analyses we draw on data from American Association of Geographers (AAG) publications, principally the AAG Newsletter (Jobs in Geography) and the Guide to Geography Programs in the Americas. We find that (1) the academic job market in geography is tightly linked to the business cycle and highly vulnerable to recessions, (2) the 2007–2009 recession destabilized demand and supply in the market with impacts on hiring lasting at least ten years, and (3) hiring networks among PhD-granting programs contracted, had lower connectivity, and witnessed a reshuffling of the top-hiring schools postrecession. Overall, the Great Recession dampened the likelihood of securing a tenure-track position in U.S. geography more so than any recession over the past fifty years. The arrival of COVID-19 and the accompanying contraction of gross domestic product are likely to further adversely affect faculty hiring. Key Words: economic recession, employment, higher education, university jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important legacy of China's historical isolation is the persistence of traditional practices in the use of natural resources. The Cultural Revolution and, more recently, dramatic economic growth and structural [...]

Amazonian wildlife population studies often employ conventional biological survey methods to assess species presence but a growing number of studies are making use of local ecological knowledge (LEK) household surveys. Despite concerns in the scientific community over the accuracy and precision of LEK, scant research to date compares data from conventional biological survey methods with data gathered from household surveys. An important question among scientists is who should be approached when collecting household survey data for wildlife inventories, both for accurate data and for ethical concerns. In this article, we report on the accuracy and precision of LEK household surveys for wildlife inventories based on data collected along the Napo River in Peru using 10 land transect surveys, 5 river transect surveys, 487 camera trap days, and 37 LEK household surveys. Our findings indicate that the household surveys for wildlife inventories are accurate in comparison to biological survey methods, and that they may outperform conventional surveys for certain aquatic, ephemeral, and cryptic terrestrial species. We find no statistical differences among households defined by participation in hunting, community leadership, or primary livelihood strategy. Community members recommend that scientists first solicit wildlife data from community leaders and then hunters. Through the use of retrospection, LEK surveys can reveal how wildlife presence changes through time in remote, data‐poor tropical forests. Use of LEK household surveys is recommended as a useful complement to other methods, with attention to collecting data ethically in collaboration with local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study near Iquitos, Peru, finds that a national agricultural program implemented in the late 1980s, which provided peasants with access to credit, secure land tenure, and grassroots organization, promised to reduce rather than improve the welfare of intended beneficiaries. New economic conditions and strategic behaviors engendered by the program threatened to combine through a process of community enclosure and competitive exclusion to undermine the subsistence viability of peasant communities. General lessons are drawn for more effective rural development programs, ones that pay particular attention to direct and indirect feedback effects of macroeconomic policy, the factors that limit peasant economic competitiveness, and to the fundamental 'spatiality' of development processes.

economy by investing where returns were high, specifically in rubber extraction and nontradables. Such an assertion, however, would slight the repeated efforts of state leaders to sponsor diversification projects, particularly [...]

Published evidence of prehistoric settlement from the lowlands of Amazonian Peru is sufficiently scarce to perpetuate debates over the presence and impact of early populations in western Amazonia. In this paper we review the cultural prehistory of the Lower Ucayali River, assess the presence of archeological sites and recovered artifacts, and describe a promising new site (Suni Caño) which may have been the chiefdom seat of the late prehistoric Cocama. We argue for a fuller exploration of the site and nearby terraces along the Lower Ucayali and in doing so, suggest that studies aiming to resolve debates over early environmental influence of humans in the Peruvian Amazon may not be looking in the most propitious places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fertile floodplain of the Amazon river offers considerable potential for agriculture, yet it is a risk-filled environment with heightened vulnerability due to climate change. The annual flood pulse deposits nutrient-rich sediment on the floodplain enabling increased agricultural productivity during the low water season. However, crops growing on the floodplain are at high risk of loss due to flood dynamics. Drawing on data from household surveys (n = 83), focus group discussions, and key informant interviews, this study assesses potential flood risk mitigation tools for floodplain rice farmers along the Amazon river near Iquitos, Peru. Farmers' risk mitigation preferences are explored through willingness to pay (WTP) methods for flood-tolerant rice varieties, river information services, and index-based flood insurance. Results indicate that measured ambiguity aversion is a key driver in the decision to mitigate flood risk. The study suggests that the environmental risk context may be appropriate for an index-based flood insurance product, and farmers and local institutions see the promise of flood insurance. With climate change scenarios predicting greater variability in the flood regime, mitigating flood risk is paramount to reducing the vulnerabilities and unlocking opportunities for floodplain farmers in Amazonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]