Science Forums 2

[Michaelangelica]

erich i think that article was based on this.
strange?

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
ISSN: 0962-8436 (Paper) 1471-2970 (Online)
Issue: Volume 362, Number 1478 / February 28, 2007
Pages: 187 - 196
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2006.1978
URL: Linking Options
Issue Title: Theme Issue ‘Biodiversity hotspots through time: using the past to manage the future’ compiled by Katherine J. Willis, Lindsey Gillson and Sandra Knapp
Editor(s): Katherine J. Willis, Lindsey Gillson, Sandra Knapp
Prehistorically modified soils of central Amazonia: a model for sustainable agriculture in the twenty-first century

Bruno Glaser AFF1

AFF1 Institute of Soil Science and Soil Geography, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany

Abstract:

Terra Preta soils of central Amazonia exhibit approximately three times more soil organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus and 70 times more charcoal compared to adjacent infertile soils.
The Terra Preta soils were generated by pre-Columbian native populations by chance or intentionally adding large amounts of charred residues (charcoal), organic wastes, excrements and bones.
In this paper, it is argued that generating new Terra Preta sites (‘Terra Preta nova’) could be the basis for sustainable agriculture in the twenty-first century to produce food for billions of people, and could lead to attaining three Millennium Development Goals: (i) to combat desertification, (ii) to sequester atmospheric CO2 in the long term, and (iii) to maintain biodiversity hotspots such as tropical rainforests.
Therefore, large-scale generation and utilization of Terra Preta soils would decrease the pressure on primary forests that are being extensively cleared for agricultural use with only limited fertility and sustainability and, hence, only providing a limited time for cropping.
This would maintain biodiversity while mitigating both land degradation and climate change. However, it should not be overlooked that the infertility of most tropical soils (and associated low population density) is what could have prevented tropical forests undergoing large-scale clearance for agriculture. Increased fertility may increase the populations supported by shifting cultivation, thereby maintaining and increasing pressure on forests.

You can buy the complete article at
The Royal Society - Article