Recovery of local agrobiodiversity after an extreme flood in Amazon floodplains

• Published in: Biological conservation Vol. 292; p. 110536
• Main Authors: Ávila, Julia Vieira da Cunha, Ticktin, Tamara, Steward, Angela May, Giehl, Eduardo Luis Hettwer, Cantor, Mauricio, Clement, Charles Roland
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-04-2024
• Subjects: Agrobiodiversity; Climate change; Food security; Manioc; Ribeirinhos; Climate change; Agrobiodiversity; Manioc; Food security; Ribeirinhos
• ISSN: 0006-3207
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110536

Agrobiodiversity is economically, socially, culturally, and ecologically important for resilience of local communities and their agroecosystems. We identified an extreme flood impact on Alpha and Beta agrobiodiversity before, immediately after and two years after the largest flood ever recorded in three different floodplain types along the middle Solimões River in Amazonia. We found that palms and trees, and species native to Brazil, had higher survival rates in all three floodplain types. The low várzea showed the most expressive losses of ethnospecies and manioc Alpha diversity among the floodplain types; ethnospecies original diversities were not recovered even two years after the flood, and manioc had the slowest recovery. Ethnospecies Beta diversity was relatively homogeneous among floodplain types before the flood; after the extreme flood more heterogeneity was observed. These results highlight the vulnerability of local agrobiodiversity in the face of extreme climatic events, which drastically affect local food sovereignty and income sources.