Holocene vegetation and climate in the Anavilhanas archipelago-Negro River, Amazonia

Abstract

In the lower course of the Negro River is located the Anavilhanas Archipelago, the North of Amazon Basin. The Anavilhanas Archipelago is one of the largest fluvial island systems on earth and covered by Igapó Forest. However, the formation of Igapó Forest and record of the pre-colonial human populations in Anavilhanas region is still unknown, particularly during the Holocene. The sediments with high organic matter content from the lakes located inside these islands serve as an important archive of the environmental and climatic changes that occurred in the Negro River Basin. Therefore, environmental reconstructions based on these sedimentary deposits have the potential to reveal the evolution of the Igapó Forests and document the activities of pre-colonial human populations in relation to past climate. This Post-doctoral project aims to reconstruct the Holocene history of the Anavilhanas Archipelago - Rio Negro (Amazon) using a paleoecological and climatic approach applied to lacustrine sediments (Pacú Lake) and it is linked to the FAPESP JP 2 Project 2018/15123-4 (PPTEAM). In consequence, multi-proxy analyzes will be carried out (pollen, diatoms, stratigraphy, stable isotopes of C, N and micro-particles carbonized) in a sedimentary core NGR07 (677 cm depth) collected in Pacú Lake, heart of Anavilhanas Archipelago. The NGR07 core covers the last 10,000 cal years BP, determined by radiocarbon age. The expected results from this unprecedented and pioneering research will provide comprehensive baseline dataset to deepen our understanding of the Igapó Forests history, the climatic variations of Northwest Amazonia and the activities of pre-colonial human populations during the Holocene. Additionally, the results will contribute to the objectives of the JP-2 FAPESP 2018/15123-4 (PPTEAM) project, to which this proposal is linked. (AU)