bolivian amazon
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2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Jara-Ettinger ◽  
Roger Philip Levy ◽  
Jeanette Sakel ◽  
Tomas Huanca ◽  
Edward Gibson

In the US, children often generalize the meaning of new words by assuming that objects with the same shape have the same name. We propose that this shape bias is influenced by children’s exposure to objects of different categories (artifacts and natural kinds), and language to talk about them. We present a cross-cultural study between English speakers in the US and Tsimane’ speakers in the Bolivian Amazon. We found that US children and adults were more likely to generalize novel labels by shape rather than by material or color, relative to Tsimane’ participants. Critically, Tsimane’ children and adults systematically avoided generalizing labels to objects that shared no common features with the novel referent. Our results provide initial evidence that the relative exposure to objects of different kinds and language to talk about them can lead to cross-cultural differences on object name learning.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. e0262357
Author(s):  
Cédric Mariac ◽  
Fabrice Duponchelle ◽  
Guido Miranda ◽  
Camila Ramallo ◽  
Robert Wallace ◽  
...  

To date, more than 2400 valid fish species have been recorded in the Amazon basin. However, some regions remain poorly documented. This is the case in the Beni basin and in particular in one of its main sub-basins, the Tuichi, an Andean foothills rivers flowing through the Madidi National Park in the Bolivian Amazonia. The knowledge of its ichthyological diversity is, however, essential for the management and protection of aquatic ecosystems, which are threatened by the development of infrastructures (dams, factories and cities), mining and deforestation. Environmental DNA (eDNA) has been relatively little used so far in the Amazon basin. We sampled eDNA from water in 34 sites in lakes and rivers in the Beni basin including 22 sites in the Tuichi sub-basin, during the dry season. To assess the biogeographical patterns of the amazonian ichthyofauna, we implemented a metabarcoding approach using two pairs of specific primers designed and developed in our laboratory to amplify two partially overlapping CO1 fragments, one of 185bp and another of 285bp. We detected 252 fish taxa (207 at species level) among which 57 are newly identified for the Beni watershed. Species compositions are significantly different between lakes and rivers but also between rivers according to their hydrographic rank and altitude. Furthermore, the diversity patterns are related to the different hydro-ecoregions through which the Tuichi flows. The eDNA approach makes it possible to identify and complete the inventory of the ichthyofauna in this still poorly documented Amazon basin. However, taxonomic identification remains constrained by the lack of reference barcodes in public databases and does not allow the assignment of all OTUs. Our results can be taken into account in conservation and management strategies and could serve as a baseline for future studies, including on other Andean tributaries.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Cipora ◽  
Venera Gashaj ◽  
Annabel Gridley ◽  
Mojtaba Soltanlou ◽  
Hans-Christoph Nuerk

Despite variety of cultures, our shared biology and the universality of finger counting suggests that numbers are embodied. Another lines of research show that numerical cognition might be bound to what our bodies are able to do. Differences in finger counting are apparent even within Western cultures. Relatively few indigenous cultures have been systematically analyzed in terms of traditional finger counting and montring (i.e., communicating numbers with fingers) routines. Even fewer studies used the same protocols across cultures, allowing for a systematic comparison of indigenous and Western finger counting routines. We analyze the finger counting and montring routines of Tsimane’ (N = 121), an indiginous people living in the Bolivian Amazon rainforest, depending on handedness, education level, and exposure to mainstream, industrialised Bolivian culture. Tsimane' routines are compared with those of German and British participants. Tsimane’ reveal a greater variation in finger counting and montring routines, which seems to be modified by their education level. We outline a framework on how different factors might affect cross-cultural and within-cultural variation in finger counting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Gambon ◽  
Patrick Bottazzi

Political ontology reveals the processes of domination at play in the enactment of realities in a(post-) colonial context. In this article, we illustrate the implications of the power asymmetries inherent in conservation and co-management of protected areas involving Indigenous populations. We do so by exploring the case of Pilón Lajas in the Bolivian Amazon region, an area with double legal status as an Indigenous Territory and Biosphere Reserve. Drawing from our ethnographic fieldwork, we describe how indigenous relational ontology and the modern ontology of 'cultural diversity' are enacted by different stakeholders, and analyse critically the problems that arise for protected area management owing to the domination of a single ontology in a context where different ontologies are enacted. We finish by presenting our argument that solving such problems requires a cognitive justice approach.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Araujo ◽  
Francisco Costa ◽  
Teevrat Garg

Abstract International frameworks and agreements to reduce anthropogenic environmental disasters rely on international pressure driving local action. Although environmental catastrophes can occasionally capture international attention, it is unclear if focused media and increased public outcry can reduce environmental damage. We study the unusual and concentrated increase in international scrutiny on forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon in August 2019. Comparing active fires in the Brazilian Amazon versus those in the Peruvian and Bolivian Amazon before and after a surge in public attention on the Brazilian Amazon, we find that increased public attention reduced fires by 22% (93,607 avoided pixel-days of active fire) avoiding 24.81 million MtCO2 in emissions. Our results highlight the power of international pressure to compel governments to act on pressing environmental issues, even in political contexts hostile to environmental priorities.


Author(s):  
Jonathan Bauchet ◽  
Eduardo Undurraga ◽  
Ariela Zycherman ◽  
Jere Behrman ◽  
William Leonard ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sly Wongchuig ◽  
Jhan Carlo Espinoza ◽  
Thomas Condom ◽  
Hans Segura ◽  
Josyane Ronchail ◽  
...  

<p>Linking the Amazonian deforestation to changes in the hydrological cycle remains a puzzling question, addressed here through the use of recent global databases analyzing the relations between key hydro-climate variables (Precipitation (P), potential and actual evapotranspiration (PET and AET, respectively)), the surface water-energy balance and indices of forest cover change (regional forest loss ratio -RFL and regional non-forest vegetation ratio -RNF) for Southern Amazon (south of 8°S) and over the 1981-2018 period. The Southern Amazon constitutes a peculiar region due to specific climatic characteristics and shows a higher significant deforestation rate in comparison with the Northern Amazon. We further subdivided the study region into three subregions called Southern Bolivian Amazon (15° S‒21° S, 57° W‒70° W), Southern Peruvian Amazon (8° S‒15° S, 77° W‒65° W) and Southern Brazilian Amazon (8° S‒15° S, 65° W‒50° W). The surface water-energy balance is analyzed using a pixel-based Budyko-like theoretical framework approach, which discriminates energy-limited regions from water-limited regions. Southern Bolivian Amazon is shown to have undergone the strongest forest transition, becoming water-limited in conjunction with high forest loss. In this region, there is a significant relation between RFL values above 40%, P decrease, PET increases and AET decrease. These results suggest that areas with RNF values higher than 40% are prone to shift from an energy-limited to a water-limited state and remain trapped in this new state. Regions further north remain energy-limited due to minor P changes and even though significant increases in PET and decreases in AET are observed, associated with deforestation (high values RFL). This is typically the case in the ‘Arc of Deforestation’. In the Southern Bolivian Amazon, land use transition is associated with much larger changes from closed forest to a low-tree cover state as compared to regions further north - by at least a factor three as a proportion of area. Our findings indicate a clear link between hydro-climatic changes and deforestation, providing a new perspective on their spatial variability on a regional scale.</p><p> </p><p>This research is part of the French AMANECER-MOPGA project.</p>


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