The ancient Maya and the modern forest

Abstract

The land use of the ancient Maya strongly affected the environment of the previously forested Maya Lowlands. A forest grew back after the Maya “collapse”, some 1100 years ago. Two activities of the ancient Maya could have had widespread effects on the tree species composition of the regrown, modern forest. First, in areas with topographic relief Maya agriculture caused substantial soil erosion and accumulation, changing soil depth and character. Soil character is associated with differential distributions and abundances of many tree species in the Maya Lowlands. To the extent that soil character on the modern landscape differs from that on the pre‐Maya landscape, regrown forests on the modern landscape would differ from pre‐Maya forests. Second, the ancient Maya cleared much forest but likely also cultivated or favored certain tree species in home gardens, regenerating farm plots, and patches of older growth. A rigorous study suggests that descendants of favored tree species persist in elevated abundance in some areas of the modern forest but not in other areas. After c. 1100 years of regrowth in some places, the legacy of the ancient Maya in the modern forest likely ranges from strong to absent across the varied landscape of the Lowlands. An ancient mosaic of forest patches would have provided a species‐rich, multiple‐point source for forest regrowth. Such a mosaic is lacking in modern deforested tropical landscapes, likely inhibiting recovery of a species‐rich forest.