Daniel M. Larrea-Alcazar

Oenocarpus bataua Mart. (Arecaceae) (known as “majo” in Bolivia) is an Amazonian palm fruit with considerable potential for the development of functional foods; however, its rapid postharvest deterioration limits its utilization. This study evaluated the effects of preservation methods and frozen storage on the physicochemical properties of two morphotypes of its fruits (dark-purple and pale-colored). Proximate analysis of pulp and peel fractions revealed a lipid-rich composition, with crude lipid contents close to 49% (dry basis), moderate protein levels (7.1–9.7%), and crude fiber contents around 15%. Dietary fiber characterization showed exceptionally high total dietary fiber (61.6%), predominantly insoluble dietary fiber (56.3%) under short-term frozen storage. Fresh pulp exhibited high antioxidant capacity, as determined by the DPPH assay (2003–2070 µmol TE/g dry matter), while freeze-drying preserved significantly higher antioxidant activity than hot-air drying. Functional properties were strongly affected by storage duration, with water-holding capacity decreasing from (4.43–3.17) g H₂O/g dry matter and swelling capacity from 13.95 to 9.62 mL H₂O/g dry matter after prolonged freezing. FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the presence of characteristic polysaccharide and lignocellulosic structures and indicated structural disruption of the insoluble fiber matrix during long-term storage. These findings support the use of Bolivian majo as a promising source of functional ingredients and provide a basis for developing value-added Amazonian food products and optimizing preservation strategies.

Este capítulo enfoca a profunda interdependência entre os povos da Amazônia e seus ambientes. Essa interdependência forma a base das sociobioeconomias - sistemas de produção, troca e consumo que contribuem para uma Amazônia bem conectada por meio do uso sustentável e da restauração de florestas prósperas e rios caudalosos, beneficiando tanto as comunidades locais quanto o planeta como um todo. Diversas comunidades amazônicas compartilham uma conexão intrincada, baseada no local, com seus territórios e com os recursos naturais que sustentam sua subsistência e que têm o potencial de gerar produtos comerciais com valor agregado. A valorização dos sistemas de conhecimento com base territorial apoia os direitos e territórios dos PIs, APs e CLs que são exercidos por meio da governança local e dos sistemas de gestão de recursos. Esses elementos ajudam a promover o bem-estar e o compartilhamento equitativo de benefícios, deixando de ser a maximização do lucro o principal motor econômico e passando a sustentar a integridade do ecossistema e a intrincada rede de vida florestal e ribeirinha. O primeiro subtema do capítulo explora os princípios das economias locais autodefinidas, que estão enraizadas em sistemas de conhecimento cultural e social que promovem o bem-estar e a justiça. As socioeconomias locais incluem diversas iniciativas de povos indígenas e afrodescendentes, comunidades locais de pequenos proprietários e moradores urbanos. O segundo subtema enfoca o bem-estar além do âmbito humano, enfatizando o gerenciamento sustentável dos sistemas naturais. Ele destaca práticas ecológicas que sustentam a biodiversidade e respeitam os ciclos de vida biológica e os ritmos sazonais. O terceiro subtema trata de como superar os principais desafios e mitigar os riscos sem ultrapassar os limites ecológicos essenciais. Ele apresenta estratégias concretas para o avanço das socioeconomias baseadas no território que sustentam e melhoram os meios de subsistência locais, incentivam a criatividade e a diversificação do mercado e protegem a integridade das florestas e dos rios sob a administração de diversas comunidades locais.

Este capítulo se centra en la profunda interdependencia entre los pueblos amazónicos y su entorno. Esta interdependencia constituye la base de las socio-bioeconomías, sistemas de producción, intercambio y consumo que contribuyen a una Amazonia bien conectada mediante el uso sostenible y la restauración de prósperos bosques en pie y ríos caudalosos, beneficiando tanto a las comunidades locales como al planeta en su conjunto. Las diversas comunidades amazónicas comparten una intrincada conexión, basada en el lugar, con sus territorios y los recursos naturales que sustentan sus medios de vida y que tienen el potencial de generar productos comerciales con valor añadido. La valoración de los sistemas de conocimiento basados en el territorio respalda los derechos y territorios de los PI, las AP y las CL que se ejercen a través de la gobernanza local y los sistemas de gestión de recursos. Estos elementos contribuyen a promover el bienestar y el reparto equitativo de los beneficios, alejándose de la maximización de los beneficios como principal motor económico y orientándose hacia el mantenimiento de la integridad de los ecosistemas y la intrincada red de vida forestal y fluvial. El primer subtema del capítulo explora los principios de las economías locales autodefinidas, enraizadas en sistemas de conocimiento cultural y social que promueven el bienestar y la justicia. Las sociobioeconomías locales incluyen diversas iniciativas de pueblos indígenas y afrodescendientes, comunidades locales de pequeños agricultores y habitantes urbanos. El segundo subtema se centra en el bienestar más allá del ámbito humano, haciendo hincapié en la gestión sostenible de los sistemas naturales. Destaca las prácticas ecológicas que mantienen la biodiversidad y respetan los ciclos biológicos de la vida y los ritmos estacionales. El tercer subtema aborda cómo superar los principales retos y mitigar los riesgos sin traspasar los umbrales ecológicos esenciales. Presenta estrategias concretas para impulsar socio-bioeconomías territoriales que sostengan y mejoren los medios de vida locales, fomenten la creatividad y la diversificación de los mercados y protejan la integridad de los bosques y los ríos bajo la custodia de diversas comunidades locales.

This chapter focuses on the deep interdependence between Amazonian peoples and their environments. This interdependence forms the foundation of socio-bioeconomies—systems of production, exchange, and consumption that contribute to a well-connected Amazon through the sustainable use and restoration of thriving standing forests and flowing rivers, benefiting both local communities and the planet as a whole. Diverse Amazonian communities share an intricate, place-based connection to their territories and the natural resources that sustain their livelihoods and that hold the potential of yielding commercial products with added value. Valuing territorial-based knowledge systems supports the rights and territories of IPs, APs, and LCs that are exercised through local governance and resource management systems. These elements help promote well-being and equitable benefit sharing, shifting away from profit maximization as the primary economic driver and toward sustaining ecosystem integrity and the intricate web of forest and riverine life. The chapter’s first subtheme explores the principles of self-defined local economies, which are rooted in cultural and social knowledge systems that promote well-being and justice. Local socio-bioeconomies include diverse initiatives by Indigenous and Afrodescendant Peoples, smallholder local communities, and urban dwellers. The second subtheme focuses on well- being beyond the human realm, emphasizing the sustainable management of natural systems. It highlights ecological practices that sustain biodiversity and respect biological life cycles and seasonal rhythms. The third subtheme addresses how to overcome key challenges and mitigate risks without crossing essential ecological thresholds. It presents concrete strategies for advancing territory-based socio-bioeconomies that sustain and improve local livelihoods, encourage market creativity and diversification, and protect the integrity of forests and rivers under the stewardship of diverse local communities.

Reliable precipitation estimates are critical for climate analysis and ecosystem management in regions with complex topography and limited ground-based observations. Bolivia, where the Andes, inter-Andean valleys, and Amazonian lowlands converge, presents sharp climatic heterogeneity that challenges both satellite retrievals and reanalysis products. This study evaluated three widely used datasets, MSWEP V2.2, CHIRPS V2, and ERA5-Land, against monthly station records from 1980 to 2022 to identify the most reliable precipitation estimations for hydrological and climate applications in five distinct regions. We applied a robust validation framework that integrates continuous and categorical performance metrics into a Combined Accuracy Index (CAI), providing a balanced measure of magnitude and event detection skill. Additionally, we implemented a conservative trend analysis with explicit correction for serial autocorrelation to ensure reliable identification of long-term changes. The results showed that MSWEP V2.2 consistently outperforms CHIRPS V2 and ERA5-Land across most regions, achieving the highest combined skill. In the Altiplano, MSWEP reached a CAI of 0.91, compared to CHIRPS (0.80) AND ERA5-Land (0.68). In the Valles region, MSWEP also led with 0.85, outperforming CHIRPS (0.79) and ERA5-Land (0.51). By contrast, CHIRPS V2 performed better in the Llanos (0.85) relative to MSWEP (0.82) and ERA5-Land (0.79). In the Chaco, MSWEP and CHIRPS performed similarly (0.80 and 0.81, respectively), while ERA5-Land scored 0.70. In the Amazonian lowlands, all three products performed well, with MSWEP ranking first (0.93), followed by ERA5-Land (0.88) and CHIRPS (0.86). ERA5-Land systematically overestimated precipitation across Bolivia, with annual biases above 36 mm month⁻¹. Trend analysis revealed significant precipitation declines, particularly in the Llanos (MSWEP: −0.88 mm year⁻¹; CHIRPS: −1.19 mm year⁻¹; ERA5-Land: −0.90 mm year⁻¹), while changes in the Altiplano, Valles and Amazonia were weaker or nonsignificant. These findings highlight MSWEP V2.2 as the most reliable dataset for Bolivia. The methodological framework proposed here offers a transferable approach to validate gridded products in other data-scarce and environmentally diverse regions.

Aim: The geographical dichotomy hypothesis (GDH) states several flowering plant groups have specialized pollination systems in tropical areas where resources are more reliable and pollinator communities tend to be more stable, than in extratropical areas. Our main goal was to understand the scope of the GDH and/or gradual environmental variation considering the evolutionary history of the pollination traits.Location: Neotropical tropics and adjacent extratropics.Major taxa studied: Columnar cacti.Methods: Using a database composed of ~54 columnar cacti species (31.7% of the global columnar cactus species), four complex traits were analysed: pollination syndromes, reproductive systems, type of anthesis, and duration of anthesis. We conducted generalized linear models (GLMs), phylogenetic regressions, evolutionary trait optimization, and multivariate models with 19 bioclimatic variables and potential evapotranspiration.Results: Weak phylogenetic signal was detected for all traits, giving consistent results between GLMs and phylogenetic regression analysis. The pollination syndrome and duration of anthesis varied with latitude, in contrast to the reproductive system and the type of anthesis. In the Southern Hemisphere, the pollinators were more diverse and the duration of anthesis was longer. Different evolutionary paths between hemispheres were detected and optimization showed a complex pattern in the evolution of traits, suggesting high homoplasy with multiple transformations by convergence and/or parallelism. The environmental models showed thermic seasonality may be at the core of the latitudinal variation of the pollination system.Main conclusions: We did not detect a geographical dichotomy in pollination systems of the cacti, but rather a gradual change in different pollination attributes. Therefore, instead of a GDH, we propose an environmental gradient hypothesis (EGH). Environmental variables may be explaining the variation detected in pollination system traits by conditioning floral properties (morphology, phenology), diversity and distribution of pollinators, and/or coevolution occurrence. The complexity implied in these traits is consistent with high homoplasy levels and a differential evolutionary history between the hemispheres.

Neotropical forests offer alternatives to surface cooling and their conservation is an effective solution for mitigating the effects of climate change. Little is known about the importance of tropical dry forests for temperature regulation in Chiquitania, a region with increasing deforestation rates. The impact that deforestation processes are having on the surface temperature in Chiquitania remains an open question. This study evaluated trends in forest cover loss based on land surface temperatures (°C) in forested and deforested areas in Chiquitania. We hypothesized a positive relationship between higher deforestation and a temperature increase, which would decrease the resilience of highly disturbed Chiquitano forests. We evaluated ten sampling sites (10 × 10 km), including five in forested areas with some type of protection and the other five in areas with populated centers and accelerated forest loss. We developed scripts on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform using information from the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI, MOD13A2) and the daytime and nighttime Land Surface Temperature (LST, MYD11A1) from MODIS products for the period 2001–2021. The statistical significance of the trends of the time series averages of the MODIS products was analyzed using a nonparametric Mann–Kendall test and the degree of the relationship between the variables was determined using the Pearson statistic. Our results based on NDVI analysis showed consistent vegetation growth in forested areas across the study period, while the opposite occurred in deforested lands. Regarding surface temperature trends, the results for daytime LST showed a positive increase in the four deforested areas. Comparatively, daytime LST averages in deforested areas were warmer than those in forested areas, with a difference of 3.1 °C. Additionally, correlation analyses showed a significant relationship between low NDVI values due to deforestation in three sites and an increase in daytime LST, while for nighttime LST this phenomenon was registered in two deforested areas. Our results suggest a significant relationship between the loss of forest cover and the increase in land surface temperature in Chiquitania. This study could be the first step in designing and implementing an early climate–forest monitoring system in this region.

Documenting temporal trends in the extent of ecosystems is essential to monitoring their status but combining this information with the degree of protection helps us assess the effectiveness of societal actions for conserving ecosystem diversity and related ecosystem services. We demonstrated indicators in the Tropical Andes using both potential (pre-industrial) and recent (~2010) distribution maps of terrestrial ecosystem types. We measured long-term ecosystem loss, representation of ecosystem types within the current protected areas, quantifying the additional representation offered by protecting Key Biodiversity Areas. Six (4.8%) ecosystem types (i.e., measured as 126 distinct vegetation macrogroups) have lost >50% in extent across four Andean countries since pre-industrial times. For ecosystem type representation within protected areas, regarding the pre-industrial extent of each type, a total of 32 types (25%) had higher representation (>30%) than the post-2020 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) draft target in existing protected areas. Just 5 of 95 types (5.2%) within the montane Tropical Andes hotspot are currently represented with >30% within the protected areas. Thirty-nine types (31%) within these countries could cross the 30% CBD 2030 target with the addition of Key Biodiversity Areas. This indicator is based on the Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) and responds directly to the needs expressed by the users of these countries.

Este capítulo explora a diversidade biocultural da Amazônia, com foco nas visões de mundo, sistemas de conhecimentos, estratégias de subsistência e sistemas de governança dos PICLs. Sintetiza os principais processos sociopolíticos que têm levado ao reconhecimento formal das terras e territórios PICLs em toda a Amazônia. Também destaca o papel fundamental dos PICLs no uso, formação, preservação e restauração dos ecossistemas e da biodiversidade da Amazônia, a despeito de processos históricos permanentes que incluem violência, desalojamento de povos de suas terras e conflitos entre as agendas de preservação e de desenvolvimento.

Este capítulo identifica os principais processos econômicos que ocorreram na Amazônia brasileira, andina e guianense, do século 19 até a década de 1970. Especificamente, o capítulo descreve a história do extrativismo e os efeitos da reconfiguração geopolítica da Amazônia depois do processo de emancipação ou descolonização. Ele analisa a extração da casca de quina (espécie do gênero Chinchona, Rubiaceae) e da borracha (Hevea brasiliensis, Euphorbiacae), bem como as características resultantes e práticas desenvolvidas por atores sociais relacionados à economia local e regional. Também descreve a história e a emergência o surgimento da exploração de petróleo e minérios (principalmente ouro), incluindo o começo do tráfico de animais selvagens e o surgimento da agricultura mecanizada, pecuária intensiva e mega infraestrutura. Finalmente, existem oportunidades para o uso de “commodities históricas” da Amazônia, como a castanha-do-pará (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae), com base na necessidade de agregar valor a esses produtos naturais. Essas oportunidades podem ser o alicerce de novos modelos baseados na chamada bioeconomia.