ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE PRODUCTION I N A FLOODPLAIN ISLAND OF CENTRAL AMAZONIA - A MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROJECT

In the central sedimentary depression of the Amazon basin, two types o f ecological settings are generally recognized: the ''terra firme'', t he part never reached by the flood of the rivers and the floodplains l ocally called ''varzea''. Attempts at intensive exploitation of the '' terra firme'' in the 70's were very disappointing especially because o f the soil poverty. As a consequence, in the 80's, the ''varzea'' was increasingly considered as an option for regional development. Floodpl ains are very productive environments which have been exploited from v ery early in the history of man. They are also very complex systems wh ich are relatively poorly understood despite a large amount of researc h. In that context an international team conducted the interdisciplina ry project ''Ecological conditions of the production in a floodplain i sland of central Amazonia''. This short term project consisted in 1) a description of the main system compartments (physical and climatic en vironment, water quality, soils, terrestrial and aquatic vegetation, s oil invertebrates, fishes and shrimps) and 2) an analysis of the resou rces exploitation by human populations also taking into account histor ical factors.