A review of Peruvian flood plain forests: ecosystems, inhabitants and resource use

The lowland Peruvian Amazon remains sparsely populated and densely forested . Few roads exist and rivers provide much of the infrastructure. Over 12% o f the area is comprised of flood plains inundated by the larger rivers, but due to their easy access and relatively fertile conditions, they provide a much larger share of the resources extracted in the region, and sustain mo st of the rural villages. The largest area of annually flooded land, consti tuting more than 60,000 km(2), surrounds the lower reaches of the Ucayali a nd Maranon rivers above their confluence to the Amazon proper, including al most 90% of the 20,600 km(2) large Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve. The ent ire area is constantly reshaped by erosion and deposition by the two main r ivers, but also by smaller rivers which carry fewer sediments and less nutr ients. The vegetation constitutes a complex mosaic of habitats defined by c ombinations of hydrological, physical, chemical and biological characterist ics. Sixteen habitats including 12 forest formations are classified and des cribed. Most flood plain inhabitants have lost their native identity, but t hey descend mostly from Amerindians rather than from recent immigrants, and preserve much knowledge on the flood plain environment and its habitats an d uses. They combine agriculture, fishery, hunting and extraction of other forest products, and they market increasing amounts of these products. Grow ing populations and an increase in the need for monetary incomes as well as in external economic interventions, increasingly endanger economically imp ortant flood plain plants, animals and fishes. This is even the case within the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, making it urgent to develop and imple ment sound management systems in the marginal zones of the reserve, and els ewhere in Peruvian flood plains. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.