Mesoamerica is a megadiverse region in the Americas, spanning from Northern Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. This area presents a great variety of ecosystems, from tropical forests to high mountain ranges. Mesoamerica is also the region where many plant species, including cacao, beans, maize, and chili, were domesticated. Many indigenous cultures, such as the Olmec and Maya, developed in Mesoamerica since the middle Holocene. These ancient civilizations are well known for their cultural developments and can be seen to have modified and adapted the Mesoamerican landscape since the Preclassic period. In addition to the human drivers of landscape change, changing climate has played a crucial role in reshaping Mesoamerican ecosystems since the early Holocene. Intervals of dry and wet periods have been recorded, many of which have been linked to changes in the ITCZ, ENSO, and irradiance variability.
This Research Topic on Mesoamerican Paleoecology aims to present new interdisciplinary research on paleoenvironmental change during the Holocene in this megadiverse region. Papers on paleoecological reconstructions of all aspects of climate, vegetation, and past land use are invited, as well as papers with new methods on data interpretation.
We invite authors to submit original research and review articles focusing on the following topics:
• Paleoecology of Mesoamerican ecosystems and diversity based on pollen and other environmental proxies
• Past land use and climate influences on vegetation changes from local, regional to sub-continental scales
• Geospatial modeling of paleoecological data
• Past land-use change based on archaeological and historical data
Mesoamerica is a megadiverse region in the Americas, spanning from Northern Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. This area presents a great variety of ecosystems, from tropical forests to high mountain ranges. Mesoamerica is also the region where many plant species, including cacao, beans, maize, and chili, were domesticated. Many indigenous cultures, such as the Olmec and Maya, developed in Mesoamerica since the middle Holocene. These ancient civilizations are well known for their cultural developments and can be seen to have modified and adapted the Mesoamerican landscape since the Preclassic period. In addition to the human drivers of landscape change, changing climate has played a crucial role in reshaping Mesoamerican ecosystems since the early Holocene. Intervals of dry and wet periods have been recorded, many of which have been linked to changes in the ITCZ, ENSO, and irradiance variability.
This Research Topic on Mesoamerican Paleoecology aims to present new interdisciplinary research on paleoenvironmental change during the Holocene in this megadiverse region. Papers on paleoecological reconstructions of all aspects of climate, vegetation, and past land use are invited, as well as papers with new methods on data interpretation.
We invite authors to submit original research and review articles focusing on the following topics:
• Paleoecology of Mesoamerican ecosystems and diversity based on pollen and other environmental proxies
• Past land use and climate influences on vegetation changes from local, regional to sub-continental scales
• Geospatial modeling of paleoecological data
• Past land-use change based on archaeological and historical data