The influence of ancient human occupation on the floristic composition of archaeological sites in Serra de Carajás, Pará, Brazil.

The high density of culturally relevant species is one example of the types of vegetation alterations that have been attributed to ancient human occupation and landscape management. This study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of the current vegetation at Serra de Carajás and identify possible effects of ancient human interventions. Were inventoried slope forest and capão forest plots in 14 areas around archaeological sites, and in 15 areas without material culture. Differences in floristic compositions were tested by analyses of one-way PERMANOVA, MDS, SIMPER methods, and a partial Mantel test used to separate the effects of human occupation, soils, and the distances between plots. The effects of human occupation on floristic composition were significant only for the slope forest sites. Among the species that contributed to the dissimilarities between plots near occupied sites and plots in areas without indication of occupation are: Aparisthmium cordatum, Matayba inelegans and Caraipa densifolia. Both the distance between plots and human occupation were significant in the variation of floristic composition for the slope forest sites. Our results suggest that past human impacts on the vegetation at Carajás were more intense on slopes, although they extended to varying degrees across the entire plateau.