FIU Department of Environmental Studies
Conservation Choices among Farmers of the Mayan Zone, Quintana Roo, Mexico
By Matthew Zirkelbach (EVR Grad Student)

I recently returned from 3 months of field research in the Mayan Zone of central Quintana Roo, Mexico, in the Yucatan Peninsula. The Mayan Zone is a region covered in seasonally dry tropical forests where large indigenous Mayan populations practice pre-Hispanic forms of shifting cultivation to meet both economic and subsistence needs. My research project concentrates on the disturbance patterns created by local Mayan shifting cultivators when preparing agricultural plots in the forest. More specifically, I focus on the forest fragments Mayan farmers choose to conserve, or leave behind, in their agricultural fields after slashing and burning them.
The main purpose of my fieldwork was to document the social and biological characteristics associated with three virtually unstudied remnant forest fragments found in the Mayan agricultural landscape that were produced as a result of shifting cultivation. To do this, I broke my study down into two parts so that I could answer both social and biological research questions. To better understand the social
characteristics of these forest fragments, I wanted to know what motivated farmers to leave them behind. Why did farmers feel that trees were more valuable standing, especially when the space these forest fragments occupied could have been put to agricultural use? What kind of informal local rules, if any, existed to manage them? To understand the biological dimensions of these forest fragments, I wanted to find out how biologically diverse they were individually, and as a whole. Can these forest fragments play a significant role in preserving plant diversity within agricultural landscapes? What potential do these forest fragments have as seed banks that speed up fallow field regeneration?
To answer these questions I conducted my research in two small Mayan agricultural communities. I began collecting social data by simply spending time chatting about each forest fragment with farmers during visits to their agricultural plots while helping them with odd jobs like collecting honey from personal apiaries. After time had passed, I used the informal data I collected

to develop formal questionnaires, which I randomly administered in both communities to address more specific questions. During the later stages of my research, I set out to answer biological questions by sampling tree species in random forest fragments to determine species composition and richness. I used line transects of different sizes to sample tree species in selected fragments that had a diameter at breast height greater than 5 centimeters. After sampling was complete, I made one last transect in order to create a tree architectural drawing within a forest fragment that displayed unique growth characteristics. I did this to better understand how it came into being, to illustrate the various levels of forest succession contained within it, and to explain how human extractive activities influence its overall shape and structure.

Research documenting unique land uses associated with traditional shifting cultivation systems can be significant to both the local and scientific communities. In the scientific context, much debate surrounds the impacts of shifting cultivation on tropical forest ecosystems. Many researchers argue that shifting cultivation is a destructive and inefficient use of tropical forests. However, others suggest that some forms of shifting cultivation promote forest regeneration through the disturbances they create. By documenting these virtually unstudied land uses associated with Mayan shifting cultivation, I hope to contribute to the shifting cultivation debate and open avenues for future studies. In the local context, the way of life for traditional Mayan shifting cultivators and the unique agricultural systems they practice face a precarious future in a modernizing world. For many Mayan farmers, it is becoming increasingly difficult to pass agricultural knowledge to their children because many are finding more lucrative work away from the farm in the growing tourism industry. Through documentation of these unique agricultural practices, I hope to prevent the future loss of Mayan agricultural wisdom by presenting my research findings to local communities.

Posted Sept. 20, 2004
Matt is working with Dr. David Bray of EVR. For more information contact Matt at mzirk001@fiu.edu