, 1998, Peña-Claros et al., 2002 and Zuidema et al., 1999) may earn the extractivists’ acceptance, initial interest is soon replaced by the perception that nursery maintenance, seedling transplant, protection against livestock

trampling, and cutting ants (Atta sp.) require resources, labor, and time that are rarely available. In the absence of continuous support, these unfamiliar tasks tend to be abandoned. However, an enrichment proposal that Saracatinib takes into account the spontaneous regeneration in SC areas may be a more practical and acceptable recommendation. Above all, this approach builds upon informal forest management practices already used by extractive communities, recognizing fallow selection criteria and other indicators acknowledged by forest-dwellers. The IUCN Red List currently treats the BN as vulnerable to extinction because of deforestation occurring in the BN tree’s biogeographical range. However, the BN tree population seems to be expanding SCH772984 in vivo rather than receding in our study sites. Our results thus point to shifting cultivation as a promising component in a strategy to promote the conservation of this valuable extractive resource. As controversial

as it seems to conclude that shifting cultivation may actually promote the protection of forest acreage near extractive communities, it is important to note that secondary forests enriched with Brazil nut trees become valuable and consequently, gain protection from the extractive populations. In time, these areas also develop into mature forests and have a lower chance of being converted into commodity crops or pastures. Bertholletia excelsa has great resprouting capability

and, consequently, survives through repeated slash-and-burn cycles of shifting cultivation. Because each new cycle recreates the light-gap conditions favorable to the establishment of other individuals, the practice of shifting cultivation yields an increasing regeneration density that is directly proportional to the number of cultivation cycles. After a few cycles, as a function of parent-tree proximity, past agricultural use, and the size of the cultivated area, Epothilone B (EPO906, Patupilone) the site becomes densely colonized by Brazil nut regeneration. At this point, the extractivists may choose to protect and exclude enriched fallows from further agricultural use, and thereby plan an expansion of their nut-producing area. We are grateful to the residents of Reserva Extrativista do Rio Cajari, especially to the families who welcomed us at the Marinho and Martins communities. For their help with revisions, we thank Dr. Arley Costa, Dr. Lúcia Wadt, Dr. Adriana Paese as well as four anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions regarding on the manuscript.