In the Tapajos River Region of the Brazilian Legal Amazon, land-management practices and extensiv... more In the Tapajos River Region of the Brazilian Legal Amazon, land-management practices and extensive deforestation have been identified as primary factors leading to the transport of naturally formed soil mercury from the pedosphere to the hydrosphere. In this same region, river-dwelling populations are exposed to high levels of organic mercury through frequent consumption of fish that bioaccumulate the toxic organometallic compound. Exploring the causal relationships between punctual and prolonged land-cover changes, ecosystem responses can inform our understanding of mercury transport processes and mercurial exposure dynamics in riparian populations. Given this context, the present study applies a coupled analysis of spatio-temporal landscape changes and vertical mercury deposition patterns. Landscape metrics in seven lake catchments in the Tapajos region were determined through of spectral analysis and photo interpretation of three Landsat TM images over a twenty-year period (1987 ...
Social and ecological processes and underlying drivers related to mercury mobilization and exposu... more Social and ecological processes and underlying drivers related to mercury mobilization and exposure: the case of the Tapajos River region, Brazilian Amazon. In the Tapajos River region of the Brazilian Amazon, deforestation and slash-and-burn agricultural practices are primary drivers of mercury mobilization from the tropical soils. Through erosion and lixiviation processes, the mercury is transported into the aquatic ecosystem where methylation and bio-magnification in the food chain results in exposure of fish-eating riparian populations. Yet, deforestation, agricultural and fishing practices are relied upon by subsistence farmers and fishers for livelihoods and well-being. Livelihood choices, such as how much land to deforest and cultivate, as well as how much fish to capture and consume, is driven by larger socio- economic forces. To illustrate the effects of these larger, indirect forces, we demonstrate that mercury mobilization and transport as well as human mercury exposure r...
The term "landscape" is often associated with some subjective way to represent the envi... more The term "landscape" is often associated with some subjective way to represent the environment. It also has strong social, cultural, and economic connotations and even an artistic and visual component. Finally, the landscape touches issues of society and public policy. However in recent years the concept, which has also joined the realm of science, has become part of an "ecosystem-thinking" approach that is based on "complexity". In this latter conceptualization, the landscape is defined as the result of complex interactions between the environment and human society. We propose a theoretical and methodological reflection on the use of the concept of "landscape" to study epidemiological systems at all levels of system organization (individuals, populations, communities, ecosystems and biomes). The idea is to understand how different disciplines, such as landscape genetics, landscape ecology, eco-epidemiology, mathematical and space modelling or...
Regime shifts describe the sometimes rapid and abrupt changes of a system to an alternative stabl... more Regime shifts describe the sometimes rapid and abrupt changes of a system to an alternative stable state, whereby the structure of the system is changed. Shifts are often triggered by an external event and involve the crossing of a critical threshold. The notion of regime shifts is well documented in the systems ecology literature but has rarely been applied to consider health outcomes in socio-ecological systems. To explore how regime shifts may be applied to understand human health dynamics, we draw on data and information from the PLUPH (Poor Land Use, Poor Health) project, an ecohealth research initiative in the Brazilian Amazon. In four fishing and farming communities, we describe how these systems are characterized by economic inequalities, the erosion of ecosystem services and, consequently, poor health. Specifically, we illustrate how resource-use and management practices control the positive feedback loop between land degradation and deforestation. This, in turn, creates co...
In the Tapajos River Region of the Brazilian Legal Amazon, land-management practices and extensiv... more In the Tapajos River Region of the Brazilian Legal Amazon, land-management practices and extensive deforestation have been identified as primary factors leading to the transport of naturally formed soil mercury from the pedosphere to the hydrosphere. In this same region, river-dwelling populations are exposed to high levels of organic mercury through frequent consumption of fish that bioaccumulate the toxic organometallic compound. Exploring the causal relationships between punctual and prolonged land-cover changes, ecosystem responses can inform our understanding of mercury transport processes and mercurial exposure dynamics in riparian populations. Given this context, the present study applies a coupled analysis of spatio-temporal landscape changes and vertical mercury deposition patterns. Landscape metrics in seven lake catchments in the Tapajos region were determined through of spectral analysis and photo interpretation of three Landsat TM images over a twenty-year period (1987 ...
Social and ecological processes and underlying drivers related to mercury mobilization and exposu... more Social and ecological processes and underlying drivers related to mercury mobilization and exposure: the case of the Tapajos River region, Brazilian Amazon. In the Tapajos River region of the Brazilian Amazon, deforestation and slash-and-burn agricultural practices are primary drivers of mercury mobilization from the tropical soils. Through erosion and lixiviation processes, the mercury is transported into the aquatic ecosystem where methylation and bio-magnification in the food chain results in exposure of fish-eating riparian populations. Yet, deforestation, agricultural and fishing practices are relied upon by subsistence farmers and fishers for livelihoods and well-being. Livelihood choices, such as how much land to deforest and cultivate, as well as how much fish to capture and consume, is driven by larger socio- economic forces. To illustrate the effects of these larger, indirect forces, we demonstrate that mercury mobilization and transport as well as human mercury exposure r...
The term "landscape" is often associated with some subjective way to represent the envi... more The term "landscape" is often associated with some subjective way to represent the environment. It also has strong social, cultural, and economic connotations and even an artistic and visual component. Finally, the landscape touches issues of society and public policy. However in recent years the concept, which has also joined the realm of science, has become part of an "ecosystem-thinking" approach that is based on "complexity". In this latter conceptualization, the landscape is defined as the result of complex interactions between the environment and human society. We propose a theoretical and methodological reflection on the use of the concept of "landscape" to study epidemiological systems at all levels of system organization (individuals, populations, communities, ecosystems and biomes). The idea is to understand how different disciplines, such as landscape genetics, landscape ecology, eco-epidemiology, mathematical and space modelling or...
Regime shifts describe the sometimes rapid and abrupt changes of a system to an alternative stabl... more Regime shifts describe the sometimes rapid and abrupt changes of a system to an alternative stable state, whereby the structure of the system is changed. Shifts are often triggered by an external event and involve the crossing of a critical threshold. The notion of regime shifts is well documented in the systems ecology literature but has rarely been applied to consider health outcomes in socio-ecological systems. To explore how regime shifts may be applied to understand human health dynamics, we draw on data and information from the PLUPH (Poor Land Use, Poor Health) project, an ecohealth research initiative in the Brazilian Amazon. In four fishing and farming communities, we describe how these systems are characterized by economic inequalities, the erosion of ecosystem services and, consequently, poor health. Specifically, we illustrate how resource-use and management practices control the positive feedback loop between land degradation and deforestation. This, in turn, creates co...
Uploads
Papers by Jordan Sky Oestreicher