**1. Introduction**

The term "Historical Ecology" has been defined by two different research scholarships: (1) as a field that draws upon diverse evidence to trace complex, long-term relationships between humanity and Earth [1]; and (2) as a field related to evolutionary ecology and the use of phylogenetic systematics [2], which may or may not involve anthropogenic agency [3]. In this paper, we embrace and refer to the first definition. Hence, Historical Ecology is a multidisciplinary field (or research program) that investigates human-environment relationships resulting in continuous interactions of spatial, environmental, historical, and cultural dimensions. Its primary focus is the physical evidence etched in the landscape. The use of landscape as an analytical framework and spatial unit is valuable and widely used in Historical Ecology. It is at the same time both a physical reality and a social construct [4]. Landscapes go beyond landform; thus, they are not limited to land but extensive to marine environments. They encompass a mixture of subtle and evident marks in the present as a

**Citation:** Lazos-Ruíz, A.E.; Rodrigues, A.F.; Sales, G.P.d.S.; Brasil, L.S.C.d.A.; Fraga, J.S.; D'Orey, M.; Solórzano, A.; Oliveira, R.R.d. Historical Ecology in Brazil: A Systematic Mapping of Scientific Articles (1998–2021). *Sustainability* **2021**, *13*, 11526. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/su132011526

Academic Editors: Alejandro Rescia and Giuseppe Bazan

Received: 30 June 2021 Accepted: 29 September 2021 Published: 19 October 2021

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result of the accumulation of past activities and processes, including the responses of all life forms to human activities and distinctive archaeological marks such as anthropogenic soils, material culture, and landesque capital [5–12].

Historical Ecology recognizes that human activity can be considered an ecological factor influencing the biophysical environment [13]. Nature and culture are impossible to tell apart, making it challenging to define a "natural" landscape [3]. Balée [6] proposes four central postulates to the research program of Historical Ecology. One of those considers that humans have affected every environment on Earth. Changing one part of a system (e.g., species composition, managemen<sup>t</sup> system, settlement pattern) inescapably influences all other parts since all the variables are intertwined [3]. In our understanding, Carole Crumley's definition of Historical Ecology best encapsulates how we understand this field:

"Historical Ecology traces the ongoing dialectical relations between human acts and acts of nature, made manifest in the landscape. Practices are maintained or modified, decisions are made, and ideas are given shape; a landscape retains the physical evidence of these mental activities. Past and present human use of the Earth must be understood in order to frame effective environmental policies for the future" [14] (p. 9).

The marks on the landscape resulting from the interaction between human and non-human nature, analyzed through Historical Ecology, have contributed to expanding knowledge about ecological patterns and processes related to specific cultural aspects of societies [15–17]. Historical Ecology studies are often related to ecological restoration studies (for a deeper reflection on this issue, see [3,11,18]) and are a valuable source of information for conservation and management. The latter connotation is based on the logic of knowing and understanding the past to properly manage ecosystems and landscapes for the present and the future [1,19,20], especially as it shows the uniqueness of every site [11].

As a multidisciplinary field [21], Historical Ecology does not have a single research methodology [18,22] but rather aggregates several methods from various academic disciplines that incorporate cultural, historical, linguistic, biological, and environmental data [23]. These include the use of natural (e.g., palynology, packrat middens, dendrochronology) and documental (e.g., forest inventories, climate records, remote sensing) archives [20]. Historical Ecology also integrates different sources, including physical evidence such as archaeological vestiges of material culture or pollen records, and sources from the humanities like oral history or historical archival consultation [19]. In any case, an essential characteristic of the methods is the spatio-temporal component, necessary when investigating a specific landscape and its historical processes [23]. According to William Balée [6], Historical Ecology received contributions from many fields such as environmental history, historical geography, palaeoecology, and landscape archaeology [18]. Solórzano, Oliveira, and Guedes-Bruni [24] also identify bridges between Historical Ecology, environmental history, and historical geography in their goals to investigate the relationships between humans and nature in landscapes throughout time, with different interconnections among these three fields. Historical Ecology, on the one hand, has roots in European (paleo)ecology and landscape history/archaeology, and on the other hand, roots in North American cultural/historical geography, specifically Carl Sauer's Berkeley school, and also in environmental anthropology, especially in the 1990s [3,18,22].

In Brazil, Historical Ecology was addressed initially in studies located in the Amazon region [25], for example, in the course of the Xingu River [6,26]. One of the leading research topics has been forest managemen<sup>t</sup> by indigenous societies, which results in changes in the landscape and modification of species composition [27–29]. Several Historical Ecology publications have appeared in the last twenty years, not only for the Amazon but also for other biomes—especially the Atlantic Forest—with diverse temporal and spatial scales and using assorted methodologies.

Historical Ecology often uses biocultural approaches [30]. In the Brazilian biomes, biocultural diversity refers to the interdependence between biological and cultural diversity, indicating how significant sets of biological diversity are managed, conserved, and

created by different cultural groups (including indigenous and other traditional communities) [31]. Current research in Historical Ecology and correlated fields have revealed interconnections between culture and biodiversity in the Amazon [32,33], Atlantic Forest [34–37], Caatinga [38,39], Cerrado [40–42], Pampa [43,44], and Pantanal [45,46]. Historically informed environmental investigation coupled with cross-disciplinary conceptual frameworks (such as biocultural diversity, social-ecological systems, and novel ecosystems) are key to understand current landscape dynamics and help inform decision-making [36].

Two recent works make a synthesis effort revising publications in the field of environmental history in Brazil: one from José Augusto Pádua and Alessandra Izabel de Carvalho [47], who published a thorough review on Brazilian environmental history analyzing books; and the book chapter of Lise Sedrez and Eunice Nodari [48] presenting an overview of research and principal themes in the same field. However, there is no work organizing and presenting the state of the scholarship in Historical Ecology in Brazil.

This paper aims to explore the published scientific articles of Historical Ecology in Brazil through a systematic mapping, presenting by whom, when, where, what, and how research has been conducted. This study reveals the achievements, research gaps, and opportunities in this field from the perspective of published articles.
