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Comment by theoh | Hacker News Reader

According to that page "Terra preta soils are found mainly in the Brazilian Amazon, where Sombroek et al.[18] estimate that they cover at least 0.1 to 0.3%, or 6,300 to 18,900 square kilometres (2,400 to 7,300 sq mi) of low forested Amazonia;[1] but others estimate this surface at 10.0% or more (twice the area of Great Britain).[12][19]

Terra preta exists in small plots averaging 20 hectares (49 acres), but areas of almost 360 hectares (890 acres) have also been reported."

So the rainforest doesn't depend on Terra Preta.

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No of course not, rain forrests happen in any tropical environment. But that the diversity and resilence of the Amazon Rain Forest, specifically the Terra Preta islands is unique, and is a direct result of human intervention. That's what's so interesting and amazing to me about Terra Preta and why I feel it should not be brushed aside and reiterated whenever possible.

I think its a result of a good management of the forest. What if instead of cutting the trees we manage them to get a better forest? Like pruning and laying the wood in the soil to decompose faster and better, we can increase the speed of ecological succession a lot. What if for every hard good wood we cut we plant more so we can have even more later?

I've being learning and practicing this type of agriculture for 3 years, its incredible how the soil can improve without adding things from outside, like fertilizers, just seeds: http://vimeo.com/159262175

Also by eating raw fruits, the food we should eat the most, we act as a very powerful seed dispersal, where you through your food there is big chance for the seeds to germinate, its a mistake to get every trash together and treat them the same, by spreading rests of fruits and vegetables and just covering them with enough dried leaves to stop the smell you will plant easily thousands of trees every year with little effort.

Exactly! There's a great book called Wisdom of the Native Americans [1] that curates a lot of the oral tradition that was only ever recorded during the first trials with the US government. Reading that book really gives a sense of the responsibility felt by the individuals to nature. It's easy to extrapolate from that book and these new studies that are coming out with the population sizes involved how a comparatively simple societal structure could give rise to such large ecosystem refinements that made such large populations possible and subsequently have given us so many of the foods and medicines we enjoy today. It truly is staggering.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/1577310799/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdb_t1...

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