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KENNETH R. GOOD Limiting Factors in Amazonian Ecology IN RECENT YEARS MUCH DEBATE HAS FOCUSED ON THE SIGNIFIcance of protein in the diet of tropical forest populations. On the one hand a number of authors have emphasized the limited supply of animal protein and the significance of this limitation on village size and inter-village relationships (Gross 1975; Harris 1977; ]. Ross 1980, 1971). As a reaction to these assertions , several papers have appeared denying, in various degrees, the importance of proteins as a limiting factor in Amazonian subsistence (Beckerman 1979; Chagnon and Hames 1979; Lizot 1977). In this paper the issue will be addressed in light of data from three and one-half years of fieldwork over a sixyear period on protein capture among the Yanomami of southern Venezuela. 1 One of the most striking features of Amazonian subsistence systems is that the staple crops that supply the Yanomami with approximately 75 percent of their caloric intake, and approximately the same percentage of food by weight, are markedly deficient in protein. Manioc and plantains, the most common staples in Amazonia, both contain about 1 percent protein. In both cases the protein is deficient in essential amino acids. Since medical science recognizes the need for a daily supply of high-quality protein, and since the indigenous animal populations are present in small and dispersed numbers, a logical choice for a possible limiting factor in Amazonian subsistence would be animal protein. If protein is a legitimate variable for analysis, the question remains as to the exact nature of its role in a model of sociocultural behavior. A basic misunderstanding of this role has led critics to attempt to refute it on grounds other than those crucial to the argument. Rather than propose a "deficiency" or "scarcity" of protein, the model simply states that as the size of a community grows, the amount of time and energy required to obtain a desired amount of meat will increase to a point where any of a number of processes will occur that have the net effect of maintaining or restoring previous levels of animal capture. It is the particular process that occurs among the Yanomami living within their traditional culture that is the subject of this paper. 407 IV. Pre-State Foodways Opponents of this model have tended to overlook the fact that it is constructed in terms of diminishing returns in the context of population growth. They have therefore tended to interpret it as meaning that there is an actual shortage or deficiency of protein (Chagnon and Hames 1979). Thus, the objective of much of the responses has been to demonstrate that the Yanomami have adequate protein consumption. As will be demonstrated in this paper, the number of grams of protein consumed is not the critical issue in the model of protein as a limiting factor among indigenous tropical forest communities. Yanomami Subsistence Patterns The role of protein capture among the Yanomami cannot be understood in isolation from the total subsistence pattern as practiced by traditional Yanomami. The Yanomami community consists of a single circular communal house called the shabono. This dwelling not only serves as a shelter but constitutes the locus for the community's most important economic, political, and social activities . Among these, one of the most critical because of its contribution to intra-village cohesion is the distribution of game and other foods. The bulk of the Yanomami diet consists of plantains and bananas, which are grown in gardens located next to the communal house. Other contributions to the daily diet consist of plants and small animals gathered by women in the forest and small streams, and larger animals hunted exclusively by men. Hunting There are three kinds of hunts: the rami, heniyomou, and the wayumi. The rami, 2 or one-day hunt, is the most common form of hunting. Most men participate in a rami about twice a week. The heniyomou is a multiday communal hunt during which most of the adult men of a village spend four to five days in the forest. The heniyomou often has the ceremonial objective of acquiring large quantities of meat for a funeral feast, but on numerous occasions the sole purpose is to satisfy a desire to eat meat. The heniyomou takes place farther from home than the rami and extends into territories that are very infrequently hunted (Figure 16.1). As a result the average yields per hunt are greater than those of the single-day rami (Tables 16.1 and 16...

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