Doctoral Dissertation Research in Geography and Regional Science

撒哈拉以南非洲萨赫勒地区最近的干旱迫使许多人改变其经济活动的形式和地点。其中一些适应带来了短期收益，但它们的长期后果可能会进一步加剧环境条件的压力。生活方式的变化也加剧了不同群体之间的紧张关系。这一博士论文项目将扩展马里尼日尔河内河流域已经在进行的一项研究，那里干旱的洪水平原经历了更密集的放牧，从而加速了它们的退化。气候条件的变化改变了在雨季和旱季牧场之间运送牲畜的路线的时间和位置，水稻种植面积的扩大进一步影响了这些转移。该项目将分析卫星图像，以确定农业做法如何影响人口流动，并确定在一个特别敏感的区域，经济和文化做法如何与环境进程相互作用。该项目将提供有价值的信息，说明在研究区域和更广泛的地点中，人类和自然系统在快速变化时期如何相互反应的复杂方式。该项目还将为一位有前途的年轻学者提供一个继续发展独立研究技能的绝佳机会。

Recent droughts in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa have forced many people to alter the forms and locations of their economic activities. Some of these adaptations have resulted in short-term gains, but their long-term consequences are likely to further stress environmental conditions. Changes in lifestyles also have exacerbated tensions between different groups of people. This doctoral dissertation project will expand a study already under way in the inner Niger River valley of Mali, where drier parts of flood plains have undergone more intensive grazing, thereby accelerating their degradation. Changing climatic conditions have altered the timing and location of routes used to move livestock between wet- and dry-season pastures, and the expansion of areas of rice cultivation has further affected these movements. This project will analyze satellite images to determine how agricultural practices have affected movements and to identify ways in which economic and cultural practices have interacted with environmental processes in an especially sensitive region. This project will provide valuable information on the complex ways in which human and natural systems respond to one another during times of rapid change, both in the study area and in a broader range of locales. The project also will provide an excellent opportunity for a promising young scholar to continue to develop independent research skills.