Research Training Group in Ecological and Social Science Challenges of Conservation

该奖项为在康奈尔大学建立生态和社会科学保护挑战研究培训小组提供资金。教师团队由来自不同学科背景的高级和初级研究人员组成，但对生态、经济和社会方面的保护有着共同的兴趣。该基金将为研究生提供津贴，并将支付受训者研究和所需技术援助的部分费用。此外，资金将用于购买设备供学员使用，并将其他研究和学术机构的调查人员带到校园参加关于保护的年度讲习班。机构承诺将允许更多的研究生和本科生参加，并将支付部分设备、技术援助和讲习班的费用。保护工作面临的一个严重问题是，世界许多地区的贫穷和环境退化循环往复。这一循环的共同要素是人口扩张刺激农业向边缘土地扩张，对薪材的需求扩大，以及随之而来的土壤退化和物种灭绝。该培训方案将侧重于多米尼加共和国和哥斯达黎加两种截然不同的社会生态环境，并将利用现有的体制安排和研究活动。这些活动审查人口和人口增长、自然和农业系统的相互作用、土壤保持、生物圈保护区的教育和管理以及有关的生态学研究。

This award provides funds for the establishment of a Research Training Group in Ecological and Social Science Challenges of Conservation at Cornell University. The faculty group is a mixture of senior and junior investigators who come from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, but share a common interest in the ecological, economic and social aspects of conservation. The funds will provide stipends for graduate students and will defray part of the cost of the trainees' research and of needed technical assistance. In addition, funds will be used to purchase equipment to be used by trainees and to bring investigators from other research and academic institutions to the campus for an annual workshop on conservation. Institutional commitments will allow the participation of additional numbers of graduate students and of undergraduates, and will also defray a portion of the costs of equipment, of technical assistance and of the workshop. One of the serious problems for conservation efforts is the recurring cycle of poverty and environmental degradation found in many regions of the world. Common elements of the cycle are population expansion which stimulates agricultural expansion onto marginal lands, expanded fuelwood requirements, and consequent soil degradation and species extinction. This training program will focus on two contrasting socioecological settings in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica and will make use of existing institutional arrangements and research activities. These activities examine demography and population growth, the interaction of natural and agricultural systems, soil conservation, education and management in biosphere reserves, and related ecology studies.