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。教员小组由高级和初级调查人员组成，他们来自不同的学科背景，但在保护的生态、经济和社会方面有着共同的兴趣。这笔资金将为研究生提供津贴，并将支付受训人员研究和所需技术援助的部分费用。此外，资金将用于购买供学员使用的设备，并将其他研究和学术机构的研究人员带到校园参加一年一度的保护工作坊。机构承诺将允许更多的研究生和本科生参加，还将支付设备、技术援助和讲习班的部分费用。保护工作的严重问题之一是在世界许多地区反复出现的贫困和环境退化的循环。这种循环的共同因素是人口增长刺激农业向边际土地扩张，对薪材需求的增加，以及随之而来的土壤退化和物种灭绝。这一培训方案将侧重于多米尼加共和国和哥斯达黎加两个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，以及相关的生态学研究。

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.