Doctoral Dissertation Research: Socio-Environmental Dynamics and History of the Biological Invasion of Pasture Grasses: The Case of Kikuyu Grass in Southern Peru

由于来自世界各地的大量地方研究，植物入侵已被描述为人类造成的全球环境变化的一个重要组成部分。这一断言建立在尚未得到证实的假设基础上，即导致局部植物入侵的动态与规模无关，因此也解释了区域性和全球性的入侵。对人与环境相互作用的错综复杂的认识有限，使得入侵在空间上是一个没有区别的过程。验证这样的假设是非常有问题的，因为它质疑在大范围内运行的复杂社会和生态过程的规模和等级原则。解决这一问题具有重要的理论和实践意义，因为莱文将跨尺度现象的关联问题描述为“生物学和所有科学的中心问题”。这一博士论文研究项目将研究与秘鲁南部建立的基库尤草(Pennisetum Clanestum Hochst)相关的生态、生物地理和社会过程。Ex Chiov.)，这是一种入侵物种，最初于20世纪20年代从非洲引进。将特别注意该区域土地利用的社会环境动态的标量和空间差异。将使用一整套研究方法，包括农业部门分析、村庄活动的横断面分析、问卷和口述历史、村民绘制民族地图、延时照片解读和档案研究。该项目将对尺度和空间在与外来物种入侵相关的土地利用动态中的作用提供有价值的新见解，这是一个具有极大实用价值和理论意义的主题。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

Owing to a large number of local studies from around the world plant invasions have come to be characterized as a significant component of human-caused global environmental change. This assertion rests on the not-yet-demonstrated hypothesis that dynamics causing localized plant invasion operate independent of scale and therefore also explain invasions regionally and globally. Limited appreciation of the intricacies of human-environment interactions renders invasions a spatially undifferentiated process. Verifying such a hypothesis is highly problematic, because it questions principles of scale and hierarchy governing complex social and ecological processes operating over large areas. Addressing this issue has important theoretical and practical implications, as the question of relating phenomena across scales has been described by Levin as "the central problem in biology and in all of sciences". This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the ecological, biogeographical, and social processes associated with the establishment in southern Peru of kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum Hochst. ex Chiov.), an invasive species originally brought from Africa in the 1920s. Special attention will be given to scalar and spatial variations in the socio-environmental dynamics of land use in the region. An integrated set of research approaches will be used, including agricultural sector analyses, transect analyses of village activities, questionnaires and oral histories, ethno-cartographic construction of maps by villagers, time-lapse photo interpretation, and archival research. This project will provide valuable new insights into the role of scale and space in the land-use dynamics associated with the invasion of exotic species, a topic of great practical utility as well as have theoretical significance. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.