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

博士论文研究：社会环境动力学和牧草生物入侵的历史：秘鲁南部基库尤草的案例

• 批准号: 9977828
• 负责人: Karl Zimmerer
• 金额: $ 1万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-08-01 至 2002-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9977828&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Socio; Environmental

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.

由于世界各地的大量本地研究，植物入侵已被视为被人为引起的全球环境变化的重要组成部分。 这一主张基于尚未揭示的假设，即引起局部植物侵袭的动力学独立于尺度，因此在区域和全球范围内也解释了入侵。 对人与环境相互作用的复杂性的限制，使入侵在空间上没有分化的过程。 验证这样的假设是高度问题的，因为它质疑规模和等级制度的原则，管理在大面积上运作的复杂社会和生态过程。 解决这个问题具有重要的理论和实际意义，因为莱文（Levin）将跨量表现象联系起来的问题是“生物学和所有科学中的核心问题”。 该博士学位论文研究项目将研究与秘鲁南部基库尤草（Pennisetum clandestinumhochst。ExChiov。）相关的生态，生物地理和社会过程，这是一种最初从1920年代从非洲带来的侵入性物种。 将特别注意该地区土地使用社会环境动态的标量和空间变化。 将使用一组综合的研究方法，包括农业部门的分析，乡村活动的横除分析，问卷调查和口述历史，村民对地图的民族划定，延时照片解释以及档案研究。 该项目将为尺度和空间在与外来物种的入侵相关的土地利用动态中的作用提供宝贵的新见解，这是一个非常实用的实用性主题，并且具有理论上的意义。 作为博士学位论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生能够建立强大的独立研究职业。