BE/CNH: Ecosystem Dynamics and Essential Human Needs: Developing an Interdisciplinary Research Agenda in the Plata Basin

INT 0119961 Ratchford，Marina S.美国科学促进会拉普拉塔盆地包括巴拉那河流域和乌拉圭河流域，由阿根廷、玻利维亚、巴西、巴拉圭和乌拉圭共享。 这个庞大而复杂的河流系统具有高度的生物多样性和人类利用，使其成为测试一种新的跨学科、多利益攸关方方法的理想地点，以研究自然和人类系统的相互作用，并规划可持续发展的替代战略。 普拉塔盆地试点项目将侧重于扩大农业和养牛活动对地球化学循环、土地使用变化、生物多样性水平以及巴拉圭河和巴拉那河不断变化的水文循环的影响。 将利用计算机模型，利用反映土地使用变化的变量、社会经济数据和气候信息，更好地了解巴拉圭河和巴拉那河今后50年洪水周期的后果。 该研讨会将包括主要的政治，工业和当地社区利益相关者从普拉塔盆地国家，以及来自该地区和美国的研究人员规划研讨会将寻求评估的程度，速度，和在普拉塔盆地的农业边疆的扩展的影响。 它还将建立一个长期的跨学科研究议程，并将评价将利益攸关方的投入纳入适当模型的方法。 AAAS将发布一个包含相关论文和研讨会成果的网站，该网站将包括互动功能，以促进对自然系统和人类系统之间相互作用感兴趣的科学界成员之间的对话和数据交换。该项目是2001财政年度环境中生物复杂性特别竞赛的一个奖项，重点是耦合自然和人类系统的动力学。

INT 0119961Ratchford, Marina S.American Association for Advancement of ScienceThe Plata Basin comprises the Paraguay-Parana rivers system and the Uruguay river system; it is shared by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. This large and complex river system has high levels of biodiversity and human use, making it an ideal location to test a novel interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder approach for studying the interaction of natural and human systems as well as for planning alternative strategies of sustainable development. The Plata Basin pilot project will focus on the effects of expanding agricultural and cattle-raising activities on biogeochemical cycles, land-use change, levels of biodiversity, and the changing hydrological cycles of the Paraguay and Parana rivers. Computer-based models, using variables reflecting land-use changes, socio-economic data, and climatic information, will be used to better understand the consequences of the flooding cycles of the Paraguay and Parana rivers in the next fifty years.A two-session planning workshop will take place in Argentina in March 2002 to construct a research agenda for the Plata Basin. The workshop will include key political, industrial, and local community stakeholders from the Plata Basin countries, as well as researchers from the region and the U.S. The planning workshop will seek to assess the extent, rate, and impact of the expansion of the agrarian frontier in the Plata Basin. It will also establish a long-term, interdisciplinary research agenda and will evaluate methods of incorporating stakeholder input into appropriate models. A website, with the relevant papers and workshop outcomes will be posted by AAAS, and will include interactive functions to facilitate dialogue and data exchange between members of the scientific community interested in the interaction between natural and human systems. This project is an award emanating from the FY 2001 special competition in Biocomplexity in the Environment focusing on the Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems.