Dissertation Research: Aboriginal ecosystem management as a socio-natural system

火是一种强大的资源管理工具，可能是人类使用过的最古老的工具。通过使用火来开垦森林和林地，建立草原，并鼓励建立有利于人类生存的物种，人类已经改变了生态系统，以至于它们变得依赖于人为的火来维持。本论文研究的是西澳大利亚州由于社会和自然过程的反复作用和反应而产生的社会-自然火灾系统。这名学生是加州大学戴维斯分校的人类生态学家，他将探索澳大利亚土著管理做法与热带澳大利亚金伯利地区植被群落和袋鼠种群的分布和丰度之间的关系。对土著人与自然相互作用的分析将侧重于社会-自然系统的三个组成部分之间的相互作用：资源利用、管理做法和生殖生物学。将使用人种学和生态研究方法，对土著生态系统火管理进行双重分析。这项研究将在当代背景下记录土著土地管理，同时将其置于历史背景中。火概括了土著与土地的关系，但西方定居者和土地管理机构严重限制了火的实践。改善火灾管理是澳大利亚国内外的优先事项，这项研究有助于满足这一需求。

Fire is a powerful resource management tool, perhaps the oldest to be used by humans. Through the use of fire to open up forests and woodlands, establish grasslands and encourage the establishment of species beneficial to human survival, humans have modified ecosystems such that they have become dependent upon anthropogenic fire for maintenance. This dissertation research project studies the socio-natural system of fire that has resulted from the repeated actions and reactions of both social and natural processes in Western Australia. The student, a human ecologist from University of California, Davis, will explore the relationship between Australian Aboriginal management practices and the distribution and abundance of vegetation communities and kangaroo populations in the Kimberley region of tropical Australia. Analysis of the Aboriginal human-nature interaction will focus on the interactions between three components of the socio-natural system: resource use, management practice and reproductive biology. A two-fold approach to analyzing Aboriginal ecosystem management with fire will be carried out, using both ethnographic and ecological research methodologies. This research will document indigenous land management in a contemporary context while situating that context historically. Fire encapsulates the Aboriginal relationship with land, yet Western settlers and land management agencies heavily circumscribe fire practice. Improving fire management is a priority both within and beyond Australia, and this research contributes to that need.