Planning Visit: The Human Ecology of Land-Use Land-Cover Change in the Toledo District Belize- A Remote Sensing Approach

0349512 emch美洲项目规划访问奖将为波特兰州立大学的Michael Emch博士和Martha Works博士提供资金，用于规划与伯利兹蓬塔戈尔达托莱多发展与环境研究所的Robin Coleman博士和William Maheia先生的合作研究。这组科学家的目标是调查伯利兹托莱多地区土地利用土地覆盖（LULC）变化的原因。使用遥感方法，调查人员将随机识别发生变化的像素点（即森林砍伐或重新造林），并访问这些地点以确定它们发生变化的原因；我们会向土地使用者发出问卷，以取得有关资料。提议的活动包括：(1)对初步卫星图像处理LULC变化结果进行实地调查，(2)设计和预测一份问卷，用于确定LULC变化发生的原因，以及(3)与整个研究团队开会讨论初步发现，并设计和规划一个更大的项目。了解热带森林地区土地利用土地覆盖（LULC）的变化有助于可持续的保护规划和管理。最终，该项目将有助于记录伯利兹托莱多地区在过去三十年中土地利用价值的变化，并对发生这些变化的原因进行评估。该项目有两个主要目标：一是测量自1975年以来森林覆盖的变化，二是开始了解这些变化发生的原因。人类在LULC变化中的作用对环境保护和管理具有重要意义。通过调查伯利兹南部的土地利用成本变化，该项目将建立在地理人类生态学理论的基础上。越来越多的人认识到，环境变化及其原因在不同的环境下是非常不同的，因此，对LULC变化的理解必须是多方面的、多标量的、多时间的。国际科学与工程办公室（OISE）和行为与认知科学部共同支持这次计划访问。

0349512EmchThis Americas Program Planning Visit award will provide funds to Dr. Michael Emch and Dr. Martha Works of Portland State University to plan collaborative research with Dr. Robin Coleman and Mr. William Maheia of the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment in Punta Gorda, Belize. The researchers aim to investigate the reasons for land-use land-cover (LULC) changes in the Toledo District of Belize. Using a remote sensing approach, the investigators will randomly identify pixels that have changed (i.e., deforested or reforested) and visit those locations to determine why they changed; a questionnaire will be administered to the land users to obtain this information. Proposed activities include: (1) a ground-truth field survey of preliminary satellite image processing LULC change results, (2) the design and pretest of a questionnaire that will be used to determine why LULC changes occurred, and (3) meetings with the entire research team to discuss preliminary findings and design and plan a larger project. Understanding land-use land-cover (LULC) change in areas with tropical forests can contribute to sustainable conservation planning and management. Ultimately, the project will help to document LULC change in the Toledo District, Belize during the past three decades and provide an assessment of why these changes took place. The project has two primary objectives: one, to measure changes in forest cover that occurred since 1975, and two, to begin to understand why these changes took place. The human role in LULC change is important for environmental conservation and management. By investigating LULC change in southern Belize this project will build upon geographic human ecology theories. There is a growing understanding that environmental change and its causes are very different in different settings and thus understanding LULC change must be multifaceted, multiscalar, and multitemporal. The Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) and the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences are jointly supporting this planning visit.