HSD: Human and Social Dynamics in Myvatnssveit, Iceland, from the Settlement to the Present

HSD：冰岛 Myvatnssveit 从定居点到现在的人类和社会动态

• 批准号: 0527732
• 负责人: Astrid Ogilvie
• 金额: $ 54.91万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-03-15 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0527732&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: HSD; Human; Social; Dynamics; Myvatnssveit

Increasing attention in recent years has focused on trying to better understand the complex interactions through which humans (individually and as members of formal and informal groups) interact with the many different biophysical systems that collectively constitute their natural environment. Studies of longer-term human-environmental interaction often have been hampered by a paucity of data and information about human activities that can be related to longer-term natural system databases. This interdisciplinary and international project will consider the interaction of human societies with their surroundings; specifically with climate and ecosystems, within the context of economic and social constraints. The overarching goal of the project is to foster breakthroughs in understanding the dynamics of human action and development, as well as knowledge about organizational, cultural, and societal adaptation and change. Further specific goals involve the explanation of changes in economic practices in the Myvatn area of northern Iceland from early settlement times (about AD 870 onwards) to the present. Three major economic and ecological transitions have been identified in the area: one from about 1150 to 1200; a second in the 1880s; and a third from about 1990 to the present. Each transition involved both local and global climatic and economic factors, and each produced successive cascades of change in vegetation, soil, land holding, and settlement locations. Drawing on information from the social and natural sciences as well as the humanities, this project will benefit from the expertise of local informants in the community, as well as on a wealth of highly detailed documentary records of social and economic change, both historical and contemporary, and an extensive archaeological record. Several different databases will be compiled and analyzed, including environmental and climate data, soils- and sediment-based cultural records, and present-day agronomic, socioeconomic, and population records. The investigators will use an innovative approach for integrating archaeological, historical, and environmental strands of evidence through modeling. The project also will make use of systems theory in order to focus on agents of change in social-ecological systems. This synergistic research approach is expected to result in a detailed analysis of how the economic growth and social development of a society, in this case in northern Iceland, is influenced by its eco-systemic links and socioeconomic institutions.This project will take advantage of long-term databases that have been collected regarding both society and the local environment in the Myvatn area over the 1,100-year period when people have lived in the region. The project will provide new insights into the dynamics of dramatic changes in the region, including almost-complete deforestation, massive soil erosion, and repeated cycles of starvation and abandonment as well as examples of long periods of successful management of land and natural resources by the local population. This study is expected to help identify factors that produced long-term sustainable farming in some localities and irreversible soil erosion in others. The project will contribute to understanding of the complex webs of interaction between present and future environmental changes, and the physical and cultural landscape. Because significant climatic change is anticipated in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, rapid social and environmental change is anticipated in the Myvatn region and in many other parts of the world in coming decades. Few guidelines exist for promoting genuinely sustainable strategies for community development and survival. Studies like this that include long-term perspectives will help to identify policies and behaviors that are likely to promote (or reduce) resilience and sustainable resource use. An award resulting from the FY 2005 NSF-wide competition on Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) supports this project. All NSF directorates and offices are involved in the coordinated management of the HSD competition and the portfolio of HSD awards.

近年来，越来越多的关注集中在试图更好地了解人类(单独或作为正式和非正式群体的成员)与共同构成其自然环境的许多不同生物物理系统相互作用的复杂相互作用。人类与环境长期相互作用的研究往往因缺乏有关人类活动的数据和信息而受到阻碍，这些数据和信息可能与长期自然系统数据库有关。这一跨学科的国际项目将考虑人类社会与其周围环境的互动，特别是在经济和社会限制的背景下，与气候和生态系统的互动。该项目的总体目标是促进在理解人类行动和发展的动态以及关于组织、文化和社会适应和变化的知识方面取得突破。进一步的具体目标涉及解释冰岛北部Myvatn地区从早期定居时期(大约公元870年以后)到现在的经济做法的变化。该地区已经确定了三次主要的经济和生态转型：一次是从大约1150年到1200年；第二次是在19世纪80年代；第三次是从大约1990年到现在。每一次过渡都涉及当地和全球的气候和经济因素，每一次都会在植被、土壤、土地保有量和定居地点产生连续的级联变化。利用社会科学和自然科学以及人文科学的信息，该项目将受益于社区中当地信息提供者的专业知识，以及大量关于历史和当代社会和经济变化的非常详细的文献记录，以及广泛的考古记录。将汇编和分析几个不同的数据库，包括环境和气候数据、基于土壤和沉积物的文化记录，以及当今的农学、社会经济和人口记录。调查人员将使用一种创新的方法，通过建模整合考古、历史和环境证据链。该项目还将利用系统论，重点研究社会生态系统的变革动因。这一协同研究方法预计将导致详细分析一个社会的经济增长和社会发展如何受到其生态系统联系和社会经济制度的影响，这个项目将利用收集的关于Myvatn地区1100年来人们在该地区生活的社会和当地环境的长期数据库。该项目将为了解该区域剧烈变化的动态提供新的见解，包括几乎完全砍伐森林、大规模土壤侵蚀、饥饿和被遗弃的反复循环，以及当地居民长期成功管理土地和自然资源的例子。这项研究预计将有助于确定在一些地方产生长期可持续农业的因素，以及在其他地方产生不可逆转的土壤侵蚀的因素。该项目将有助于理解目前和未来环境变化以及自然和文化景观之间相互作用的复杂网络。由于北极和亚北极地区预计将发生重大气候变化，预计未来几十年Myvatn地区和世界许多其他地区将发生迅速的社会和环境变化。几乎没有指导方针来促进真正可持续的社区发展和生存战略。这类包含长期视角的研究将有助于识别可能促进(或降低)弹性和可持续资源利用的政策和行为。2005财年NSF人类和社会动力学竞赛(HSD)颁发的奖项支持这一项目。NSF的所有董事和办公室都参与了HSD竞赛和HSD奖项组合的协调管理。