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尝试更好地了解人类（单独和作为正式和非正式群体的成员）与许多不同的生物物理系统相互作用的复杂相互作用，这些系统集体构成其自然环境。 长期的人类环境相互作用的研究常常受到与长期自然系统数据库有关的数据和人类活动的信息的困扰。 这个跨学科和国际项目将考虑人类社会与周围环境的相互作用。特别是在经济和社会限制的背景下，具有气候和生态系统。 该项目的总体目标是在理解人类行动和发展的动态以及有关组织，文化以及社会适应和变化的知识方面促进突破。 进一步的具体目标涉及解释冰岛北部北部的经济实践变化，从早期定居时间（大约870年开始）到现在。 该地区已经确定了三个主要的经济和生态过渡：一个大约1150至1200； 1880年代的第二个；从1990年到现在，三分之一。 每个过渡都涉及地方和全球气候和经济因素，每种过渡都产生了连续的植被，土壤，土地占据和定居点变化的级联。 该项目借鉴了社会和自然科学以及人文科学的信息，将受益于社区中当地线人的专业知识，以及大量的社会和经济变化的丰富详尽的记录，包括历史和当代的历史记录，以及广泛的考古记录。将对几个不同的数据库进行编译和分析，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艺，社会经济和人口记录。 研究人员将使用一种创新的方法来通过建模整合证据的考古，历史和环境。 该项目还将利用系统理论，以关注社会生态系统变化的代理。 预计这种协同的研究方法将导致对社会的经济增长和社会发展（在这种情况下，在冰岛北部）如何受到其生态系统联系和社会经济机构的影响。该项目将利用该项目在Myvatn领域中收集到的长期数据库，这些数据库已在1年1月1日以上的社会和当地环境中收集到了该地区。 该项目将为该地区发生巨大变化的动态提供新的见解，包括几乎完整的森林砍伐，巨大的土壤侵蚀以及饥饿和遗弃的重复周期，以及当地人口成功管理土地和自然资源的长期管理的例子。 预计这项研究将有助于确定在某些地区产生长期可持续耕作的因素，而另一些地区则是不可逆的土壤侵蚀。 该项目将有助于理解当前和未来环境变化以及物理和文化景观之间复杂的相互作用网。 由于预计在北极和亚北极地区会发生重大的气候变化，因此在未来几十年中，Myvatn地区以及世界上许多其他地区的社会和环境变化将会发生迅速的社会和环境变化。 很少有用于促进社区发展和生存的真正可持续策略的准则。 这样的研究包括长期观点将有助于确定可能促进（或减少）弹性和可持续资源使用的政策和行为。 2005财年全民社会和社会动态竞赛（HSD）的奖项支持该项目。 所有NSF局和办公室都参与了HSD竞赛和HSD奖项组合的协调管理。