A Multiple-Scale Study of Human and Nonhuman Causes of Soil Acidification in Southwestern Hungary

确定影响土壤退化的人为和非人为因素有助于制定不破坏重要土壤生产力功能的政策、做法和社会机构。人类对土壤对pH变化的缓冲能力(酸中和能力或ANC)的影响通常研究得较少，尽管ANC(酸化)的减少会导致水质恶化和土壤肥力的损失。很少有人试图了解中东欧的社会制度和土壤退化之间的联系。1980年代后期以来的重大社会变化使这一区域特别适合辨别环境影响和社会制度之间的联系。不幸的是，研究在很大程度上仍然局限于1989年前人类在全国范围内的影响，继续忽视非人类因素的影响。该项目的目标是调查匈牙利西南部农业和土壤ANC之间的相互作用。这项研究将考虑农业、其他人类活动或非人类过程是否以及如何导致ANC的变化，如果农业是主要原因，当地或更大规模的过程是否主要影响农业实践。数据将通过以下活动在匈牙利和美国助理的帮助下收集、处理并输入地理信息系统：半结构化访谈、商业和生存地块的土壤和粪便采样和分析，以及关于区域大气沉积、土壤监测、土地利用、社会经济因素和当地历史的档案和文件研究。研究人员将使用大量的多元统计技术，评估土壤ANC的变化率，确定主要影响因素，并确定ANC能在多大程度上被当地环境实践解释。项目结果将通过调查当地管理实践与土壤条件之间的关系，帮助评估东欧环境退化的理论。该项目的更大影响将是通过将理论和方法相结合来扩大社会科学和自然科学的范围。根据调查结果生成的数据库和地理信息系统练习将增强纽约州立大学新帕尔茨分校学生的课程内容。代表不足的群体将参与招募罗姆人(“吉普赛人”)和妇女，前者很少被视为科学研究人员，后者在自然科学中的代表性尤其罕见。匈牙利的农村发展项目将认识到忽视对农业资源的不同获取和控制以及当地罗姆少数民族的技能和知识的陷阱。最后，该项目将有助于理解非人类因素在人类引起的环境变化中的积极作用，以帮助在地方、国家和欧盟各级制定更合理的环境政策和实践。

Identifying human and nonhuman factors that influence soil degradation helps develop policies, practices, and social institutions that do not undermine vital soil productivity functions. Human impact on a soil's ability to buffer against pH shifts (acid neutralizing capacity or ANC) is generally understudied, even though decreasing ANC (acidification) can result in degraded water quality and a loss of soil fertility. Few attempts have been made to understand the connection between social institutions and soil degradation in East Central Europe . Major social changes since the late 1980s make this region especially appropriate for discerning linkages between environmental impact and social institution. Unfortunately, research remains largely limited to pre-1989 human impact at national scales and continues to ignore the effects of nonhuman factors. The objective of this project is to investigate the interaction between farming and soil ANC in SW Hungary. The study will consider whether and how farming, other human activities, or nonhuman processes lead to changes in ANC and, if farming is the main cause, whether local or larger-scale processes mostly affect farming practices. Data will be gathered, processed, and entered into a GIS with the aid of Hungarian and U.S. assistants through the following activities: semi-structured interviews, soil and manure sampling and analysis for commercial and subsistence plots, and archival and documentary research on regional atmospheric deposition, soil monitoring, land use, socio-economic factors, and local histories. Using largely multivariate statistical techniques, the investigator will assess rates of change in soil ANC, identifying the principal influencing factors, and determining the degree to which ANC can be explained by local environmental practices.The project results will help evaluate theories of environmental degradation in East Central Europe by investigating the relationship between local management practices and soil conditions. The project's larger impact will be to broaden the purview of both social and physical sciences by combining theoretical and methodological approaches. The database and GIS exercises generated from the findings will enhance course content for students at SUNY-New Paltz. Underrepresented groups will be involved by recruiting Roma ("Gypsies"), who rarely figure as scientific researchers, and women, whose representation is especially rare in the physical sciences. Rural development projects in Hungary will be sensitized to the pitfalls of ignoring differential access to and control over agricultural resources and to the skills and knowledge of the local Roma minority. Finally, the project will contribute to the understanding of the active roles of nonhuman factors in human-induced environmental change in order to help devise sounder environmental policy and practice at local, national, and European Union levels.