Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Ronga Wild Plant Harvest and the Conservation of Coastal Savanna Landscape in Southern Mozambique

研究生劳拉J谢弗，由博士监督。西奥多L。Gragson博士将研究自然资源分布的空间和时间斑块（由社会和生态因素介导）与人力资源利用之间的关系。她的试验案例将是莫桑比克的Ronga人。 莫桑比克南部的沿海稀树草原景观是资源利用战略研究的理想选择，因为该地区拥有丰富的花卉和动物物种，这是由于各种各样的可用栖息地，包括森林，草原和湿地。这种景观的空间和时间异质性为龙加园艺家提供了高度多样性的野生植物，以满足不同季节的各种生存需求。初步的实地调查显示，该地区的Ronga社区高度依赖天然植物资源来满足食物、医药、住所和温暖的需求。研究者将（1）分析社会和生态因素如何影响融安野生植物收获的空间和时间斑块选择;（2）通过监测融安野生植物收获对沿海稀树草原植被多样性、丰富度和分布的具体影响，调查这些人类活动如何影响植物。她将采用民族志和生态研究方法相结合。她将咨询政府机构和档案馆，收集有关融安历史上使用野生植物资源的信息，可以追溯到50年前，与最古老的航空照片相关联。她将绘制两个沿海稀树草原社区的地图，在那里她还将收集有关家庭间网络、已知植物及其用途和植物用途的空间信息。这将使她能够将用户的空间行为，并指导它的因素，以及看看如何资源的使用已经随着时间的推移而变化。基础科研的社会生态因素影响人类自然资源的使用是至关重要的，制定现实的景观保护管理计划，满足当地的具体需要，为人类和野生物种。目前项目中收集的数据将通过制定Futi跨界保护区（TFCA）的管理计划进行测试。希望该计划将作为一种方法模式，记录社区资源使用信息，以便在莫桑比克其他地点，如大林波波和戈龙戈萨，以及世界其他地区制定保护计划。这项研究还将大大有助于培养女社会科学家。

Graduate student Laura J. Shaffer, supervised by Dr. Theodore L. Gragson, will undertake research on how the relationship between spatial and temporal patchiness of natural resource distribution, as mediated by social and ecological factors, and human resource use. Her test case will be the Ronga people of Mozambique. Southern Mozambique's coastal savanna landscape is ideal for a resource use strategy study because the area is rich in floral and faunal species due to the diverse range of available habitats, which include forest, grasslands, and wetlands. This landscape's spatial and temporal heterogeneity offers Ronga horticulturists a high diversity of wild plants to harvest for various subsistence needs across the seasons. Preliminary fieldwork revealed a high dependence on natural plant resources by Ronga communities in the region for food, medicinal, shelter, and warmth needs. The researcher will (1) analyze how social and ecological factors affect Rongan wild plant harvesting spatial and temporal patch choices; and (2) investigate how these human activities affect the plants, by monitoring the specific effects of Rongan wild plant harvests on coastal savanna vegetation diversity, abundance, and distribution. She will employ a combination of ethnographic and ecological research methods. She will consult governmental agencies and archives to gather information about historic Rongan use of wild plant resources, going back 50 years, to correlate with the oldest available aerial photos. She will map two coastal savanna communities, in which she also will gather spatial information on interhousehold networks, plants known and their uses, and plant use. This will allow her to incorporate user spatial behavior, and the factors directing it, as well as look at how resource use has changed over time.Basic scientific research on the socioecological factors affecting human natural resource use is critical for developing realistic landscape conservation management plans that meet locally specific needs for both humans and wild species. The data gathered in the current project will be tested by developming a management plan for the Futi Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA). It is hoped that this plan will serve as a methodological model for documenting the community resource use information needed to create conservation plans at other sites in Mozambique, such as the Great Limpopo and Gorongoza, as well as in other parts of the world. The research also will contribute significantly to the education of a female social scientist.