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

研究生Laura J. Shaffer将在Theodore L. Gragson博士的指导下，对社会和生态因素介导的自然资源分布的时空斑块与人力资源利用之间的关系进行研究。她的试验案例将是莫桑比克的朗加人。莫桑比克南部的沿海稀树草原景观是进行资源利用策略研究的理想场所，因为该地区拥有丰富的动植物物种，包括森林、草原和湿地等多种可用栖息地。这种景观的空间和时间异质性为容加园艺师提供了高度多样化的野生植物，以满足不同季节的生存需求。初步的田野调查显示，该地区的容加社区高度依赖天然植物资源来满足食物、药物、住所和取暖需求。(1)分析社会生态因素对容安野生植物采收时空斑块选择的影响；(2)通过监测荣安野生植物收获对滨海稀树草原植被多样性、丰度和分布的具体影响，探讨人类活动对植物的影响。她将结合民族志和生态学的研究方法。她将咨询政府机构和档案，收集50年前荣安利用野生植物资源的历史信息，并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，在那里她还将收集关于家庭间网络、已知植物及其用途以及植物使用的空间信息。这将使她能够整合用户的空间行为，以及指导它的因素，以及查看资源使用如何随时间变化。对影响人类自然资源利用的社会生态因素进行基础科学研究，对于制定符合当地人类和野生物种具体需求的现实景观保护管理计划至关重要。在当前项目中收集的数据将通过为富提跨境保护区（TFCA）制定管理计划来进行测试。希望这一计划将成为一种方法模型，用于记录社区资源使用信息，以便在莫桑比克的其他地点，如大林波波和戈龙戈萨，以及世界其他地区制定保护计划。这项研究也将对女性社会科学家的教育作出重大贡献。

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.