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博士的指导下进行研究，研究社会和生态因素调节的自然资源分布的时空斑块之间的关系，以及人力资源的使用。她的测试案例将是莫桑比克的荣加人。莫桑比克南部沿海稀树草原景观是资源利用战略研究的理想之地，因为该地区拥有丰富的动植物物种，可利用的栖息地种类繁多，包括森林、草原和湿地。这一景观的时空异质性为Ronga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。初步田野调查显示，该地区的荣加社区高度依赖自然植物资源，以满足食物、医疗、住所和取暖需求。研究人员将(1)分析社会和生态因素如何影响融安野生植物收获的时空斑块选择；(2)通过监测荣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，研究这些人类活动如何影响植物。她将采用人种学和生态学相结合的研究方法。她将咨询政府机构和档案馆，收集有关荣安50年前野生植物资源历史利用的信息，以与可获得的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、已知植物及其用途以及植物用途的空间信息。这将使她能够纳入用户的空间行为，以及指导其的因素，并查看资源使用随时间的变化。对影响人类自然资源使用的社会生态因素进行基础科学研究，对于制定现实的景观保护管理计划至关重要，该计划满足当地对人类和野生物种的特定需求。在当前项目中收集的数据将通过为富提越境保护区(TFCA)制定管理计划来进行测试。希望该计划将成为记录莫桑比克其他遗址，如大林波波和戈龙戈萨以及世界其他地区制定保护计划所需的社区资源使用信息的方法模式。这项研究还将对女性社会科学家的教育做出重大贡献。

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.