Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: From Resource Degradation to Collective Action: Community Associations and Sustainability on the Ecuadorian Coast

乔治亚大学的研究生Christine M. Beitl将在Robert E. Rhoades博士的指导下进行研究，评估正式和非正式制度在社会生态恢复力和可持续性方面的作用。数据将来自对厄瓜多尔沿海红树林湿地集体行动与资源可持续性之间关系的深入调查。红树林湿地被城市化和虾类养殖所改造，已经威胁到全球沿海社区的社会和生态恢复能力。在厄瓜多尔海岸，为了扩大虾类养殖而砍伐红树林长达20年之后，捍卫生计和环境的草根运动已经整合成新的民间社会组织。他们致力于红树林的恢复、监测和管理，取得了不同程度的成功。关注红树林蛤的渔业将使研究人员能够检查两种集体行动问题：减法（收获多少）和贡献（人们如何以不同的方式参与和维护地方管理制度）。她将采用一种混合方法的数据收集策略，包括：1)观察；2)半结构化访谈；3)绘图；4)口述个案历史；5)调查；6)红树林蛤的单位捕获量（CPUE）。通过独特的民族志、调查和CPUE数据的三角测量，本研究将在两个不同的层面上检查社会和生态系统之间的明确联系，确定集体行动如何反映在更广泛的景观变化模式（红树林重新造林）中，并在个人捕鱼努力中有所不同。这项研究很重要，因为通过将社会生态弹性理论与共同财产和集体行动理论相结合，研究人员将能够解决集体行动和弹性研究中的理论和方法差距，并有可能为沿海资源的管理和保护政策提供信息。这项研究也将有助于社会科学家的教育。

University of Georgia graduate student Christine M. Beitl, supervised by Dr. Robert E. Rhoades, will undertake research to assess the role of both formal and informal institutions in social-ecological resilience and sustainability. Data will be derived from an intensive investigation into the relationship between collective action and resource sustainability in coastal mangrove wetlands in Ecuador. The conversion of mangrove wetlands for urbanization and shrimp farming has threatened social and ecological resilience in coastal communities worldwide. On the Ecuadorian coast, grassroots movements in defense of livelihoods and the environment have consolidated into new civil society organizations after two decades of mangrove deforestation for the expansion of shrimp farming. To varying degrees of success, they are engaged in mangrove restoration, monitoring, and management. The focus on the fishery for the mangrove cockle will allow the researcher to examine two kinds of collective action problems: subtraction (how much is harvested) and contribution (how people differentially participate in and uphold local management regimes). She will employ a mixed methods data collection strategy, including: 1) observation 2) semi-structured interviews 3) mapping 4) oral case histories 5) surveys and 6) catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) of the mangrove cockle. Through the unique triangulation of ethnographic, survey, and CPUE data, this research will examine the explicit link between social and ecological systems at two different levels, determining how collective action is reflected in broader patterns of landscape change (mangrove reforestation) and differentially reflected in the individual fishing effort. The research is important because by combining social-ecological resilience theory and building on common property and collective action theories, the researcher will be able address theoretical and methodological gaps in the study of collective action and resilience, and potentially inform policies for the management and conservation of coastal resources. The research also will contribute to the education of a social scientist.