CNH: Social-Ecological Dynamics of Aquatic Species Invasions on a Lake-Rich Landscape

公共政策对生态系统服务的影响是复杂的，不仅因为生态系统是复杂的这一显而易见的原因，还因为政策的影响被个人和家庭的私人决策过滤了，往往会带来意想不到的生态后果。一个重要的例子是控制水生物种入侵的公共政策，这往往是对本地物种和生物多样性的重大威胁，从而对水生生态系统的社会价值构成威胁。本项目研究旨在控制或防止有害水生物种入侵的政策干预如何影响使用水生系统的个体的决策和经济福利，从而影响入侵的空间动态。这个问题将被用于解决现在出现在威斯康星州北部湖区的水生入侵物种（AIS），如欧亚水翼鱼、生锈的小龙虾和斑马贻贝。该分析使用了各种新的数据和方法，包括一个船民行为的计量经济模型，该模型是根据对船民进行的为期两年的网络调查数据估计的，关于离开受感染湖泊的船只对繁殖体的吸收和运输过程中繁殖体的存活的新实验和分析，以及影响繁殖体建立和定植的湖泊特征的统计模型。除了促进对水生物种入侵的理解外，研究结果通常还将通过开发包含人类行为不确定性的创新模型来为人类环境研究提供信息。在实践层面上，该项目将通过其对AIS基本管理问题的见解产生广泛的影响。例如，从历史上看，管理资源主要用于控制入侵物种，可能是因为入侵的政治经济。但在现实中，适当的管理行动可能是控制和预防相结合；每一类的方法都需要进一步的研究。多名研究生和本科生将在这个跨学科的研究项目中接受培训和指导。项目人员将在威斯康星州与北温带湖泊长期生态研究站点的校园计划一起工作，教育K-12的教师和学生关于这种入侵的生态学和经济学。

The effect of public policy on ecosystem services is complex, not only for the obvious reason that ecosystems are complex, but also because a policy's effect is filtered by the private decisions of individuals and households, often with unintended ecological consequences. An important example is public policy to control aquatic species invasions, which are often a major threat to native species and biodiversity, and consequently to the social value of aquatic ecosystems. This project investigates how policy interventions intended to control or prevent harmful aquatic species invasions affect the decisions and economic welfare of individuals using the aquatic system, and consequently the spatial dynamics of invasions. This question will be addressed for aquatic invasive species (AIS) now present in the lake district of northern Wisconsin, such as Eurasian water-milfoil, rusty crayfish, and zebra mussel. The analysis uses a variety of new data and methods, including an econometric model of boater behavior estimated with data from a two-year, web-based survey of boaters, novel experiments and analyses concerning propagule uptake by boats leaving infected lakes and propagule survival during transport, and a statistical model of the lake characteristics affecting propagule establishment and colonization. As well as advancing understanding of aquatic species invasions, results will generally inform human-environment studies through the development of innovative models that incorporate uncertainties in human behaviors. On a practical level, the project will have broad impacts via its insights into basic management questions about AIS. For example, historically, management resources have been directed primarily towards invasive species control, possibly because of the political economy of invasions. But in reality, the appropriate management action is likely to be a mix of control and prevention; and methods falling into each of these categories need further investigation. Multiple graduate students and undergraduates will be trained and mentored in this interdisciplinary research project. Project personnel will work in Wisconsin with the North Temperate Lakes Long-Term Ecological Research site's Schoolyard program to educate K-12 teachers and students about the ecology and economics of such invasions.