Doctoral Dissertation Research: Historical Ecology of Coral Reef Ecosystems in the Hawaiian Archipelago

博士论文研究：夏威夷群岛珊瑚礁生态系统的历史生态学

• 批准号: 0926768
• 负责人: Hong Jiang
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Hawaii
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0926768&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Historical; Ecology

Existing research on coral reef ecosystems has attributed historical declines of coral reefs to a small set of direct human activities, or proximate impacts, including the primary threat of overexploitation of marine species. Global-scale studies have revealed regional differences in the trajectories, timing and extent of coral reef ecosystem decline, highlighting the need for in-depth regional case studies in historical ecology. What remains largely unexplored in a historical and regional context are the underlying social factors that are fundamental to proximate drivers of coral reef ecosystem decline. Ph.D. student John Kittinger under the supervision of doctoral advisor Dr. Hong Jiang, will study the social factors that contribute indirectly to coral reef decline, including shifts in demography, technology, economy and the socio-cultural institutions that structure human-environment interactions for coral reefs. The objective of their research is to examine the historical relationship between social change and coral reef ecosystem condition over the past 1000 years in a regional case study on the Hawaiian Archipelago. This research will involve two phases, including: 1) reconstruction of coral reef ecosystem condition over long time scales, and 2) analysis of the relationship between key social factors and ecosystem condition through time at two spatial scales (island level and archipelagic level). This quantitative approach will elucidate social-ecological linkages in coral reef ecosystems and will help identify the social factors critical to ecosystem resilience. This research will investigate the applicability of theory on human-environment interactions formulated in the context of terrestrial and agrarian systems (e.g. theory on land use/cover change) to marine environments and will also advance quantitative approaches to integrated social-ecological systems analysis.The research is novel in scale and approach in that it will adequately characterize social systems associated with coral reefs for long time periods (decades-centuries), previously identified as critical for understanding of long-term trends in coral reef ecosystem condition. From a conservation perspective, understanding historical trends is critically important in determining the current state and long-term trajectory of coral reef ecosystems and the threats to achieving desired future ecosystem states. The over-arching contribution of the research is the identification of the elements and processes that comprise social-ecological resilience, which is critical in understanding how to achieve long-term sustainability of marine resources and prevent collapse. This will be achieved through an integrated, transdisciplinary approach to historical social-ecological systems analysis. It is also expected that the research will help understand the human dimensions of global environmental change for coral reef ecosystems, which will enable the formulation of appropriate conservation strategies in the Pacific islands and beyond.

关于珊瑚礁生态系统的现有研究将珊瑚礁的历史性衰退归因于一小部分直接人类活动或直接影响，包括过度开发海洋物种的主要威胁。 全球范围的研究表明，珊瑚礁生态系统衰退的轨迹、时间和程度存在区域差异，突出表明需要对历史生态学进行深入的区域案例研究。 在历史和区域背景下，基本上尚未探索的是对珊瑚礁生态系统衰退的直接驱动因素至关重要的潜在社会因素。 博士在博士生导师江虹博士的指导下，学生约翰·基廷格将研究间接导致珊瑚礁衰退的社会因素，包括人口、技术、经济和社会文化机构的变化，这些变化构成了珊瑚礁的人与环境相互作用。 他们的研究目标是在夏威夷群岛的区域案例研究中，研究过去1000年来社会变迁与珊瑚礁生态系统状况之间的历史关系。 本研究将包括两个阶段，包括：1）重建珊瑚礁生态系统状况的长期尺度，2）分析关键社会因素与生态系统状况之间的关系，通过时间在两个空间尺度（岛屿水平和群岛水平）。 这种定量方法将阐明珊瑚礁生态系统中的社会-生态联系，并将有助于确定对生态系统复原力至关重要的社会因素。 本研究将探讨在陆地和农业系统的背景下制定的人与环境相互作用的理论的适用性这项研究在规模和方法上都是新颖的，因为它将充分描述长期与珊瑚礁有关的社会系统的特征（几十年至几个世纪），以前被认为是了解珊瑚礁生态系统状况长期趋势的关键。 从保护的角度来看，了解历史趋势对于确定珊瑚礁生态系统的现状和长期轨迹以及实现未来理想生态系统状态的威胁至关重要。 这项研究的最大贡献是确定了构成社会-生态复原力的要素和过程，这对于了解如何实现海洋资源的长期可持续性和防止崩溃至关重要。 这将通过对历史社会生态系统分析的综合、跨学科方法来实现。 预计这项研究还将有助于了解全球环境变化对珊瑚礁生态系统的人类影响，从而能够在太平洋岛屿及其他地区制定适当的养护战略。