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

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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.