IRES: An International, Interdisciplinary Student Research Program in a Biological Hotspot of Southern Ecuador

IRES：厄瓜多尔南部生物热点地区的国际跨学科学生研究项目

• 批准号: 1460079
• 负责人: Lisette Waits
• 金额: $ 24.53万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Idaho
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2021-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1460079&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRES; International; Interdisciplinary; Student; Research

The NSF-IRES program International, Interdisciplinary Student Research in a Biological Hotspot of Southern Ecuador will provide 8-week field research opportunities for students from the University of Idaho (UI) in collaboration with the Univesidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Ecuador. Six students (4-5 undergraduate, 1-2 graduate) per year will conduct team-based research at three main field sites in southern Ecuador including dry-forest, Amazonian lowlands and high Andes cloud forest and paramo ecosystems. Training will emphasize cross-disciplinary synthesis, sensitivity to varying cultural/political norms, and the flexibility to conduct rigorous scientific investigations in landscapes with uniquely varied research challenges. Participating students from the UI will work in interdisciplinary teams of 2-3 students addressing individual research questions within the scope of a broad unifying topic focused around our umbrella theme of biodiversity conservation. Six UTPL faculty with expertise in conservation biology, conservation genetics, mammalian ecology, limnology, insect ecology and phylogenetics, plant ecology and phylogenetics, and rural sociology will serve as local project mentors. Ecuadorian students from UTPL will collaborate with UI student team members to develop and implement research projects. UI faculty with expertise in landscape and organismal ecology, conservation biology, population ecology, conservation genetics, hydrology, limnology, watershed management, rural sociology, natural resource policy, and entomology will serve as co-mentors and collaborators. Educational activities will include a spring planning and proposal development course that emphasizes program logistics, the ecology, natural history and human dimensions (sustainable development, culture, indigenous issues) of southern Ecuador, interdisciplinary research methods, and the development of summer research proposals. After an 8-week field season collecting data in Ecuador, students will take a fall course designed to facilitate data analysis and manuscript preparation, in a continued interdisciplinary setting, and culminating in a final oral presentation and project report. Participating students will gain experience with a rich array of cultures, thus building a sophisticated, externalized perspective on science. Ultimately, graduates of this program should excel at addressing the critical, multi-facetted conservation dilemmas that face us as global citizens.

在厄瓜多尔南部生物热点地区，NSF-IRES国际跨学科学生研究项目将为爱达荷大学(UI)的学生提供为期8周的实地研究机会，该项目将与厄瓜多尔特别洛哈大学(Univesidad Técnica Special de Loja)合作。每年有6名学生(4-5名本科生，1-2名研究生)将在厄瓜多尔南部的三个主要实地地点进行基于团队的研究，这些地点包括干旱森林、亚马逊低地和安第斯高地云雾森林和副生态系统。培训将强调跨学科的综合，对不同的文化/政治规范的敏感性，以及在具有独特不同研究挑战的环境中进行严格科学调查的灵活性。来自UI的参与学生将在2-3名学生组成的跨学科团队中工作，在围绕我们的生物多样性保护的伞形主题的广泛统一主题的范围内解决个人研究问题。六名在保护生物学、保护遗传学、哺乳动物生态学、湖泊学、昆虫生态学和系统发育学、植物生态学和系统发育学以及农村社会学方面有专长的UTPL学院将担任当地项目导师。UTPL的厄瓜多尔学生将与伊利诺伊大学学生团队成员合作开发和实施研究项目。在景观和生物生态学、保护生物学、种群生态学、保护遗传学、水文学、湖沼学、流域管理、农村社会学、自然资源政策和昆虫学方面具有专长的伊利诺伊大学学院将担任共同导师和合作者。教育活动将包括春季规划和提案制定课程，强调项目后勤、厄瓜多尔南部的生态、自然历史和人文因素(可持续发展、文化、土著问题)、跨学科研究方法以及夏季研究提案的制定。在厄瓜多尔进行了为期8周的实地考察收集数据后，学生们将参加秋季课程，该课程旨在促进数据分析和手稿准备，在持续的跨学科环境中，最终形成最终的口头报告和项目报告。参与的学生将获得丰富的文化经验，从而建立一种复杂的、外在的科学观。归根结底，这个项目的毕业生应该擅长解决我们作为全球公民所面临的关键的、多方面的保护困境。