SEES Fellows: Barriers to soil sustainability, food security and biodiversity conservation in the Albertine Rift

该项目将探讨社会经济因素和土壤肥力因素如何相互作用，在乌干达产生不可持续的农业做法;如何扭转生产力下降的趋势;以及如何利用生产力下降的逆转来保护地球？世界上最有价值的生物多样性资源？艾伯丁裂谷包括基巴莱国家公园。 该研究将采用跨学科的方法，整合生态学，土壤科学和社会科学的元素，将土地利用强度与土壤肥力和抑制可持续农业实践的社会经济障碍联系起来。 该项目将探索土壤有机质形成和退化的新模式，以便更好地了解土地使用与土壤肥力之间的联系。 此外，该项目还将汇编调查数据，以便以明确的空间方式，对照对生产力和土壤肥力的看法，对传统土地管理做法的影响进行大规模的定量评估。 土壤肥力将通过测量土壤有机质、土壤碳、氮和磷、pH值、持水能力和微生物生物量来确定。 这些数据将通过绘制人口因素、种族和风险图加以整合，并与土地使用和土壤肥力感知和实际下降的地区相叠加。 这种类型的整合将有助于确定可能成为保持土壤肥力障碍的社会经济因素。该项目将在北美和乌干达科学家之间建立新的联系。 将与当地农民密切合作开展研究，以提高对土壤和土壤可持续性重要性的认识。 此外，该项目还将与非政府组织和当地学校合作，让数千名学童参加与可持续农业做法有关的科学教育活动，为满足撒哈拉以南非洲欠发达地区日益增长的粮食需求而进行的农业集约化只能在短期内提高作物产量。 诸如耕种更多土地、减少休耕期和增加作物密度等方法是不可持续的，因为适合耕种的土地是有限的，土壤有机质被耗尽，肥力丧失，生物过程被最小化，导致未来生产潜力严重降低。 该项目将探索具有成本效益和文化上可接受的方法来保持土壤有机质和提高土壤肥力，以提高粮食安全和保护生物多样性为目标。（SEES研究员）计划，其目标是帮助实现所需的发现，为导致环境，能源和社会可持续性，同时创造必要的劳动力来应对这些挑战。 在SEES研究员的支持下，该项目将使一个有前途的早期职业研究人员能够在与可持续发展相关的独立研究生涯中建立自己的地位。

This project will explore how socio-economic and soil fertility factors interact to generate unsustainable agricultural practices in Uganda; how the trend of productivity loss might be reversed; and how the reversal of productivity declines can be used to protect one of Earth?s most valuable biodiversity resources ? the Albertine Rift including Kibale National Park. The research will use an interdisciplinary approach, integrating elements of ecology, soil science, and social sciences to link patterns of land use intensity with soil fertility and the socio-economic barriers that inhibit sustainable farming practices. The project will explore new paradigms in soil organic matter formation and degradation to form a better understanding of links between land use and soil fertility. In addition, the project will compile survey data for a broad-scale quantitative assessment of the effects of traditional land management practices as compared with perceptions about productivity and soil fertility in a spatially explicit manner. Soil fertility will be defined by measurements of soil organic matter, soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, pH, water holding capacity and microbial biomass. These data will be integrated by mapping demographic factors, ethnicity, and risks, overlaid with land use and areas of perceived and actual declines in soil fertility. This type of integration will be useful in identifying socio-economic factors that may act as barriers in maintaining soil fertility. This project will create new ties among North American and Ugandan scientists. Research will be conducted in close collaboration with local farmers in order to raise awareness of the importance of soils and soil sustainability. In addition, the project will partner with non-governmental organizations and local schools to engage thousands of school children in science education activities related to sustainable agriculture practices.Agricultural intensification to meet increasing food demands in less developed areas of sub-Saharan Africa results in only short term increases in crop yields. Methods, such as cultivating more land, reducing fallow periods, and increasing crop density are not sustainable because land suitable for cultivation is finite, soil organic matter is depleted and fertility is lost, and biological processes are minimized, leading to severely reduced future production potentials. This project will explore cost effective and culturally acceptable methods for maintaining soil organic matter and improving soil fertility, with the goals of increased food security and the conservation of biodiversity.This project is supported under the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows) program, with the goal of helping to enable discoveries needed to inform actions that lead to environmental, energy and societal sustainability while creating the necessary workforce to address these challenges. With SEES Fellows support, this project will enable a promising early career researcher to establish themselves in an independent research career related to sustainability.