Collaborative Research: Understanding lay theories of environmental change and adaptation in southern Appalachia

合作研究：了解阿巴拉契亚南部环境变化、气候变化和适应的外行理论由该奖项资助的研究将调查外行对环境变化的观察：生活在特定地方的人们如何利用自己的经验来理解自然世界的变化。这项研究将由Meredith Welch-Devine博士（佐治亚大学）和Brian J. Burke博士（阿巴拉契亚州立大学）进行，他们是隶属于美国国家科学基金会支持的阿巴拉契亚南部Coweeta长期生态研究（LTER）项目的人类学家。Coweeta的科学家利用80多年的数据，对该地区未来的环境变化进行了预测，并概述了对当地生物多样性和生态系统的预期影响。他们的科学发现为地方环境治理和适应规划提供了丰富的资源。与此同时，同一地区的当地非科学家居民已经收集了他们自己关于生物多样性和变化的经验数据，将这些数据代代相传，并发展了他们自己关于其原因和后果的理论。不幸的是，这种局部理论很少得到系统的研究，尽管它们可以对科学和改进政策制定作出重大贡献。基于地点的理论通过将大范围的变化与特定地点和微观层面的变化过程，以及与促使人们采取行动的生计、景观和问题联系起来，加强了科学发现。因为外行理论可以显著地影响我们作为一个社会如何应对和适应周围的变化，所以了解当地知识的来源以及它如何受到当地历史、经济和文化的影响是很重要的。Coweeta地区为这种调查提供了一个理想的场所，因为可以获得比较的科学数据。此外，该地区是长期人口和新人口的混合体，他们以不同的方式融入自然世界。对一些居民来说，大自然提供了他们的生计，而另一些人则被它的美景和娱乐机会所吸引。认识到植物和动物是人们对环境体验的核心，研究人员选择关注对生物多样性的感知。他们将构建一个由90名当地居民组成的样本，根据他们和他们的家人在该地区居住的时间（多代居民、一两代居民和新来者）进行分层。研究人员将对所有样本成员进行生活史和环境互动访谈。另外45名居民将被要求完成全面的自由清单练习，以引出他们对自然世界的认知模型，并将辅以跟踪访谈，重点关注自由清单项目的变化。研究人员还将与资源管理者和环境决策者进行半结构化访谈；分析官方文件，在政策制定中区别地纳入地方和科学知识和关注点；并在相关社区活动中进行参与性观察。研究结果将记录当地非科学家如何经历和理解Coweeta科学家正在测量和记录的同样的环境变化。在其他地方资助的平行研究正在法国、津巴布韦和喀麦隆进行；数据将在国家一级进行分析，然后通过综合讲习班在四个国家进行分析。总体目标是了解对环境变化的看法如何变化，为什么变化，以及对规划和政策的影响。

Collaborative Research: Understanding Lay Theories of Environmental Change, Climate Change, and Adaptation in Southern AppalachiaThe research funded by this award will investigate lay observations of environmental change: how people who live in a particular place use their own experiences to understand change in the natural world. The research will be conducted by Dr. Meredith Welch-Devine (University of Georgia) and Dr. Brian J. Burke (Appalachian State University), anthropologists affiliated with the NSF-supported Coweeta Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program in southern Appalachia. Drawing on more than 80 years of data, Coweeta scientists have developed projections of future environmental change in the region and have outlined anticipated effects on local biodiversity and ecosystems. Their scientific findings provide a rich resource for local environmental governance and adaptation planning. In parallel, local non-scientist residents of the same region have gathered their own experiential data on biodiversity and change, transmitting it across generations and developing their own theories of its causes and consequences. Unfortunately, such local theories are rarely studied systematically even though they can be contribute significantly to science and to improved policy making. Place-based theories enhance science findings by connecting broad-scale changes to specific locations and micro-level change processes, as well as to the livelihoods, landscapes, and issues that move people to act. Because lay theories can significantly shape how we as a society respond and adapt to the changes around us, it is important to understand where local knowledge comes from and how it is affected by local history, economy, and culture.The Coweeta region provides an ideal venue for such an investigation because of the availability of comparative scientific data. Also, the region is home to a mix of long-term and newcomer populations with different ways of engaging the natural world. For some residents, nature provides their livelihood, while others have been drawn to the area by its scenic beauty and recreation opportunities. Recognizing that plants and animals are central to people's experiences of their environment, the researchers have chosen to focus on perceptions of biodiversity. They will construct a sample of 90 local residents stratified by how long they and their families have lived in the area (multi-generational residents, one or two generation residents, and newcomers). The researchers will conduct life history and environmental interaction interviews with all members of the sample. An additional 45 residents will be asked to complete comprehensive freelisting exercises to elicit their cognitive models of the natural world, which will be complemented with follow-up interviews focused on changes in the freelisted items. The researchers will also conduct semi-structured interviews with resource managers and environmental policy makers; analyze official documents for differential inclusion of local and scientific knowledge and concerns in policy making; and conduct participant observation at relevant community events. Findings will document how local non-scientists experience and understand the same environmental changes that Coweeta scientists are measuring and recording. Parallel research, funded elsewhere, is being conducted in France, Zimbabwe, and Cameroon; data will be analyzed at the country level and then across the four countries through synthesis workshops. The overall goal is to understand how perceptions of environmental change vary, why they vary, and what the implications are for planning and policy.