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

合作研究：理解阿巴拉契亚南部环境变化、气候变化和适应的一般理论由该奖项资助的研究将调查环境变化的一般观察：生活在特定地方的人们如何利用自己的经历来理解自然界的变化。这项研究将由人类学家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NSF支持的阿巴拉契亚南部考韦塔长期生态研究(LTER)计划的附属人类学家。考韦塔的科学家利用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收集了他们自己关于生物多样性和变化的经验数据，将其代代相传，并发展出他们自己的因果理论。不幸的是，这种地方性理论很少被系统地研究，尽管它们可以为科学和改进政策制定做出重大贡献。基于地点的理论通过将大范围的变化与特定地点和微观变化过程联系起来，以及与推动人们采取行动的生计、景观和问题联系起来，从而加强了科学发现。因为外行理论可以显著地塑造我们作为一个社会如何应对和适应我们周围的变化，所以了解当地知识从哪里来以及它是如何受到当地历史、经济和文化的影响是很重要的。考维塔地区提供了这样的调查的理想场所，因为可以获得比较科学的数据。此外，该地区是长期人口和新来者的混合体，他们以不同的方式与自然界打交道。对于一些居民来说，大自然提供了他们的生计，而另一些人则被其美丽的风景和娱乐机会所吸引。认识到植物和动物是人们体验环境的核心，研究人员选择将重点放在对生物多样性的感知上。他们将构建一个由90名当地居民组成的样本，按他们和他们的家人在该地区生活的时间进行分层(多代居民、一代或两代居民和新来的人)。研究人员将对样本中的所有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，以得出他们对自然世界的认知模型，并将辅之以后续访谈，重点关注自由清单项目的变化。研究人员还将与资源经理和环境政策制定者进行半结构化访谈；分析官方文件，以便在决策中区别纳入当地和科学知识和关切；并在相关社区活动中进行参与者观察。研究结果将记录当地非科学家如何经历和理解考韦塔科学家正在测量和记录的相同环境变化。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，然后通过综合研讨会在这四个国家进行。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.