NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2017: Patterns, drivers and consequences of land-use transitions: urban agriculture as a model system

这是NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，在该计划下，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。这位名叫Theresa wei Ying Ong的研究员正在进行研究和接受培训，这将增加生物学中代表性较低的群体的参与。这位科学家由以下赞助科学家指导：西蒙·莱文(普林斯顿大学)、斯泰西·菲尔波特(加州大学圣克鲁斯分校)和布伦达·林(澳大利亚CSIRO)。城市农业为科学界代表性不足的群体提供了粮食安全、生物多样性、绿地和教育机会，但城市景观不断变化，地块经常在空地、城市花园和已开发土地之间转换。这项研究探讨了城市地区土地利用变化的过去和未来模式，社会经济和生态因素在推动变化中的作用，以及土地利用变化如何影响生物多样性和生态系统功能。这位研究员正在参与多学科合作，这将推动她在理论、景观和城市生态学的交叉点上的工作。该项目阐述了为什么向都市农业的过渡在某些情况下比其他情况下更持久，结果将与社区成员分享，这些社区成员正在为中产阶级化社区的城市花园寻求土地保有权。该研究员正在通过与赞助科学家的合作接受社会生态理论方面的培训，并正在开发一个空间上明确的土地利用转变的动态模型，作为与土地利用状态之间转变的方向和频率相关的净社会生态成本的函数。该模型还符合来自城市花园的社会生态数据，正在预测未来的土地利用变化，并将结果与使用历史航空图像在加利福尼亚州大型城市县观察到的过去模式进行比较。历史上的土地利用变化被分为从临界到平稳的动态类型，以及与城市花园中害虫和天敌生物多样性数据回归的过渡型，以了解其对生物防治的影响。更广泛的影响和更广泛的参与努力针对的是工人阶级家庭的青年，这些家庭以城市农业为食物生计，并直接受到社区士绅化所导致的土地使用变化的影响。这些人正在参加研讨会，重点是他们所在社区的生物防治服务的土地使用转变的社会生态驱动因素和后果。这项研究的结果正通过与城市园丁和城市规划者相关的政策小册子进一步传播。

This is an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology, under the program Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellow, Theresa Wei Ying Ong, is conducting research and receiving training that is increasing the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The fellow is being mentored by the following sponsoring scientists: Simon Levin (Princeton University), Stacy Philpott (University of California Santa Cruz), and Brenda Lin (CSIRO- Australia). Urban agriculture provides food security, biodiversity, greenspace and educational opportunities to underrepresented groups in science, yet urban landscapes are in constant flux, with parcels frequently transitioning between vacant lots, urban gardens and developed land. This research explores past and future patterns of land-use change in urban areas, the role of socio-economic and ecological factors in driving change, and how land-use change influences biodiversity and ecosystem function. The fellow is participating in multidisciplinary collaborations that will advance her work at the intersection of theoretical, landscape and urban ecology. The project addresses why transitions to urban agriculture are more permanent in some cases than others, and results will be shared with community members who are seeking land-tenure for urban gardens in gentrifying neighborhoods. The fellow is receiving training in socio-ecological theory through collaborations with the sponsoring scientists, and is developing a spatially-explicit dynamic model of land-use transitions as a function of the net socio-ecological costs associated with the direction and frequency of transitions between land-use states. The model is also being fit with socio-ecological data from urban gardens, future land-use changes are being predicted, and results are compared to past patterns observed for large, urban counties of California using historical aerial imagery. Historical land-use change is being categorized into dynamic types ranging from critical to smooth, and transition type regressed against data on pest and natural enemy biodiversity in urban gardens to understand its impact on biological control. Broader impacts and broadening participation efforts target youth from working-class families that use urban agriculture for food subsistence and are directly influenced by the land-use change resulting from gentrification of their neighborhoods. These individuals are participating in workshops focused on the socio-ecological drivers and consequences of land-use transitions for biological control services in their own neighborhoods. The results of this research are being further disseminated through policy pamphlets designed for relevance to urban gardeners and city planners.