CNH2-L: Social, Ecological, and Institutional Dynamics of Human-Wildlife Relations

这项研究将提出一个综合的社会环境框架，以审查野生动物数量过多的紧急挑战，确定社会和环境过程如何塑造人与野生动物的互动，并指导郊区和城市环境中改进的野生动物管理战略的设计。随着城市和郊区野生动物数量的增加，人们以新的方式与动物互动。然后，个人和社区必须决定是否以及如何管理这些人口。不同管理方法的接受度、可行性和成功程度将受到这些社区内的社会和环境条件的影响。有关管理的决定将反过来影响野生动物种群的社会和生态影响。这个项目将分析影响美国东北部城市和郊区鹿种群和鹿管理战略的社会环境动态。这项研究将产生关于各种鹿管理战略在不同社会环境背景下取得成功的新知识，并支持开发决策工具，为郊区和城市鹿管理提供信息。更广泛地说，这项研究将为新的理论提供信息，解释为什么人类的行为和政策会随着一些环境挑战的变化而不是其他环境挑战的变化。此外，该项目将为本科生和研究生创造跨学科的研究和培训机会，并支持编写使用郊区鹿管理案例研究的课程材料，以了解野生动物的综合社会环境动态。对某些物种数量增加的级联影响的关注引发了对城市和郊区过多野生动物的社会和生态影响以及管理的问题。这项研究将推进一个综合的社会环境框架，以审查围绕马萨诸塞州和纽约郊区和城市地区白尾鹿种群增长的新挑战。这项研究解决了三个相互关联的问题，即鹿种群、景观特征和鹿管理策略的耦合动态：1)鹿管理机构、猎人行为和景观特征的变化如何塑造鹿种群？2)特定的社会和环境过程如何以及为什么在某些情况下引发鹿管理策略的变化，而不是在其他情况下？3)土地和野生动物管理者在多个尺度上的合作(或缺乏合作)如何影响鹿管理项目的人类和环境结果？调查人员将进行一项综合的混合方法分析，结合对鹿种群的航空调查、植被采样、社区调查、对主要参与者的深入访谈和基于代理的模型。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research will advance an integrated socio-environmental framework to examine the emergent challenges of overabundant wildlife, determine how social and environmental processes shape human-wildlife interactions, and guide the design of improved wildlife management strategies in suburban and urban environments. As wildlife populations in urban and suburban areas grow, people interact with animals in new ways. Individuals and communities must then decide if and how to manage these populations. The acceptance, feasibility, and success of different management approaches will be influenced by the social and environmental conditions within these communities. Decisions about management will in turn shape the social and ecological impacts of wildlife populations. This project will analyze the socio-environmental dynamics that shape deer populations and deer management strategies in urban and suburban areas of the northeastern United States. The research will generate new knowledge regarding the success of various deer management strategies in different socio-environmental contexts and support the development of decision-making tools to inform suburban and urban deer management. More broadly, this research will inform new theory about why human behavior and policy changes in response to some environmental challenges but not others. In addition, the project will create interdisciplinary research and training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and support the development of course materials that use a case study of suburban deer management to understand the integrated socio-environmental dynamics of wildlife.Concern over the cascading impacts of increasing populations of certain species has raised questions about the social and ecological impacts and management of overabundant wildlife in urban and suburban areas. This research will advance an integrated socio-environmental framework to examine the emergent challenges surrounding the growth of white-tailed deer populations in suburban and urban areas of Massachusetts and New York. This research addresses three linked questions about the coupled dynamics of deer populations, landscape characteristics, and deer management strategies: 1) How do changes in deer management institutions, hunter behaviors, and landscape characteristics shape deer populations? 2) How and why do particular social and environmental processes trigger changes in deer management strategies in some circumstances but not others? 3) How does collaboration (or a lack of collaboration) among land and wildlife managers at multiple scales influence the human and environmental outcomes of deer management programs? The investigators will undertake an integrated mixed methods analysis combining aerial surveys of deer populations, vegetation sampling, community surveys, in-depth interviews of key actors, and agent-based models.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.