Collaborative Research: IRES Track 1: Socio-ecological training in a tropical landscape

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To enhance the ability of the United States researchers and students to establish international collaborations, this IRES program provides cross-disciplinary research training and cultural enrichment in Ecuador. Over three years, the project will train 24 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students, with a recruitment focus on underrepresented groups in STEM fields. In order to investigate how variation in land management practices by residents affects the integrity of landscape ecological processes, as well as human health and well-being, participating students will conduct field research on forests, birds, and people within a fragmented tropical landscape Through intensive mentoring by U.S. and Ecuadorian researchers before, during, and after the international experience, students will gain training in developing research hypotheses and study design, collecting field data, and analysis and dissemination of research findings, including in peer-reviewed publications. By targeting students from underrepresented groups, the project will help increase the diversity of ideas and perspectives on factors that either exacerbate, or ameliorate, the effects of land management practices on environmental and human health.The research to be undertaken by U.S. students will take place within Ecuador’s Chocó Biogeographic Zone, where local management styles range from intensive deforestation for agriculture and cattle to maintaining high tree cover for hunting and sustainable harvest activities.Our over-arching hypothesis is that higher tree cover in this landscape will benefit natural systems (via promoting seed dispersal by fruit-eating vertebrates) and human systems (by improving food security and reducing thermal stress). To evaluate how tree cover effects the diversity, abundance, and foraging of fruit-eating birds, participants will be able to combine satellite imagery analysis with field-based quantification of bird population metrics, movement patterns, and fruit removal rates collected via mist-netting, radio-tracking, and fruiting trees observations. These correlational approaches may be complemented by an experiment in which nest boxes are placed in a range of habitats to determine if the availability of nesting holes limit bird populations in agricultural areas. Avian seed-dispersal data can also be evaluated in relation to forest structure, elevation, and the thermic environment to investigate its effect on seed deposition and seedling recruitment. To understand factors limiting vegetative regeneration, students can study the diversity and abundance of seeds arriving in seed traps; the effects of seed density, location, and species composition of dispersed seeds on seedling growth, survival, and demography; and impacts of herbivory through field-based experiments.To better understand how tree cover relates to human well-being, students will investigate the role of forest cover in moderating ambient temperatures and how the thermal environment directly (dehydration, heat stress) and indirectly (work patterns, food security) influences human well-being. Participants can also evaluate how land cover, gender, and market access may influence dietary patterns and human nutritional status. This will involve data collection on macronutrient and micronutrient intakes as well as anthropometric measurements of adults and children (height, weight, circumferences, and body composition). Results from this interdisciplinary research are expected to elucidate how integration of biodiversity into agriculture systems may impact both ecosystem function and human health, thereby informing how growing human populations, increased deforestation, and a warming climate may affect our planet and society.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.