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

为了提高美国研究人员和学生建立国际合作的能力，这个IRES项目在厄瓜多尔提供跨学科的研究培训和文化丰富。在三年的时间里，该项目将培训24名美国本科生和研究生，招聘重点是STEM领域代表性不足的群体。为了调查居民土地管理实践的变化如何影响景观生态过程的完整性，以及人类健康和福祉，参与的学生将在一个破碎的热带景观中对森林、鸟类和人进行实地研究。通过美国和厄瓜多尔研究人员在国际经验之前、期间和之后的密集指导，学生将获得发展研究假设和研究设计的培训。收集实地数据，分析和传播研究成果，包括在同行评审的出版物中。该项目以代表性不足群体的学生为对象，将有助于增加关于加剧或改善土地管理做法对环境和人类健康的影响的因素的想法和观点的多样性。由美国学生进行的研究将在厄瓜多尔的Chocó生物地理区进行，当地的管理方式多种多样，从为农业和畜牧业而密集砍伐森林，到为狩猎和可持续收获活动而保持较高的树木覆盖率。我们的首要假设是，在这一景观中，更高的树木覆盖率将有利于自然系统（通过促进食果脊椎动物的种子传播）和人类系统（通过改善粮食安全和减少热压力）。为了评估树木覆盖如何影响以水果为食的鸟类的多样性、丰度和觅食，参与者将能够将卫星图像分析与实地量化的鸟类种群指标、运动模式和通过雾网、无线电跟踪和果树观测收集的水果移除率相结合。这些相关的方法可以通过一项实验加以补充，该实验将巢箱放置在一系列栖息地中，以确定筑巢洞的可用性是否限制了农业地区的鸟类种群。鸟类种子传播数据也可以与森林结构、海拔和热环境进行评估，以研究其对种子沉积和幼苗招募的影响。为了了解限制营养再生的因素，学生可以研究到达种子陷阱的种子的多样性和丰度；种子密度、地点和分散种子种类组成对幼苗生长、存活和种群统计学的影响以及草食对植物的影响。为了更好地理解树木覆盖与人类福祉的关系，学生们将研究森林覆盖在调节环境温度方面的作用，以及热环境如何直接（脱水、热应激）和间接（工作模式、粮食安全）影响人类福祉。参与者还可以评估土地覆盖、性别和市场准入如何影响饮食模式和人类营养状况。这将涉及大量营养素和微量营养素摄入量的数据收集，以及成人和儿童的人体测量（身高、体重、周长和身体组成）。这项跨学科研究的结果有望阐明将生物多样性纳入农业系统如何影响生态系统功能和人类健康，从而为人口增长、森林砍伐增加和气候变暖如何影响我们的星球和社会提供信息。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.