Land, Forest and Water Management in a Tropical Environment

热带环境中的土地、森林和水管理

• 批准号: 2048440
• 负责人: Nicholas Dunning
• 金额: $ 22.65万
• 依托单位: University of Cincinnati Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2048440&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Land; Forest; Water; Management; Tropical

This project will investigate the land and water management strategies that supported the development of complex society in a tropical environment. A primary theoretical question to be addressed in this study focuses on how the ancient inhabitants in the environmentally problematic region were able to sustain an urban population. A corollary to this question asks how agricultural intensification was achieved and how other essential resources, such as water and forest products, were managed. The research plan includes ecological assessments such as biomass and species diversity, as well as examination of the sustainability of various land use practices all of which will be useful for the management of the region which currently co-exists in an uneasy tension in competition for land and water. The project is tri-national, involving researchers and students from multiple countries and provides training for graduate students from each country.The archaeological site provides an ideal test case for examining the changing trajectories of human- environment interactions because it grew into one of the paramount cities and political-economic powers during the New World Classic period. The research will examine the hydraulic, agricultural, and forest management strategies that allowed the persistent occupation and growth in the face of changing environmental and political economic conditions. It will provide insights into the variability of adaptive strategies and the rise of social complexity. These issues will be addressed by an interdisciplinary research team that includes professionals and students with training in botany, paleoecology, geoarchaeology, remote sensing, GIS, and anthropological archaeology and will employ a unique combination of paleoenvironmental and archaeological methods. The acquisition of lidar imagery of the area will allow the team to select a variety of topographic settings, probable ancient agricultural fields, reservoirs, and residential areas for excavation and coring, thus providing data on resource management across the spectrum of environmental contexts and social strata. These analyses will include eDNA which offers novel insights into ancient land use and subsistence.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.

该项目将调查支持热带环境中复杂社会发展的土地和水资源管理战略。在这项研究中要解决的一个主要理论问题集中在如何在环境问题的地区的古代居民能够维持城市人口。 这一问题的一个必然结果是，农业集约化是如何实现的，其他基本资源，如水和森林产品是如何管理的。该研究计划包括生物量和物种多样性等生态评估，以及对各种土地使用做法的可持续性的审查，所有这些都将有助于该地区的管理，该地区目前在争夺土地和水的紧张局势中共存。该项目涉及三个国家，涉及来自多个国家的研究人员和学生，并为每个国家的研究生提供培训。考古遗址为研究人类与环境相互作用的变化轨迹提供了理想的测试案例，因为它在新世界经典时期发展成为最重要的城市和政治经济力量之一。该研究将审查水利，农业和森林管理战略，这些战略允许在不断变化的环境和政治经济条件下持续占领和增长。它将为适应性策略的可变性和社会复杂性的上升提供见解。这些问题将由一个跨学科的研究团队解决，该团队包括专业人员和学生，他们在植物学，古生态学，地质考古学，遥感，地理信息系统和人类学考古学方面接受过培训，并将采用古环境和考古方法的独特组合。获得该地区的激光雷达图像将使该小组能够选择各种地形环境、可能的古代农田、水库和居民区进行挖掘和取芯，从而提供关于各种环境背景和社会阶层的资源管理数据。这些分析将包括eDNA，它提供了对古代土地使用和生存的新见解。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。