IRES Track I: Integrating freshwater science and sustainability: Training opportunities in a rapidly changing Yucatan Peninsula ecological corridor.

有人认为，21世纪的终极挑战是调和人类活动与环境可持续性之间的内在冲突。在处理淡水资源日益增加的压力方面，这一挑战最大。这个IRES项目以“一条河流贯穿其中：在生态走廊中从历史和水文的流动中构建未来”为主题，将在3年的时间里让约21名美国学生分成3组，进行为期7周的实地体验。每年将重点讨论在墨西哥尤卡坦半岛的巴卡拉尔生态走廊解决此类冲突的途径、方法和固有挑战。这个地区，人类广泛居住了3000多年，可以追溯到玛雅人，正在考虑作为国际重要湿地拉姆萨尔公约遗址。与当地社区一起，该地区发现自己处于体验生态旅游经济效益的前沿，并面临着维护原始环境的挑战，这推动了经济的增长，并迅速提高了使用和占用水平。让学生沉浸在一个环境中，在这个环境中，保持可持续经济增长的复杂性是前沿和中心，水的重要性是显而易见的，令人信服的，科学的作用是公认的，无论是对基础的理解还是对社会的相关性，都是这个项目的总体目标。该计划寻求三个主要的广泛影响：1)淡水研究的跨学科培训；2)最终可以为管理和政策提供信息的综合合作研究；3)新的文化和个人经验、交流和欣赏。这三者都将利用传统的生态知识、社会背景和文化意识，并为学生提供机会，体验通过政策及其潜在的社会压力来裁决的自然资源保护和经济增长的挑战。流的概念是一个统一的原则，不仅在水科学，而且在人类事件的过程中。就像世界各地的淡水生态系统一样，这个系统中有三股主要力量汇聚在一起，了解它们之间的相互作用对于现在和未来的可行、可持续的环境和经济至关重要：1)地表和地下水文系统动力学；2)生态复杂性；3)人类使用、建筑环境和参与。这些力量是每一个淡水系统的共同特征。Bacalar就像一个实验室，在这里，这些力量正在实时发挥作用，“流”正在迅速变化。本科生和研究生的研究机会存在于相关领域，使该项目能够将学生的兴趣与各种领域相匹配，包括水文地质学、水生生物地球化学、红树林和湿地生态学、碳循环、叠层石生态学、气候动力学、GIS制图、遥感、社区参与、资源管理和决策。该项目将利用与El Colegio de la Frontera Sur （ECOSUR）的合作，这是一个由联邦政府支持的研究实验室和学院，位于Educación Normal区域中心Chetumal。地方政府投资公司。Javier Rojo Gómez （Bacalar师范学院）和Bacalar公立高中系统（COBACH）。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。

It has been suggested that the ultimate challenge of the 21st century is to reconcile the inherent conflict between human activity and environmental sustainability. Nowhere is this challenge greater than in dealing with increasing pressure on freshwater resources. Using a theme: “A River Runs Through It: Building a future from the flow of history and hydrology in an ecological corridor”, this IRES program will expose ~21 U.S. students in 3 cohorts over 3 years to a 7-week field experience. Each year will focus on the approaches, methods, and challenges inherent in resolving such conflicts in the Bacalar Ecological Corridor in the Yucatan, Mexico. This region, which has been extensively inhabited by humans for well over 3000 years dating back to the Mayans, is under consideration as a Ramsar Convention of Wetlands of International Importance site. Along with the local community, this region finds itself at the leading edge of experiencing the economic benefits of eco-tourism, and the challenge of maintaining the pristine environment which is driving a growing economy and a rapidly increasing level of use and occupation. Immersing students in an environment where the complexity of maintaining sustainable economic growth is front and center, the importance of water is obvious and compelling, and the role of science is recognized, both for fundamental understanding and for societal relevance, is the overarching goal of this project. The program seeks three major broad impacts: 1) interdisciplinary training in freshwater studies, 2) integrated, collaborative research that can ultimately inform management and policy, and 3) new cultural and personal experiences, exchange, and appreciation. All three will take advantage of traditional ecological knowledge, social context, and cultural awareness, and provide students the opportunity to experience the challenges of natural resource conservation and economic growth as adjudicated through policy and its underlying societal pressures. The concept of flow is a unifying principle, not only in water science, but in the course of human events. Like freshwater ecosystems everywhere, three major forces come together in this system and understanding their interactions is essential for viable, sustained environments and economies whose benefits accrue both today and into the future: 1) Surficial and subterranean hydrologic system dynamics, 2) Ecological complexity, and 3) Human use, the built environment, and engagement. These forces are a common feature of every freshwater system. Bacalar serves as a laboratory in which these forces are playing out in real time and the “flows” are changing rapidly. Opportunities for undergraduate and graduate student research exist across related areas giving the program latitude in matching student interests to a variety of fields including hydrogeology, aquatic biogeochemistry, mangrove and wetland ecology, carbon cycling, stromatolite ecology, climate dynamics, GIS mapping, remote sensing, community engagement, resource management and decision making. The program will take advantage of collaborations with the El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) a federally supported research lab and college in Chetumal, the Centro Regional de Educación Normal. Lic. Javier Rojo Gómez (Bacalar Normal College), and the Bacalar Public High School system (COBACH).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.