Doctoral Dissertation Research: The effects of forest habitat modification on hunting and prey abundance

博士论文研究：森林栖息地改变对狩猎和猎物丰度的影响

• 批准号: 2116570
• 负责人: Sean Downey
• 金额: $ 3.15万
• 依托单位: Ohio State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-15 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2116570&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; effects; forest

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).The world’s rainforest ecosystems are hotspots of global biodiversity and have extensive histories of occupation by Indigenous peoples as locations for customary agriculture and subsistence foraging and hunting. With these reservoirs of biodiversity now showing signs of decline, we require a better understanding of how human-influenced forests can both support Indigenous livelihoods and sustain diverse floral and faunal communities. While human use and modification of rainforests has historically been thought of as a potential driver of species loss, recent research suggests that forest mosaics created by human activities harbor a substantial degree of habitat diversity and novel foraging opportunities that may benefit animal and plant communities. The purpose of this doctoral dissertation project is to study the relationship between customary agricultural practices and subsistence hunting to understand how these practices impact local faunal and floral diversity in a neotropical rainforest. In addition to training a doctoral student in anthropological science, the research helps local stakeholders manage natural resources and generalize these insights so they can be used to develop management designs that incorporate local practices to prevent wildlife loss. The central research question of this dissertation project is whether the human-influenced forests that are created by customary agriculture can support populations of wild game and enable sustainable harvests of wild game by subsistence hunters. The researchers test whether and how human disturbance precludes or facilitates resource conservation. Integrating theory and methods from human behavioral ecology, wildlife management, and community ecology, this research documents hunter movements and harvest returns and links them to patterns of wildlife abundance along a disturbance gradient created by customary agricultural practices. The researchers use semi-structured interviews and participant observation to ethnographically contextualize the social and ecological dimensions of customary agriculture and subsistence hunting. By studying how humans and wildlife select and use habitat in a mosaic of cultivated, secondary, and climax forest, this study contributes theoretical insights about the mechanisms for sustainable harvest of wild game species and the coexistence of ecological communities with human communities. Rather than study hunting and farming as distinct forms of human-environment relations, this study conceptualizes these practices as key parts of an integrated socioecological system.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.

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。世界上的热带雨林生态系统是全球生物多样性的热点地区，有着土著人民作为传统农业和自给自足的觅食和狩猎场所的悠久历史。由于这些生物多样性储存库现在显示出下降的迹象，我们需要更好地了解受人类影响的森林如何既能支持土著生计，又能维持多样化的动植物群落。虽然人类对雨林的利用和改造历来被认为是物种丧失的潜在驱动因素，但最近的研究表明，人类活动造成的森林镶嵌具有相当程度的栖息地多样性和新的觅食机会，可能有利于动植物群落。本博士论文项目的目的是研究传统农业实践与自给狩猎之间的关系，以了解这些实践如何影响新热带雨林中当地动物和植物的多样性。除了培养一名人类学博士生外，该研究还帮助当地利益相关者管理自然资源，并将这些见解推广到开发管理设计中，从而结合当地的实践来防止野生动物的丧失。本论文项目的中心研究问题是，由传统农业创造的受人类影响的森林是否能够支持野生动物的种群，并使自给猎人能够可持续地收获野生动物。研究人员测试了人类干扰是否妨碍或促进资源保护，以及如何妨碍或促进资源保护。结合人类行为生态学、野生动物管理和社区生态学的理论和方法，本研究记录了猎人的运动和收获的回报，并将它们与野生动物丰度的模式联系起来，这些模式沿着传统农业实践产生的干扰梯度。研究人员使用半结构化访谈和参与性观察，从民族志的角度对习惯农业和自给狩猎的社会和生态维度进行了背景化。通过研究人类和野生动物在人工林、次生林和顶极林中如何选择和利用栖息地，为野生动物物种的可持续收获和生态群落与人类群落的共存机制提供理论见解。这项研究不是将狩猎和农业作为人类与环境关系的不同形式来研究，而是将这些实践概念化为一个综合社会生态系统的关键部分。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。