DISES: Understanding invisible socio-environmental systems through pesticide exposure across human-wildlife interactions in tropical forest-agricultural mosaics

面对全球气候变化，农民必须学会科普种植作物时间的改变、作物产量的减少以及昆虫和真菌等害虫的增加。农民们转向的一个解决方案是增加对杀虫剂的依赖和使用。杀虫剂的增加可能会给旨在提供健康食品和保护区的农业系统带来问题。例如，国家公园通常旨在保护两种不同的相邻土地用途。在有热带森林的地区尤其如此。为应对气候变化而增加使用农药往往忽视了对人类和野生动物的影响。因此，本研究项目将研究如何变量，如降雨量，农作物害虫的压力，以前的土地使用，农药和劳动力的可用性周围的热带森林农业系统在乌干达（Kibale国家公园）相互作用，通过粮食生产和农药暴露之间的权衡，影响人类和野生动物的福祉。 这项研究还将增加对农业实践，人类福祉和全球生物多样性保护之间权衡的理解。除了科学研究，研究人员还将培训来自服务不足社区的学生和博士后学者。该项目将提供关于气候多变性、土地使用变化、作物虫害压力、农业实践、粮食安全和农药接触之间的联系以及管理和减轻风险的实际选择的培训。该项目将与乌干达野生动物管理局合作，提高公众对农药使用的认识。研究人员将利用各种工具向当地和国家媒体宣传正确使用农药以及减少人类和野生动物接触农药的方法。为了实现该项目的目标，研究人员将使用基于地理学、环境化学、人类学、人类生物学和野生动物生态学等不同领域的方法和理论的独特方法。具体来说，研究人员将（1）量化Kibale国家公园周围多个农场的环境压力;（2）评估家庭对农药使用的决定;（3）测量整个景观中农药的浓度;（4）使用粪便确定野生动物和使用硅胶腕带的人类对农药的暴露;（5）通过测量人类唾液和野生动物粪便中的皮质醇来确定对农药暴露的敏感性;以及（6）使用代理对社会环境系统的环境和社会组成部分之间的关系和反馈回路进行建模，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得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的支持。

Faced with global climate change, farmers must learn to cope with the altered timing of when to plant crops, reduced crop production, and more pests like insects and fungi. One solution farmers have turned to is increased reliance on and use of pesticides. The increase in pesticides can create problems for agricultural systems that aim to provide healthy food and protected areas. For instance, national parks often aim to conserve two different adjacent land uses. This is especially true in regions with tropical forests. The increased use of pesticides in response to climate change often overlooks consequences for both humans and wildlife. Therefore, this research project will examine how variables such as rainfall, pest pressure on crops, previous land use, and pesticide and labor availability around a tropical forest-agricultural system in Uganda (Kibale National Park) interact to influence human and wildlife well-being through tradeoffs between food production and pesticide exposure. This research will also increase the understanding of tradeoffs between agricultural practices, human well-being, and conservation of biodiversity globally. In addition to the scientific research, the researchers will train students from underserved communities and postdoctoral scholars. This project will provide training about connections between climate variability, land use change, pest pressure on crops, agricultural practices, food security, and pesticide exposure and practical options to manage and mitigate risk. The project will work with the Uganda Wildlife Authority to enhance public awareness regarding pesticide use. Tools will be employed to educate local and national media on proper pesticide application and ways to reduce pesticide exposure to people and wildlife.To accomplish the project’s goals, the researchers will use a unique approach based on methodology and theory from the diverse fields of geography, environmental chemistry, anthropology, human biology, and wildlife ecology. Specifically, the researchers will (1) quantify environmental pressure across multiple farms around Kibale National Park; (2) evaluate household decisions about pesticide use; (3) measure concentrations of pesticides across the landscape; (4) determine exposure to pesticides in wildlife using feces and in humans using silicone wristbands; (5) determine susceptibility to pesticide exposure using measures of cortisol in saliva for humans and feces for wildlife; and (6) model relationships and feedback loops across environmental and social components of the socio-environmental system using an agent-based model.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.