Doctoral Dissertation Research: Rewilding, Wildlife Conservation Decision-Making, and Environmental Change

在国家公园和保护区保护受威胁或濒危野生动物的栖息地是野生动物保护的长期做法。然而，气候变化对这些受保护栖息地的影响需要重新考虑这种模式是否有效。最近的学术研究表明，重新野生化的保护方法——作为恢复生态系统的一种方式，重新引入或稳定野生动物种群——提供了另一种选择。它强调通过走廊分散野生动物，这可能为物种在变暖的生态系统内部和之间的迁移提供更大的灵活性。本研究考察了野生动物回归项目的实施情况，以评估气候变化对野生动物栖息地的影响如何影响实地的科学实践。除了在人种学方法和分析方面培养博士生外，这项研究还应提供证据，说明保护科学家和从业者如何面对气候变化的现实，努力防止物种灭绝和灭绝。研究结果将与保护组织（非政府和政府）分享，并将在学术和非学术渠道上发表，以提高公众对气候变化对受威胁野生动物的严重性的认识。这个项目的核心问题是，气候变化是否、如何以及为什么会影响利益相关者对野生动物保护的反应和决策。为了回答这个问题，将在包括保护慈善家、科学家、州政府官员和当地社区在内的几个利益相关者群体中进行研究。通过整合参与或受野化项目影响的参与者的观点，本研究测试了指导保护决策的文化、经济、科学和/或政治问题。本研究汇集了科学研究和政治生态学的框架，为科学专业知识、政治权力和经济影响如何影响气候变化响应提供了新的理论见解。本项目通过采用参与式观察、深度访谈等民族志方法，论证了人类学调查在气候变化研究中的重要性。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。

Protecting the habitats for threatened or endangered wildlife in national parks and reserves has been a long-standing practice of wildlife conservation. However, the effects of climate change on these protected habitats demands a reconsideration of whether or not this model is effective. Recent scholarship has suggested that the conservation methodology of rewilding – the reintroduction or stabilization of wildlife populations as a way to restore ecosystems – provides an alternative. Its emphasis on dispersing wildlife through corridors might provide species with greater flexibility to migrate within and between warming ecosystems. This research examines the implementation of rewilding projects to assess how the effects of climate change on wildlife habitats influence scientific practices on the ground. In addition to training a doctoral student in ethnographic methods and analysis, this research should provide evidence of how conservation scientists and practitioners confront the reality of changing climates in their efforts to prevent extirpation and extinction. Research findings will be shared with conservation organizations (non-governmental and governmental) and will be published in both academic and non-academic avenues in order to raise public awareness regarding the seriousness of climate change for threatened wildlife. The central question of this project asks whether, how, and why climate change informs stakeholder responses to and decisions about wildlife conservation. To answer this, research will be conducted among several groups of stakeholders including conservation philanthropists, scientists, state officials, and local communities. By integrating perspectives from actors involved in or affected by rewilding projects, this research tests for the cultural, economic, scientific, and/or political concerns that guide conservation decision-making. This research brings together frameworks from Science Studies and political ecology to provide new theoretical insights into how recourse to scientific expertise, political power, and economic influence inflects climate change responses. Through employing ethnographic methods like participant observation and in-depth interviews, this project demonstrates the importance of anthropological investigation in climate change research.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.