Doctoral Dissertation Research in Geography and Regional Science

撒哈拉以南非洲萨赫勒地区最近的干旱迫使许多人改变其经济活动的形式和地点。其中一些适应带来了短期收益，但其长期后果可能会进一步加剧环境状况。生活方式的改变也加剧了不同人群之间的紧张关系。这个博士论文项目将扩展已经在马里内尼日尔河流域开展的一项研究，在那里，洪水平原的干旱部分经历了更密集的放牧，从而加速了它们的退化。不断变化的气候条件改变了牲畜在湿季和旱季牧场之间移动的路线的时间和地点，水稻种植面积的扩大进一步影响了这些移动。该项目将分析卫星图像，以确定农业做法如何影响人口流动，并查明在一个特别敏感的地区，经济和文化做法如何与环境进程相互作用。该项目将提供有关人类和自然系统在快速变化时期相互反应的复杂方式的宝贵信息，无论是在研究区域还是在更广泛的地区。该项目还将为有前途的年轻学者提供继续发展独立研究技能的绝佳机会。

Recent droughts in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa have forced many people to alter the forms and locations of their economic activities. Some of these adaptations have resulted in short-term gains, but their long-term consequences are likely to further stress environmental conditions. Changes in lifestyles also have exacerbated tensions between different groups of people. This doctoral dissertation project will expand a study already under way in the inner Niger River valley of Mali, where drier parts of flood plains have undergone more intensive grazing, thereby accelerating their degradation. Changing climatic conditions have altered the timing and location of routes used to move livestock between wet- and dry-season pastures, and the expansion of areas of rice cultivation has further affected these movements. This project will analyze satellite images to determine how agricultural practices have affected movements and to identify ways in which economic and cultural practices have interacted with environmental processes in an especially sensitive region. This project will provide valuable information on the complex ways in which human and natural systems respond to one another during times of rapid change, both in the study area and in a broader range of locales. The project also will provide an excellent opportunity for a promising young scholar to continue to develop independent research skills.