Dissertation Research: Human Environmental Interaction in anAmazonian Ecosystem

本项目涉及到一名来自佐治亚大学的人类学学生的论文研究，研究巴西亚马逊自给农民如何适应生态变化。在“黑水”（生态贫困）地区的实地考察将展示当地农民如何利用不同的土壤类型（洪泛区和非洪泛区以及被称为“黑土”的特别肥沃的土壤）来实现他们的可持续发展目标。该学生将研究沿河的四个社区，两个在“黑土”土壤上，两个在非“黑土”土壤上。研究人员将进行土壤分析和肥力实验，记录作物制度和劳动力投入，并深入分析农民在土地上使用的认知模型。植物收集也将用于记录土地使用情况。这项研究很重要，因为热带地区具有巨大的农业生产力潜力，这项研究将促进我们对人类如何学会利用不同土壤类型潜力的理解。通过对这一重要地区农业开发变化的分析，有助于了解人类的适应潜力。

This project involves the dissertation research of an anthropology student from the University of Georgia, studying how Brazilian Amazon subsistence farmers adapt to ecological changes. Fieldwork in a `blackwater` (ecologically impoverished) area will show how local farmers exploit different soil types (floodplain and non-flood zones and a particularly rich soil known as `black earth`) to accomplish their goals of sustainability. The student will study four communities along a river, two on `black earth` and two on non-`black earth` soils. The researcher will conduct soil analyses and fertility experiments, record crop regimes and labor inputs as well as in-depth analyses of the cognitive models farmers use to work the land. Botanical collections will also be made to document land use. This research is important because the tropics represent a zone of enormous potential agricultural productivity, and this research will advance our understanding of how humans have learned to exploit the potential of different soil types. The study will contribute to our understanding of human adaptive potential by analyzing the variation in agricultural exploitation in this important zone.