Doctoral Dissertation Research: Agricultural Development, Environmental Destruction and Prospects for Conservation in the Savanna (Cerrado) of Eastern Mato Grosso, Brazil

在研究全球不同地区土地利用和土地覆盖变化的模式和过程方面，人类对全球变化的影响是最重要的研究方向之一。本博士论文研究项目考察了亚马逊盆地巴西塞拉多地区加速土地转化的戏剧性过程，这是一个物种丰富的树木稀树草原，由于现代农业发展而经历了巨大的土地转化。大豆、杂交玉米和棉花、旱稻和大规模养牛消耗了塞拉多三分之一以上（或大约700万公顷）的土地。对该区域农业和环境变化的调查将首先侧重于巴西中南部马托格罗索州东部的当地土地和资源使用者，特别注意与最近在多个地理和时间尺度上运作的土地转换有关的社会文化和经济进程。实地研究将通过探索土地使用决策结构、殖民化过程、当地农业和农学技术历史、土地权属以及获取自然和资本资源的途径，评估马托格罗索州东部自1969年以来当地资源利用的变化。将对遥感图像进行解释，并利用地理信息系统（GIS）进行空间分析，以确定塞拉多植被的损失和新农田、牧场和定居点的建立。档案和政策研究将突出地方和国家层面上支持和反对农业现代化的思想和政治经济力量。该项目将揭示地方尺度过程在人与环境相互作用中的作用，并特别关注国家在农业补贴和生产技术进步方面的作用。它还将为基于现场的民族志研究与遥感数据的整合提供新的见解。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

One of the most significant lines of inquiry with respect to the human dimensions of global change in research on the patterns and processes of land-use and land-cover change in different parts of the globe. This doctoral dissertation research project examines the dramatic process of accelerating land conversion in the Brazilian cerrado of the Amazon Basin, a species-rich arboreal savanna that has undergone tremendous land conversion by modern agricultural development. Soybeans, hybrid maize and cotton, upland rice, and large-scale cattle ranching consumed more than a third (or roughly 7 million hectares) of the cerrado. This investigation of agricultural and environmental changes in the region will begin by focusing on local land and resource users in eastern Mato Grosso state of south central Brazil, paying particular attention to the sociocultural and economic processes associated with recent land conversion that operate at multiple geographic and temporal scales. Field research will assess changing local resource use in eastern Mato Grosso since 1969 by exploring land-use decision-making structure, process of colonization, and local history of agricultural and agronomic technology, land tenure, and access to natural and capital resources. Remotely sensed images will be interpreted and a geographic information system (GIS) used for spatial analysis in order to determine the loss of cerrado vegetation and the establishment of new croplands, pastures, and settlements. Archival and policy research will highlight the ideological and political economic forces at the local and national scales that are supporting and also contesting agricultural modernization. This project will shed new light on the role of local-scale processes in human-environmental interactions, with special attention given to the state's role in agricultural subsidies and technological advances in production. It also will provide new insights into the integration of field-based ethnographic research with remotely sensed data. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.