BE/CNH: Biocomplexity, Spatial Scale and Fragmentation: Implications for Arid and Semi-Arid Ecosystems

该建议认为，植被的空间复杂性在时变的干旱和半干旱生态系统的结构和功能中起着核心作用。复杂性是由草食动物和人类通过运动将不太复杂的空间单位连接到空间广泛的复杂系统中产生的。但现代人类土地利用和土地保有权制度倾向于通过将生态系统分割成孤立和简化的单元来耗尽空间生物复杂性。生态系统碎片化通常被证明是新古典主义框架下经济集约化的一种手段，但实际上，它需要金钱来取代因碎片化而损失的自然资本。由于支离破碎，世界上许多干旱和半干旱的放牧生态系统都不同程度地功能失调。该项目的目标是展示空间复杂性的重要性、分散的代价，并通过将生态和社会经济研究联系起来，确定世界各地可持续发展的备选方案，并在此过程中创建一个解决这些问题的国际科学家网络。该项目专注于四大洲9个国家的21个地点。这个跨学科的科学团队包括生态学家、人类学家、经济学家和政治学家。该项目将包括案例研究综合、实地调查以及模型实验和分析。预计该项目将促进更高水平地了解复杂性的时空分布、其在放牧系统中的重要性、为什么以及如何通过碎片化降低复杂性，以及这对生态系统和经济活动意味着什么。

This proposal argues that spatial complexity of vegetation plays a central role in the structure and function of temporally variable, arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Complexity results from movement-mediated linking of less complex spatial units by herbivores and humans into spatially extensive, complex systems. But modern human land use and land tenure systems tend to deplete spatial biocomplexity through fragmentation of ecosystems into isolated and simplified units. Ecosystem fragmentation is often justified as a means of economic intensification in the neo-classical framework, but in fact, it costs money to replace the natural capital lost through fragmentation. As a result of fragmentation, many of the world's arid and semi-arid grazed ecosystems are dysfunctional to varying degrees. The goal of this project is to demonstrate the importance of spatial complexity, the costs of fragmentation, and to identify options for sustainability at sites around the world by linking ecological and socio-economic research, and in the process, create an international network of scientists addressing these issues. The project focuses on 21 sites in nine countries on four continents. The interdisciplinary scientific team includes ecologists, anthropologists, economists, and political scientists. The project will include case study syntheses, field-based investigations, and model experiments and analyses. The project is expected to promote a higher level of understanding of spatial-temporal distribution of complexity, its importance in grazed systems, why and how complexity is reduced through fragmentation, and what this means for ecosystems and economic activities.