Doctoral Dissertation Research: Contesting Weeds: Conservation and Indigenous Knowledge and Use of the Environment in Samoa

薇甘菊是一种生长迅速的藤蔓植物，原产于中美洲和南美洲，但已蔓延到整个热带地区。这个物种对世界上几个地区的经济和环境产生了重大影响，特别是在南亚、东南亚和整个太平洋岛屿。特别是在南亚，这种植物是对造林的主要威胁，世界上许多地方的研究人员正在寻找生物控制方法。在萨摩亚，这个物种出现在20世纪20年代，现在是群岛上最常见的杂草。然而，这里的农民已经将薇甘菊纳入了轮作栽培系统，在那里它被用作覆盖物、地膜和牛饲料。此外，人们还将其用作药用。实施生物控制有可能使农村人口失去一种宝贵的自然资源。由于保护目标和土著利用目标不一致，本研究将运用文化、政治和景观生态学的理论和方法来回答几个问题。首先，该项目将评估薇甘菊是否对萨摩亚的各种生境类型构成威胁，或者它是否主要局限于人类干扰的地区。这将通过对每种植被类型进行分层随机抽样来评估。航空照片、实地测绘和地理信息系统也将用于构建生境斑块和走廊的马赛克，并将与抽样一起用于构建薇甘菊分布的可测试模型。其次，该研究将评估人类对该物种的利用程度。这里的调查将收集生物物理和人种学数据。将绘制研究村的每一块田地的地图，并采集植被和土壤样本，以评估植物群落和土壤之间的反馈。将对每个农民进行访谈，以评估他们如何管理田地中的植物群落，特别是关于薇甘菊是否因其特定优势而积极管理，是否作为不受欢迎的杂草而积极管理，或者仅仅是作为一种手段来适应，以充分利用糟糕的情况。最后，该研究将利用民族志技术来调查每个农民是如何处于充满权力的社会网络中的，以及这如何影响农民的决策。这项研究将审查获取土地（土地保有形式）、获取投入、处置农业产出（通过生存和/或销售）和知识（无论是传统的、教育的还是政府的推广）的网络。该研究跨越了几个生物物理和社会尺度，从微观尺度（田野、斑块、家庭）到中尺度（村庄、景观马赛克）和宏观尺度（生物入侵、国家和国际环境政策和话语）。这种分析将社会、政治和经济力量与塑造景观马赛克的个人决策者联系起来。薇甘菊是一种影响几个热带国家环境和经济的物种，但人们对它知之甚少。萨摩亚的这项研究是调查这一物种的一个独特机会，它将从不同的角度为各种学科提供信息。这项研究将为更广泛的入侵物种研究提供信息，特别是在人类主导的生态系统背景下研究这种生物入侵，以及在几个相互作用尺度上研究这种主导的社会维度。此外，这项研究将阐明可用于确定入侵物种是必须处理的威胁还是良性甚至有益的因素；仅仅因为入侵物种是入侵物种而对其实施控制，可能会给社会带来不必要的更大成本。最后，这项研究将揭示当地关于这种物种的知识和实践，从而为更公平的环境政策提供信息。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。

Mikania micrantha is a rapid growing vine that is native to Central and South America but which has spread throughout the tropics. This species has had a major impact on the economies and environments of several regions of the world, especially in South Asia, Southeast Asia and throughout the Pacific islands. In South Asia especially, the plant is a major threat to silviculture, and researchers in many parts of the world are searching for biotic controls. In Samoa, this species appeared during the 1920s and is now the most common weed in the archipelago. Farmers here, however, have incorporated M. micrantha into the shifting cultivation system, where it is used as cover, mulch and cattle forage. Additionally, people use this species medicinally. Implementation of biotic controls risks depriving the rural population of a valuable natural resource. With the goals of conservation and indigenous use at odds, this study will engage the theory and methods from cultural, political and landscape ecology to answer several questions. First, the project will assess whether M. micrantha poses a risk to Samoa's various habitat types in general or whether it is restricted mainly to areas of human disturbance. This will be assessed through stratified random sampling in each vegetation type. Aerial photographs, field mapping and GIS will also be used to construct the mosaic of habitat patches and corridors and, in conjunction with the sampling, will be used to construct a testable model of the distribution of M. micrantha. Second, the study will assess the dimensions of human use of this species. The investigation here will gather both biophysical and ethnographic data. Each field in the study village will be mapped and vegetation and soil samples will be taken, to assess the feedbacks between plant communities and soil. Interviews with each of the farmers will be conducted to assess how they manage the plant communities in their fields, especially regarding whether M. micrantha is actively managed for its specific advantages, actively managed against as an undesirable weed, or simply adapted to as a means of making the best of a bad situation. Finally, the study will utilize ethnographic techniques to investigate how each farmer is situated in power laden social networks and how this feeds into the farmers' decision-making. The study will examine the networks for accessing land (form of land tenure), acquiring inputs, disposing of agricultural outputs (through subsistence and/or marketing), and knowledge (whether traditional, educational or government extension). The study crosses several biophysical and social scales, from the microscale (field, patch, household) to mesoscale (village, landscape mosaic) and macroscale (biological invasions, national and international environmental policy and discourse). This analysis links social, political and economic forces to the individual decision-makers that shape the landscape mosaic.Mikania micrantha is a species that is impacting the environment and economies of several tropical countries, but little is known about it. This study in Samoa serves as a unique opportunity to investigate this species such that it will inform a variety of disciplines from diverse perspectives. This investigation will inform the broader research into invasive species, especially in terms of studying this biological invasion in the context of human dominated ecosystems and the social dimensions of this domination across several scales of interaction. Furthermore, this study will elucidate factors that can be used to determine whether an invasive species is a threat that must be dealt with or whether it is benign or even beneficial; implementing control of invasive species simply because they are invasive species may impose a greater cost on society than is necessary. Finally, the study will bring to light the local knowledge and practices surrounding this species that can inform more equitable environmental policy. 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.