U.S.-Mexico Dissertation Enhancement Research: Indigenous Natural Resource Management and Food Production in Southern Mexico

建议#0431230P.I.Martin该美洲计划奖项将支持Steward Diemont先生在俄亥俄州立大学Jay Martin博士的指导下，与Samuel Levy-Tacher博士和墨西哥南欧高等专科学校(ECOSUR)的科学家合作进行的论文研究。研究人员的目标是发现墨西哥恰帕斯的Lacandon Maya使用的土地管理方法如何在不使用杀虫剂、除草剂或化肥的情况下实现粮食和原材料的可持续生产以及土壤肥力的保护。通过确定导致这些和其他有益过程的做法，将找到减少休耕时间和增加热带农业系统生产的有机方法。虽然过去的研究定性地探索了Lacandon农林复合系统，但理解这些系统的下一阶段应该侧重于对其生态过程和管理技术的定量检查。这项研究的第一个目标是描述和比较非传统和传统杉木农系统演替阶段的植物群落、土壤生态和土壤化学。第二个目标将把具体的管理做法和生态进程与产生可持续农林的自然特征联系起来。为实现该项目的目标，将在2004年11月至2005年5月期间每三个月对墨西哥恰帕斯州拉坎贾的六个以前确定的农林复合系统进行抽样。

Proposal # 0431230P.I. MartinThis Americas Program award will support dissertation research by Mr. Steward Diemont under the supervision of Dr. Jay Martin of Ohio State University, in collaboration with Dr. Samuel Levy-Tacher and scientists from El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Mexico. The researchers aim to discover how land management methods used by the Lacandon Maya of Chiapas, Mexico result in sustainable production of food and raw materials as well as conservation of soil fertility without the use of pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. By identifying practices leading to these and other beneficial processes, organic methods will be found that reduce the fallow times and increase the production of tropical agricultural systems. While past research has qualitatively explored Lacandon agroforestry systems, the next phase of understanding these systems should focus on quantitative examinations of their ecological processes and management techniques. The first objective of the research will characterize and compare the plant community, soil ecology, and soil chemistry of the successional stages of the system for non-traditional and traditional Lacandon farmers. The second objective will link specific management practices and ecological processes to physical characteristics that result in sustainable agroforestry. To fulfill the objectives of this project, sampling will be conducted in six previously identified agroforestry systems in Lacanja, Chiapas, Mexico every three months between November 2004 and May 2005.