Legacies on the Landscape: Prehistoric Human Land Use and Long-Term Ecological Change

本研究将考察美国西南部两种不同生态系统类型的土地利用强度的长期生态效应，这两种生态系统类型支持了公元1200-1400年的史前农业。调查将集中在亚利桑那州中部干旱和半干旱生态系统中已知史前人类活动的梯度上，这代表了人类在人口和持续时间上的不同程度的占领。在每个系统中，土地利用强度对现代生态特性和过程的重要性将通过比较高强度利用地区（灌溉淤泥田）与相对低强度利用地区（雨养梯田）和附近没有人类土地利用考古证据的地区（场外控制）来评价。这种独特的视角，只有通过考古记录才能获得，将使我们了解人类和他们的各种土地利用活动作为持续生态模式和过程的驱动因素的重要性。这项研究的广泛影响将包括学生（本科生和研究生）、教师、这些土地是祖先的当地美洲原住民社区成员以及阿瓜弗里亚国家纪念碑和通托国家森林的土地管理者之间的互动和知识交流。

eThis research will examine the long-term ecological effects of land use intensity in two different ecosystem types of the southwestern US which supported prehistoric agriculture from 1200-1400 AD. The investigations will focus across a gradient of known prehistoric human activity in arid and semi-arid ecosystems of central Arizona that represent contrasting degrees of human occupation, both in population and duration. In each system, the importance of land use intensity on modern ecological properties and processes will be evaluated by comparing areas of high intensity use (irrigated silt fields) with areas of relative low use (rain-fed terraces) and nearby areas where there is no archaeological evidence of human land use (off-site controls). This unique perspective, accessible only through the archaeological record, will provide us with an understanding of the importance of humans and their varied land use activities as drivers of persistent ecological patterns and processes. The broader impacts of this research will include interaction and knowledge exchange between students (both undergraduate and graduate), faculty, members of local Native American communities for whom these lands are ancestral, and land managers at the Agua Fria National Monument and Tonto National Forest.