US-Australia planning visit: Social dimensions of ecosystem service provision from ecological restoration projects

该提案寻求在美国和澳大利亚的研究人员之间建立一种新的智力伙伴关系，以探索自然-人类耦合系统的动态：恢复生态系统以提供生态服务。外国合作者是保护生态学家Kerrie Wilson（昆士兰大学）和环境经济学家Marit Kragt（西澳大利亚大学）。社会越来越多地呼吁生态恢复，不仅要扭转动植物栖息地的退化，而且要为人类带来宝贵的物质和非物质利益，如水质、碳固存、授粉和娱乐机会。这项工作将通过一系列利益相关者调查来探索生态恢复的社会维度。它旨在阐明人们所知道的、他们关心的程度以及他们是否采取行动之间的关系。这项研究提出了一个基本的问题，“人们所知道的是如何影响他们的行为的？”回答这个问题对于理解什么是“可操作的科学”，以及开发由人类塑造以可持续满足其需求的有弹性的自然-人类系统至关重要。我们的试点研究将促进对栖息地恢复周围社会生态系统主要组成部分的理解，同时为未来探索利益相关者、科学家、土地管理者和政策制定者如何与生态系统相互作用以确定生态轨迹的工作奠定基础。研究结果将直接有助于资源管理，特别是保护规划者和恢复从业者。该项目将为在外国合作者的指导下探索新的科学方向的早期职业女性科学家提供国际经验。本科生将接受研究和教学技能方面的培训，而PI？我在新方法方面的经验将丰富本科院校的课程。

This proposal seeks to create a new intellectual partnership between US- and Australia-based researchers to explore the dynamics of a coupled natural-human system: the restoration of ecosystems to provide ecological services. The foreign collaborators are conservation ecologist Kerrie Wilson (University of Queensland), and environmental economist Marit Kragt (University of Western Australia). Increasingly, societies are calling on ecological restoration not just to reverse the degradation of habitats for flora and fauna, but to yield valuable material and non-material benefits to humans, such as water quality, carbon sequestration, pollination, and recreational opportunities. This work will explore an understudied social dimension of ecological restoration through a series of stakeholder surveys. It aims to elucidate the relationship between what people know, how much they care, and whether they act.This research asks the basic question, "How does what people know influence how they act?" Answering this question is fundamental to understanding what makes for "actionable science," and to developing resilient natural-human systems, shaped by people to meet their needs sustainably. Our pilot study will advance understanding of a major component of the socio-ecological system surrounding habitat restoration, while laying the groundwork for future work that will explore how stakeholders, scientists, land managers, and policymakers interact with ecosystems to determine ecological trajectories. The findings will be directly useful to resource management, especially conservation planners and restoration practitioners. The project will lend international experience to an early-career, female scientist exploring a new scientific direction under the mentorship of the foreign collaborators. An undergraduate student will be trained in research and teaching skills, and the PI?s experience with new methods will enrich coursework at a primarily undergraduate institution.