CNH-L: Adaptive Coupling of Human Environment Linkages in Response to Globally Driven Changes in Subsistence in Rural Alaska

积极和富有成效的自给生活方式对阿拉斯加农村社区的营养和文化至关重要，但气候变化和能源成本上涨正在挑战农村居民开展自给活动的能力。气候变化将改变生态系统的结构和功能，影响生计资源的分布和进入资源采集区的途径。高昂的燃料费用（如取暖、运输）迫使农村家庭作出经济牺牲，以维持和使用维持生计所需的设备。为了解决这些问题，本项目将：1)记录环境变化和能源成本对生存产生的具体影响；2)确定并联系影响脆弱性的人类（如政策、家庭经济）和自然（如气候模式、景观变化）系统的特征；3)评估当前应对影响的有效性；4)加强社区和研究人员之间的沟通网络，以促进未来对全球驱动的变化的适应。本研究不将全球变化适应视为一系列离散的行动，而是将行动视为在社区和区域尺度上连接社会和生态成分的反馈回路，并将检验对全球变化的无效适应部分是由于反馈薄弱或缺失造成的假设。该项目涉及与阿拉斯加当地社区以及联邦、州和部落组织的合作，以发展和加强在区域和更大范围内发明、测试和分享适应措施的网络。它将通过在跨学科研究过程中吸引社区领导人和培训研究生（其中许多是阿拉斯加原住民）来提高适应阿拉斯加环境变化的能力。在14名成员的项目团队中，21%是阿拉斯加本地人，50%是女性，43%是早期职业学者。本项目将建立一个新的框架（适应性耦合）来研究社会生态系统的适应性。它将在系统背景下整合脆弱性和复原力科学。它没有将全球变化适应视为一系列离散的行动，而是将这些行动视为将社区和区域尺度上的社会生态组成部分联系起来的反馈回路。该项目将检验一种假设，即对全球变化的无效适应部分是由于对社区的影响对当地驱动因素或调节社区对这些驱动因素敏感性的因素的反馈较弱或缺失。调查人员试图了解反馈薄弱或缺失的原因。该研究将通过在系统框架内将社会科学（特别是与政治生态学和适应与协作能力有关的）的定性见解与来自生态学、水文学和经济学的更多定量信息相结合，为理论做出贡献。将研究从单个群落到一个区域的适应尺度的动态和途径。与文献中关于创新从机构到地方实体自上而下扩散的研究不同，研究人员将重点关注新颖性的基层产生及其影响其区域扩散的因素。关注知识在当地社区的理论和实际应用之间的接口，有可能将西方的线性（装载码头）科学模型转变为一种更加迭代的适应方法，这种方法认识到当地知识的智力价值以及作为学习实验室的现实世界应用的重要性。

An active and productive subsistence lifestyle is nutritionally and culturally critical to rural communities in Alaska, yet changes in climate and rising energy costs are challenging rural residents' ability to conduct subsistence activities. Changes in climate will alter ecosystem structure and function, affecting the distribution of subsistence resources and access to the areas where resources are harvested. High fuel costs (e.g., heating, transportation) have forced rural households to make economic sacrifices to maintain and use equipment needed for subsistence. To address these issues, this project will: 1) document specific impacts that environmental change and energy costs are having on subsistence, 2) identify and link characteristics of the human (e.g., policy, household economics) and natural (e.g., climate patterns, landscape change) system that influence vulnerability to impacts, 3) evaluate the effectiveness of current responses to impacts, and 4) enhance communication networks among communities and researchers to foster future adaptation to globally-driven changes. Rather than considering global-change adaptation as a set of discrete actions, this research will treat actions as feedback loops that link social and ecological components at community and regional scales and will test the hypothesis that ineffective adaptation to global change results in part from weak or missing feedbacks. The project involves collaboration with local communities as well as with federal, state, and tribal organizations in Alaska to develop and enhance networks that invent, test, and share adaptations at regional and larger scales. It will enhance capacity to adapt to environmental change in Alaska by engaging community leaders and training graduate students, many of whom are Alaska Natives, in an interdisciplinary research process. Of the 14-member project team, 21% are Alaska Native, 50% are women, and 43% are early-career scholars.This project will develop a novel framework (adaptive coupling) to study adaptation in social-ecological systems. It will integrates vulnerability and resilience science in a systems context. Rather than considering global-change adaptation as a set of discrete actions, it treats these as feedback loops that link social-ecological components at community and regional scales. The project will test the hypothesis that ineffective adaptation to global change results in part from weak or missing feedbacks from impacts on communities back to the local drivers or factors mediating community sensitivity to these drivers. The investigators seek to understand reasons for weak or missing feedbacks. The research will contribute to theory by integrating qualitative insights from the social sciences (especially related to political ecology and adaptive and collaborative capacities) with more quantitative information from ecology, hydrology, and economics within a systems framework. The dynamics and pathways by which adaptation scales from individual communities to a region will be investigated. In contrast to the literature on top-down diffusion of innovation from agencies to local entities, the investigators will focus on the grassroots emergence of novelty and factors that influence its regional diffusion. The focus on the interface between theory and practical application of knowledge in local communities has the potential to transform the western linear (loading dock) model of science to a more iterative adaptive approach that recognizes the intellectual value of local knowledge and the importance of real-world application as a learning laboratory.