Doctoral Dissertation Research: Dynamic Socio-economic Systems and Cultural Ecosystem Services: The case of oyster aquaculture.

该奖项支持的研究将调查文化生态系统服务。生态系统服务，即生态系统提供的好处，是为健康的生态系统分配价值的基础之一。服务包括生态系统提供食物和水的能力、帮助减轻环境影响的能力、生产基本营养物质的能力以及提供文化机会和体验的能力。然而，捕鱼和观鸟等文化生态系统服务很难定价，因此受到的关注较少，尽管它们在感知的重要性方面可能比其他服务更重要。为了加强对文化生态系统服务的了解，研究人员将调查与捕鱼相关的文化服务，以及引入水产养殖以补充或取代衰落的渔业可能产生的影响。这项研究很重要，因为整个美国的渔业都受到了威胁。社区面临失去塑造其城镇、当地身份和相关工作的行业的风险，除非引入替代方案，使其能够与与其衰落的渔业相关的所有服务相匹配，包括高度重视的文化服务。这项研究将由马里兰大学人类学博士生Adriane Michaelis进行，他的导师是Laura J.Shaffer博士。研究人员选择将重点放在牡蛎水产养殖上，尽管已知牡蛎水产养殖提供了与野生牡蛎渔业相关的许多服务，但尚未从其相关的文化服务的角度进行研究。这项研究采用了比较设计。数据收集将在三个具有独特文化特征的地区进行--切萨皮克湾、墨西哥湾和新英格兰沿海--那里现在发生了东方牡蛎(Crassostrea Virgiica)的水产养殖。这项研究包含三个主要问题：1)通过牡蛎养殖获得的文化服务是什么，它们在相关的生态系统服务中排名如何？2)这些文化服务在不同地区和不同参与者的属性中有何不同？3)牡蛎水产养殖能否提供与公共渔业相同类型的文化服务？研究人员将通过人种学方法的组合来收集数据，包括对牡蛎养殖者、商业渔民和社区成员的半结构化采访；参与者观察；PhotoVoice；以及使用标准平台的Q-Sort调查。通过考察从公共渔业转向私人渔业的影响，研究结果将有助于增进社会科学对社会生态系统作为动态系统的理解。调查结果还将帮助资源经理扩大他们对不同管理选择的成本和收益的理解。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The research supported by this award will investigate cultural ecosystem services. Ecosystem services, the benefits provided by an ecosystem, are one basis for assigning value to healthy ecosystems. Services include the capacity of an ecosystem to provide food and water, to help mitigate environmental impacts, to produce essential nutrients, and to provide cultural opportunities and experiences. Cultural ecosystem services, such as fishing and birdwatching, are hard to price, however, and consequently have received less attention even though they may outweigh other services in terms of perceived importance. To enhance understanding of cultural ecosystem services, the researcher will investigate fishing-related cultural services and the impacts that may result from the introduction of aquaculture to supplement or replace declining fisheries. The research is important because fisheries throughout the United States are threatened. Communities risk losing the industry that shaped their towns, local identities, and associated jobs unless alternatives are introduced that can match all of the services associated with their declining fishery, including the highly valued cultural services. The research will be undertaken by University of Maryland anthropology doctoral student Adriane Michaelis, who is supervised by Dr. Laura J. Shaffer. The researcher has chosen to focus on oyster aquaculture, which, although known to provide many of the services associated with wild oyster fisheries, has not been studied from the perspective of its associated cultural services. The research has a comparative design. Data collection will take place in three culturally distinctive regions -- the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and coastal New England --where aquaculture of the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) now occurs. The research is framed with three overarching questions: 1) What are the cultural services obtained through oyster aquaculture and how do they rank amongst related ecosystem services? 2) How do these cultural services vary regionally and according to different participant attributes? 3) Can oyster aquaculture provide the same types of cultural services as public fisheries? The researcher will gather data through a mix of ethnographic methods including through semi-structured interviews with oyster farmers, commercial fishermen, and community members; participant observation; photovoice; and a Q-sort survey using a standard platform. By looking at the effects of shifting from public to private fisheries, findings from the research will contribute to improved social scientific understanding of socio-ecological systems as dynamic systems. Findings will also help resource managers expand their understanding of the costs and benefits of different management choices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.