Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Modeling Precolonial and Colonial Niche Construction

该奖项全部或部分由2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。该项目将进行研究，以更好地了解人类如何以及为什么改变自然环境，以及当他们停止这样做时会发生什么。人类对全球环境产生了深远的影响，因此研究这些影响的具体人口和经济驱动因素非常重要。考古学可以为解决这些问题提供有用的手段，因为过去充满了案例研究，可以分析这些案例以了解这些活动并追溯环境影响的历史。这类研究还可以为解决环境退化问题提供信息，有助于了解人口变化对环境的影响，以及不同的经济体系如何导致生态破坏或长期健康。该项目包括计算建模和考古数据分析，以更好地了解人类对环境的影响。该模型将有助于通过建立计算机模拟来研究人口规模和经济力量对环境的影响，从而促进环境改造理论。分析将评估殖民定居和融入新的全球经济时期的环境数据。这项分析将测试模型的预测，并试图确定殖民化的生态影响，以及森林管理、农业和狩猎的变化对环境的影响。这项研究的结果将有助于环境改造和自然资源管理的知识，无论是在理论上还是在环境变化的历史，使我们到现在。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This project will undertake research to better understand how and why humans modify their natural environments, and what happens when they stop doing so. Humans have had far-reaching effects on the environment across the planet, so it is important to research the specific demographic and economic drivers of these impacts. Archaeology can provide a useful means to address these issues, as the past is full of case studies which can be analyzed to understand such activities and trace the history of environmental impacts. Such research can also inform solutions to environmental degradation and contribute to understanding the environmental impacts of human population changes and how different economic systems can lead to either ecological destruction or long-term health.This project consists of both computational modeling and archaeological data analysis to better understand human environmental impacts. The modeling will contribute to theory about environmental modification by building computer simulations to investigate the impacts of human population size and economic forces on the environment. The analysis will evaluate environmental data from a time of colonial settlement and integration into a new global economy. This analysis will test the predictions of the model and attempt to determine the ecological impacts of colonization and how the environment was impacted by resulting changes in forest management, farming, and hunting. The results of this research will contribute to knowledge of environmental modification and natural resource management, both in theory and in terms of the history of environmental changes that have led us to the present. This information can help researchers to better understand how to improve the ecology of our planet today.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.