Collaborative Research: Perennial Wetland Formation and Human Adaptation in NW Belize

合作研究：伯利兹西北部的常年湿地形成和人类适应

• 批准号: 1550204
• 负责人: Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach
• 金额: $ 7.63万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-01-10 至 2016-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1550204&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Perennial; Wetland; Formation

Tropical wetlands are important ecosystems with complex interactions between their soils and water, but little is known about how humans further affect and alter them over long time periods. This project will study northern Belize's wetlands to test models of wetland formation and long-term human-environmental interactions in the Maya Lowlands. Most previous Maya research has focused on risks such as recurrent droughts but rising water tables and water quality may prove to be comparable but insidious risks. This is a case of humans forced to adapt to rising water tables of extremely hard water. The main goals of this project are to determine the timing and processes of perennial wetland formation across a range of environments in the northern Belize coastal plain; to discern the underestimated role of water chemistry in landscape formation in this tropical region; and to establish the types and ranges of human adaptations to wetland formation, linking sites of previous research, including Blue Creek and Pulltrouser Swamp. The underlying questions come from both natural and social science. The project is testing six possible hypotheses to explain large-scale landscape aggradation and formation during the Holocene across the Belize coastal plain. This project will test the landscape development models by studying seven known ancient Maya wetland field sites that span from the Blue Creek research sites, through a zone that received no previous research on stratigraphy and dating, to the zone of research done several decades ago. This project will test these models with multidisciplinary research at two scales: intensive excavation across canals and fields and extensive vibracoring to determine wetland field extents. In each site, the project will study the lines of evidence that explain landscape formation and human interaction: stratigraphy, dating methods, soil morphology, sediment chemistry, ecofacts (pollen, diatoms), and artifacts. This project will also conduct water chemical analysis across this zone because of its key role in wetlands and its little-understood role in Maya Civilization. This study will provide a case of an important Pre-Columbian society's land use responses in the face of natural sea level and water table rise; it will help flesh out the mechanisms of landscape formation over a little understood, large tropical wetland region; and it will help determine the Holocene rates and processes of tropical wetland formation when these bio-diverse regions again face sea level rise and other widespread threats. The study also provides basic soil and water chemistry data to a developing region, and these baseline parameters can help scientists and resource managers judge many aspects of environmental change such as wetland ecosystem functions. This project will provide graduate and undergraduate students experience in international field science and laboratory research. The project will include and train many from local communities during and between the field seasons. The project will disseminate findings on wetland formation and Maya cultural ecology to international conferences, peer reviewed journals, to students, and more widely through websites and the mass media. The infrastructure of science will be improved through both the multidisciplinary approach and the international nature of this research.

热带湿地是重要的生态系统，其土壤与水之间具有复杂的相互作用，但对人类如何在长期内如何进一步影响和改变它们，知之甚少。该项目将研究北部伯利兹的湿地，以测试玛雅低地的湿地形成模型和长期的人类环境相互作用。大多数先前的Maya研究都集中在诸如经常性干旱之类的风险上，但是水桌和水质的上升可能被证明是可比但阴险的风险。这是人类被迫适应极其坚硬的水桌的案例。该项目的主要目标是确定伯利兹沿海平原各种环境中多年生湿地形成的时机和过程；辨别水化学在该热带地区景观形成中的作用；并建立人类适应湿地形成的类型和范围，将包括蓝溪和pluptrouser沼泽在内的先前研究的地点联系起来。潜在的问题来自自然和社会科学。该项目正在测试六个可能的假设，以解释整个伯利兹沿海平原期间全新世期间大规模景观繁琐和形成。该项目将通过研究跨越蓝溪研究地点的七个已知的古代玛雅湿地田地，直到几十年前在几十年前完成的研究区域进行研究的区域来测试景观开发模型。该项目将通过两个尺度进行多学科研究测试这些模型：跨运河和田地的密集发掘以及广泛的振动以确定湿地田地。在每个站点中，该项目将研究解释景观形成和人类相互作用的证据线：地层，约会方法，土壤形态，沉积物化学，ecofacts（花粉，硅藻）和伪影。该项目还将在该区域进行水化学分析，因为它在湿地中的关键作用及其在玛雅文明中的作用很少。 这项研究将提供一个重要的哥伦比亚前社会土地利用反应，面对自然海平面和地下水位的上升。这将有助于充实一个略有了解的大型热带湿地地区的景观形成机制；当这些生物多样性地区再次面临海平面上升和其他广泛的威胁时，这将有助于确定热带湿地形成的全新世率和过程。该研究还为发展中心提供了基本的土壤和水化学数据，这些基线参数可以帮助科学家和资源经理判断环境变化的许多方面，例如湿地生态系统功能。该项目将为研究生和本科生在国际野外科学和实验室研究方面的经验。该项目将在现场季节内和之间包括并培训许多地方社区的许多人。该项目将通过网站和大众媒体更广泛地将有关湿地组和玛雅文化生态学的发现传播给国际会议，同行评审的期刊，并更广泛地传播给学生。通过多学科方法和这项研究的国际性质，将改善科学的基础设施。