Demography and Environment in Grassland Settlement

草原聚落人口与环境

基本信息

批准号：
7074772
负责人：
KENNETH M SYLVESTER
金额：
$ 38.7万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2003
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2003-09-01 至 2008-06-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7074772
关键词：
agriculture agriculture worker behavioral /social science research tag culture ecology ecosystem environment family structure /dynamics geographic site household human data human ecology human migration information systems longitudinal human study photography plant ecology rural area

项目摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project will study the relationship between population and environment in a grassland region during its settlement and conversion from native grasses to staple grain cultivation and rangeland. The goal of this research is to understand the demographic and environmental consequences of what was a geometrically uniform and rapid shift in land use. This subject remains a vital question, one that is poorly understood given its importance for the long-term resilience of grassland environments. A sample of farms and families in twenty-five townships across the state of Kansas embraces key variations in plains ecology, and allows a study of landscape transformations over the 75-year period from 1865 to 1940. Kansas has rich documentation of both agricultural land use practices and population with which to investigate this transformation. The research will show the ways that human population shaped the landscape, and the ways that environment shaped people, at the level of the individual farm and family. It tests a hypothesis that asserts the cumulative impacts of household-level processes on landscape-level dynamics were iterative and possibly recursive: humans and their demographic priorities altered landscapes; land-use choices changed in response to monitoring of ecological processes, and altered landscapes engendered further cycles of change. Four basic questions motivate analysis in which both demographic and environmental outcomes are the subjects of study: a) how did demographic processes affect land use and land use affect household organization and population movement, b) what are the spatial and temporal dimensions of "monoculture," c) how did conversion to cropland alter pre-settlement grasslands, and d) what were the most stable and persistent forms of environmental and demographic interaction?

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目将研究草原地区在定居以及从原生牧草向主粮种植和牧场转变过程中人口与环境的关系。这项研究的目的是了解土地利用几何上均匀且快速的变化所带来的人口和环境后果。这一主题仍然是一个至关重要的问题，鉴于其对草原环境长期恢复力的重要性，人们对其知之甚少。堪萨斯州 25 个乡镇的农场和家庭样本涵盖了平原生态的关键变化，并可研究 1865 年至 1940 年 75 年间的景观转变。堪萨斯州拥有丰富的农业土地利用记录调查这一转变的实践和人口。该研究将在个体农场和家庭层面展示人口塑造景观的方式以及环境塑造人的方式。它测试了一个假设，该假设断言家庭层面的过程对景观层面动态的累积影响是迭代的，并且可能是递归的：人类及其人口优先事项改变了景观；土地利用选择随着生态过程的监测而发生变化，景观的改变引发了进一步的变化循环。四个基本问题激发了分析，其中人口和环境结果都是研究对象：a）人口过程如何影响土地利用，土地利用如何影响家庭组织和人口流动，b）“单一栽培、 " c) 转为农田如何改变了定居前的草地，以及 d) 最稳定和持久的环境和人口相互作用形式是什么？