蜜桃视频

In the United States, the ISU Social-Ecological Research Laboratory is studying two sites in 蜜桃视频, including the Portneuf and Treasure valleys, and watersheds in Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama. Internationally, the lab is working with researchers at two sites in Spain, and one site each in China, Sweden and South Africa.

鈥淚t is a new approach to understand that by conserving our ecosystem well, we can also maintain our economy,鈥� said Antonio Castro, ISU biological sciences research assistant professor and director of the Social-Ecological Research Laboratory. 鈥淭he focus of the effort is looking at the long-term challenge that different sites of the world have dealing with water scarcity and governance.鈥�

Part of the lab鈥檚 effort is working with the National Science Foundation鈥檚 Managing 蜜桃视频鈥檚 Landscapes for Ecosystem Services (MILES) project that has a goal to provide science-based decision support needed to sustainably manage 蜜桃视频鈥檚 resources. The focus of the grant is understanding ecosystem services provided by 蜜桃视频麓s landscapes, which are benefits that flow from ecosystems to humans that support directly or indirectly their wellbeing.

鈥淲e want to understand how when we conserve an ecosystem it is not just important because of its intrinsic value, but also because our economy is directly and indirectly supported by the way we conserve it,鈥� Castro said. 鈥淪o, for example, we may want to conserve an 蜜桃视频 landscape because we like to go hunting and fishing there, but also because we know the welfare of our communities is directly and indirectly dependent on the way we conserve other benefits such as the water from aquifers or the cultural identity of local communities.鈥�

Earlier this year Castro鈥檚 laboratory brought researchers from around the world for a Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) 鈥� Water Scarcity Workshop that examined these issues.

鈥淭he goal of the workshop was to bring together all of us and try to see how each of our expertise and experience working on different social-ecological systems can help us decide what are the main challenges for dealing with water scarcity and governance, what we need to do in the next 20 or 30 years to address these topics and make our planer more sustainable,鈥� Castro said.

He noted that workshop participants have been working and publishing scientific papers for years on water scarcity topics, but collectively they do not have a common message. Researchers from South Africa were working with someone in Stockholm who may be working with someone in 蜜桃视频, but they weren鈥檛 all working together. These researchers have varied academic backgrounds including expertise in ecology, hydrology, political science, sociology, physical and human geography, history, public policy, urban planning, computer sciences, communication and visualization.

鈥淲e are seeing if we can provide big messages regarding global sustainability, that is the goal for me,鈥� Castro said. 鈥淲e want to connect people from different countries around the world working with the same type of projects to facilitate communication and try to understand global methods for sustainability.鈥�

This ISU laboratory is very interested in the different 鈥渟ocial-ecological contexts鈥� that exist in areas with water scarcity. People from different cultures understand ecosystem services 鈥� the economic benefits of nature 鈥� differently. The researchers want to understand what drives opinions and preferences of the people living in areas experiencing water scarcity issues.

鈥淥n the global context, I think there are many different efforts looking for sustainable ways to manage ecosystems,鈥� Castro said. 鈥淭here are different countries, with different cultural contexts, examining these issues and our long-term goal is identify within these communities what are our biggest challenges are.鈥�

The MILES grant has been beneficial in a variety of ways, including putting 蜜桃视频 and its universities 鈥渙n the map鈥� internationally.

鈥淲e are putting 蜜桃视频 in the middle of the lens of global sustainability,鈥� Castro said. 鈥淲e have hundreds of visits on our website from all over the world, so from the MILES and National Science Foundation point of view, this is an amazing advantage for 蜜桃视频 to be part of one of the most important global sustainability international communities.鈥�

The MILES grant Castro is working on is a five-year (2013-2018), $20 million grant funded by the NSF鈥檚 Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The MILES project is statewide and includes researchers in a variety of academic disciplines from ISU, Boise State University and the University of 蜜桃视频. For more information on MILES visit .

For information on the ISU Social-Ecological Research Laboratory visit .