Ted L. Gragson

An integrated conceptual framework for long-term social-ecological research

The global reach of human activities affects all natural ecosystems, so that the environment is best viewed as a social–ecological system. Consequently, a more integrative approach to environmental science, one that bridges the biophysical and social domains, is sorely needed. Although models and frameworks for social–ecological systems exist, few are explicitly designed to guide a long-term interdisciplinary research program. Here, we present an iterative framework, “Press–Pulse Dynamics” (PPD), that integrates the biophysical and social sciences through an understanding of how human behaviors affect “press” and “pulse” dynamics and ecosystem processes. Such dynamics and processes, in turn, influence ecosystem services –thereby altering human behaviors and initiating feedbacks that impact the original dynamics and processes. We believe that research guided by the PPD framework will lead to a more thorough understanding of social–ecological systems and generate the knowledge needed to address pervasive environmental problems.

Land use legacies and the future of southern Appalachia

ABSTRACT Southern Appalachian forests have apparently recovered from extractive land use practices during the 19th and 20th centuries, yet the legacy of this use endures in terrestrial and aquatic systems of the region. The focus on shallow time or the telling of stories about the past circumscribes the ability to anticipate the most likely outcomes of the trajectory of change forecast for the Southeast as the “Old South” continues its transformation into the “New South.” We review land use research of the Coweeta Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project that addresses the nature and extent of past and present human land use, how land use has affected the structure and function of terrestrial and aquatic communities, and the forces guiding the anticipated trajectory of change. Unlike development in the western or northeastern regions of the United States, the southeastern region has few practical, political, or geographical boundaries to the urban sprawl that is now developing.

Estimating the Effect of Protected Lands on the Development and Conservation of Their Surroundings

The fate of private lands is widely seen as key to the fate of biodiversity in much of the world. Organizations that work to protect biodiversity on private lands often hope that conservation actions on one piece of land will leverage the actions of surrounding landowners. Few researchers have, however, examined whether protected lands do in fact encourage land conservation nearby or how protected lands affect development in the surrounding landscape. Using spatiotemporal data sets on land cover and land protection for three sites (western North Carolina, central Massachusetts, and central Arizona), we examined whether the existence of a protected area correlates with an increased rate of nearby land conservation or a decreased rate of nearby land development. At all sites, newly protected conservation areas tended to cluster close to preexisting protected areas. This may imply that the geography of contemporary conservation actions is influenced by past decisions on land protection, often made for reasons far removed from concerns about biodiversity. On the other hand, we found no evidence that proximity to protected areas correlates with a reduced rate of nearby land development. Indeed, on two of our three sites the development rate was significantly greater in regions with more protected land. This suggests that each conservation action should be justified and valued largely for what is protected on the targeted land, without much hope of broader conservation leverage effects.

Long-Term Ecological Research in a Human-Dominated World

The US Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network enters its fourth decade with a distinguished record of achievement in ecological science. The value of long-term observations and experiments has never been more important for testing ecological theory and for addressing todays most difficult environmental challenges. The networks potential for tackling emergent continent-scale questions such as cryosphere loss and landscape change is becoming increasingly apparent on the basis of a capacity to combine long-term observations and experimental results with new observatory-based measurements, to study socioecological systems, to advance the use of environmental cyberinfrastructure, to promote environmental science literacy, and to engage with decisionmakers in framing major directions for research. The long-term context of network science, from understanding the past to forecasting the future, provides a valuable perspective for helping to solve many of the crucial environmental problems facing society today.

Ethnoecology: knowledge, resources and rights.

This work examines subjects ranging from pastoralism to the use of medicinal plants to show that understanding the knowledge system of any people is essential to understanding their relation to the environment.

Social science in the context of the long term ecological research program

ABSTRACT This special issue of Society and Natural Resources brings the results of long-term ecological research with an explicit social dimension to the attention of the social scientific research community. Contributions are from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study LTER, the Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER, the Coweeta LTER and the Northern Temperate Lakes LTER. The range of practice represented at these four sites serves to identify commonalities and differences in the results as well as the experience of integrative research. The objective of this special issue is to extend a call to social scientists of all kinds to engage with the LTER program in long-term research and synthesis to help answer the urgent and intriguing questions of our day.

The use of underground plant organs and its relation to habitat selection among the Pumé Indians of Venezuela

The use of underground plant organs and habitat selection by the Pumé Indians of southwestern Venezuela is described. Detailed information is presented on 18 species in 10 families. The three most significant uses identified are food, medicine and/or ritual, and fish poison; the dry forest habitat contains the largest number of exploited species. The taxonomic and conservation relevance of ethnobotanical investigation in dryland macrohabitats in South America is addressed.ResumenEl uso de órganos vegetales subterráneos y la selección de habitat son descritos para los indígenas Pumé de Venezuela. Información detallada se presenta para 18 especies en 10 familias. Los tres usos mas importantes identificados son alimenticio, medicinal yló ritual, y barbasco; el habitat de bosque seco contiene el mayor número de especies explotadas. La relevancia de investigaciones etnobotánicas para la taxonomía y la conservación en macrohabitats secos de la masa continental suramericano es tratada.

Megapolitan Political Ecology and Urban Metabolism in Southern Appalachia

Drawing on megapolitan geographies, urban political ecology, and urban metabolism as theoretical frameworks, this article theoretically and empirically explores megapolitan political ecology. First, we elucidate a theoretical framework in the context of southern Appalachia and, in particular, the Piedmont megapolitan region, suggesting that the megapolitan region is a useful scale through which to understand urban metabolic connections that constitute this rapidly urbanizing area. We also push the environmental history and geography literature of the U.S. South and southern Appalachia to consider the central role urban metabolic connections play in the regions pressing social and environmental crises. Second, we empirically illuminate these human and nonhuman urban metabolisms across the Piedmont megapolitan region using data from the Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, especially highlighting a growing “ring of asphalt” that epitomizes several developing changes to patterns of metabolism. The conclusion suggests that changing urban metabolisms indicated by Coweeta LTER data, ranging from flows of people to flows of water, pose a complicated problem for regional governance and vitality in the future.

A local analysis of early-eighteenth-century Cherokee settlement

Results of an original analysis of Cherokee town placement and population c. 1721 are presented. Period and contemporary information were analyzed using local statistics to produce multivalued, mappable characterizations of the intensity of the processes of town placement and population. The analysis focuses on the scale and the space in which these processes took place among the Cherokee in order to open the way for examining the legacy of human-induced environmental change in southern Appalachia.

Strategic procurement of fish by the pumé: A South American “fishing culture”

Information is presented on fishing effort, efficiency, techniques, and catch composition for Pumé men, women, and children along with a conceptual model of fishing as a food procurement strategy. The Pumé are a native lowland South American group living in the topical savanna region of southwestern Venezuela characterized by seasonal flooding. Results are discussed in relation to the Pumé environmental and social situation, and briefly compared with results from other lowland South American groups.