News Release 16-108
NSF awards $16.7 million for research on how humans, environment interact
Projects continue mission of Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems program
Aerial views of lawns in San Diego; Miami; Philadelphia; Chicago; Phoenix; and Levittown, N.Y.
September 16, 2016
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Boston and Baltimore. Miami and Minneapolis. Phoenix and Los Angeles. Fanned across the U.S. and in locations from coast to prairie to desert, what do these cities have in common? Perhaps how their human residents tend that icon of America, the urban lawn.
What's right outside our doors -- our lawns -- may be one of the best indicators of where cities and towns need to address sustainability, according to Peter Groffman of the City University of New York.
Groffman is one of 14 recipients of grants made in 2016 by the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH) program, which supports research that examines the complex interactions between human and natural systems. Total funding for 2016 CNH grants is $16.7 million.
Lawn fertilizer contains nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen that wash into waterways, causing blooms of algae that can rob fish and other aquatic species of oxygen and degrade water quality. Groffman's CNH project will investigate the natural processes regulating the flow of nitrogen from lawns, and look at the sociological factors that influence how homeowners decide to manage their lawns.
CNH is co-funded by NSF's directorates for Biological Sciences (BIO), Geosciences (GEO), and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). The program has been issuing awards since 2001. This year's grantees will look at ways in which people deal with environmental processes in a range of settings, including cities, mountains, grasslands and forests.
"As has been true for the 15 years since CNH was founded, this year's awards explore a diverse range of ways in which natural and human systems interact with each other," said Tom Baerwald, CNH program director for SBE.
Findings from the CNH projects will enhance society's understanding of environmental quality and the well-being of people.
The 2016 CNH research subjects include: adaptations to climate change in California fisheries and fishing communities; how land transactions and investments affect agricultural production, ecosystem services and food and energy security; how socioecological systems are transformed by hydroelectric dams in the Amazon; the restoration of riparian forests in the southwestern U.S.; and the effects of glaciers melting on the livelihoods of townspeople in Peru's high-elevation Cordillera Blanca.
"The CNH program is unique in that it involves interdisciplinary research teams in solving the complex challenges facing our country and our planet," said Betsy Von Holle, CNH program director for BIO.
CNH considers humans and the environment as one interconnected system.
"The program provides a knowledge base for sound planning that can benefit both people and the environment for years to come," said Richard Yuretich, CNH program director for GEO.
2016 NSF CNH Awards
Joshua Abbott, Arizona State University: The Dynamics of Adaptation to Climate-Driven Variability in California Current Fisheries And Fishing Communities
Arun Agrawal, University of Michigan Ann Arbor: Land transactions and investments: Impacts on agricultural production, ecosystem services, and food-energy security
Clare Aslan, Northern Arizona University: Scale-Dependent Feedbacks Among Protected Areas and Surrounding Socioecological Systems
Brenda Bowen, University of Utah: Adaptation, Mitigation, and Biophysical Feedbacks in the Changing Bonneville Salt Flats
Gillian Bowser, Colorado State University: Andes Bofedales and Cattle: The Impacts of Changing Hydrology and Glacial Retreat on Community Livelihoods in Peru's Cordillera Blanca
Peter Groffman, Research Foundation CUNY - Advanced Science Research Center: Multi-Scale Coupled Natural-Human System Dynamics of Nitrogen in Residential Landscapes
Pamela Jagger, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Energy Transitions and Environmental Change in East and Southern Africa's Coupled Human, Terrestrial, and Atmospheric Systems
Bette Loiselle, University of Florida: RCN: Amazon Dams Network: Advancing Integrative Research and Adaptive Management of Social-ecological Systems Transformed by Hydroelectric Dams
Joy McCorriston, Ohio State University: Pastoral Territory as a Dynamic Coupled System
Nathan Phillips, Boston University: Coupling of Physical Infrastructure, Green Infrastructure, and Communities
Anna Sher, University of Denver: Interactions Between Human Perspectives and Natural System Dynamics in the Restoration of Riparian Forests in the Southwestern U.S.
Erica Smithwick, Pennsylvania State University: Visualizing Forest Futures Under Climate Uncertainty: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge into Decision-Support Tools for Collaborative Decision Making
Jonathan Thompson, Harvard University: Assessing the potential for climate change and forest insects to drive land-use regime shifts
Linda Walters, University of Central Florida: Restoration and Resilience in Coupled Human-Natural Systems: Reciprocal Dynamics of a Coastal Lagoon
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CNH grantees are studying California Current fisheries. Pictured here: sardines.
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CNH researchers are looking at glacier melting and human communities in Peru's Cordillera Blanca.
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The changing Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah are the subject of a new CNH grant.
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Interactions between humans and riparian forests in the southwestern U.S. are a CNH study subject.
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Land transactions and their effects on agriculture are the focus of a new CNH project.
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Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF, (703) 292-7734, email: cdybas@nsf.gov
Related Websites
NSF News (CNH 2015 Awards): NSF awards $20.4 million for research on how humans and environment interact: https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=136047
NSF News (CNH 2014 Awards): National Science Foundation awards $9.47 million for research on coupled natural and human systems: https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=132412
NSF News (CNH 2013 Awards): National Science Foundation awards $19.4 million for research on coupled natural and human systems: https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129178
CNH Discovery Article: Summertime: Hot Time in the City: https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=128204
CNH Discovery Article: Cooking Up Clean Air in Africa: https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=126403
CNH Discovery Article: Studying Nature's Rhythms: Soundscape Ecologists Spawn New Field: https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=123046
CNH Discovery Article: Wildlife species provide clues to spread of antibiotic resistance: https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=135187
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