Modeling Human-Wildlife Coexistence

Overview:
Protecting biodiversity while simultaneously meeting the resource needs of a growing human population requires a better understanding of the spatiotemporal linkages between people and nature, as well as the underlying mechanisms (e.g., individual behaviors, global forces) that influence those linkages. This project will focus on a globally endangered, conservation flagship wildlife species in a global biodiversity hotspot to explore and explain complex human-environment dynamics. The three interrelated objectives are to:

1. Design and implement a systems model of human-environment interactions that uses state-of-the-art agent-based approaches.
2. Create new methodologies to empirically calibrate and validate model behavior based on synthesized datasets from disparate disciplines (e.g., data on wildlife occurrence, human attitudes, natural resource consumption, and forest dynamics).
3. Examine future socioeconomic and ecological impacts of different conservation policy scenarios (e.g., payments for ecosystem services).

The innovative systems approach to data analysis and integration proposed in this research will advance socio-environmental systems science, and help inform decision making in regions around the world (i.e., those similar to the focal site) where the social, environmental, and institutional contexts are rapidly changing.

Collaborators and Advisors:
Simon Levin, Princeton University (postdoctoral advisor)
Volker Grimm, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
Adam Barlow, WildTeam

Funding:
National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center


Header image credit: Michigan State University

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