Complexity in human-natural systems: a symposium

A special symposium on “Complexity in Human-Nature Interactions across Landscapes” was convened by Drs. Jack Liu and Bill McConnell (Michigan State University) as part of the 24th annual meeting of the U.S. Chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (US IALE 2009), which took place in Snowbird, Utah, 12-16 April 2009. The Symposium included 17 invited talks form various projects funded by the National Science Foundation’s Coupled Natural and Human Systems program.

Guillermo Podestá presented a talk on “Agent-based simulation of recent changes in agricultural systems of the Argentine Pampas”, co-authored by 12 other project investigators (including two staff members of AACREA, the farming organization working with us in this project).

>> See Podestá ’s presentation (PDF, 2.1 MB)

Why were wheat yields so low in 2008/09?

A previous blog entry discussed the severe drought in the Pampas. In an outreach article recently published in the AACREA Magazine (issue 342, April 2009), project investigators Maru Skansi, Federico Bert, and Fernando Ruiz Toranzo discuss the climate conditions prevailing during the winter cropping season of 2008/09. Poor conditions (initially dry soils, insufficient rainfall during crop growth, higher than average temperatures and late frosts) resulted in wheat yields that in many cases fell within 30-70% of average.

>> See the full article (PDF, 1.4 MB)

Elke Weber’s research highlighted by The New York Times

An article in the “green issue” of the New York Times’ Magazine (published on April 16, 2009) highlights research by project participant Elke Weber and her colleagues at the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED). The article, written by Jon Gertner, describes the current state of research on climate change decision science.

In particular, the article mentions a research experiment on group decisions being conducted simultaneously in New York, Amsterdam and Argentina. In the experiments, a few (3-5) subjects deal with several quandaries. The first involves reaching a consensus on how to apply $5 billion worth of federal funds to wind-energy technologies. Should they spend it all on conventional  wind turbines? Should they invest some (or all) of the money on an as-yet-unproven technology that would employ magnetic levitation to create a huge, long-lasting, superefficient wind-powered generator? After the group comes to a consensus in each of the test segments, members are asked to figure out their own individual decisions.

In Argentina, AACREA farmers from different regions are involved in the group decisions. The experiment, being coordinated by Fernando Ruiz Toranzo, will provide insights that will enhance modeling of decisions in the NSF-sponsored project.

>> Read more on the research performed by the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions