IGERT Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship

Center for Environmental Policy & Center for Wetlands

University of Florida ~Gainesville, FL 32611

ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT

Water Wetlands and Watersheds

amw3igert.ufl.edu

AdaptiveManagement

WaterWetlands &Watersheds

Overarching Focus

Integration of Education and Training

Integration of Social Natural and Engineering Sciences

Challenges and Opportunities

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Program Overview

Our IGERT program in Adaptive Management links four colleges, eighteen academic departments, and three research centers at the University of Florida with international wetlands research centers in Africa, Mexico, South America, Australia, and south Florida.

It focuses on the theme of wise use of water, wetlands, and watersheds.

At the heart of the research theme, and a key educational feature of our program, is the innovative practice of Adaptive Management.

Adaptive Management is a systematic process for continually improving management policies and practices by learning from the outcomes of operational programs.

AMw3igert.ufl.edu

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Key Educational Features

The education component of our IGERT stresses basic science in each student's discipline, coupled with training in systems, law, policy, ethics, and communication.

The graduate students in our program research and explore Adaptive Management and the science, engineering, and policy frameworks that drive it.

Furthermore they experience Adaptive Management first hand, as they navigate the learning environment, self-evaluate direction and outcomes, and possibly change their own research focus during their graduate studies.

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Program Goals

Our program stresses integration of engineering, biophysical, and social sciences and addresses important issues related to wise use of water and wetlands through cutting edge, field-based teaching and research.

Our students will achieve depth in their chosen major, receive a foundation in systems science, and acquire a working knowledge in the biophysical sciences (for social science majors) and the social sciences (for biophysical sciences or engineering majors).

AMw3igert.ufl.edu

Participating Academic Units (UF)

Agricultural & Biological EngineeringAnthropologyEnvironmental Engineering SciencesEnvironmental LawGeographyGeological SciencesPhilosophyPolitical ScienceReligionSchool of Natural Resources & EnvironmentSociologySoil and Water ScienceWildlife Ecology and ConservationZoology

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International Partners

We are working with four international research partners in strategic wetland/watershed systems: the Okavango Delta in Botswana, the Pantanal in Brazil, the Yucatan in Mexico, and Kakadu in Australia, as well as in the Florida Everglades.

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Research Initiatives

Research in three fundamental areas have been identified as follows:

1. Comparative studies of watersheds and wetlands to advance our understanding and prediction of the fluxes of biotic and abiotic components leading to better understanding and scientifically driven policy and resource management alternatives.

2. Measuring, modeling, and tracking interaction of socioeconomic, political, legal, cultural and ecological variables that affect the sustainability of watersheds and wetlands,

3. Developing novel engineering methods, natural resource management techniques, and policy frameworks for protecting water resources, managing their use, and evaluating and rehabilitating damaged or degraded watersheds and wetlands.

AMw3igert.ufl.edu

Fall Spring Summer Fall Spring Summer Fall Spring Summer Fall Spring Summer Fall Spring

Core 1a: Ecosystems of S. Florida 3Core 1b: AM Field & Res. Methods 6Core 2: Ecol. and General Systems 3

Core 3: Adaptive Manag.: Watersheds 3

Core 4: People & Politics: W3 3

Ethics & AM seminarDiscipline CoursesSummer AM ProgramField ResearchTeaching Experience

Figure 2. Typical 4-year curriculum for a graduate student entering in the summer of the first year

Year 5Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

Core Curriculum…

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Name Academic Unit Expertise

Principal Investigator

Mark Brown Environmental Engineering Sciences

Systems Ecology, Wetlands Ecology /Hydrology

Co-Principal Investigators

Sandra Russo International Cent er Environmental policy, community development

Jonathan Martin Geological Sciences Water Chemistry, Hydrogeology Ramesh Reddy Soil and Water Scien ce Biogeochemistry Richard Hamann Law Environmental Law

Core Faculty

Robert Baum Philosophy Environmental Ethics Mark Brenner Geological Sciences Limnology/Paleolimnology Jean-Claude Bonzongo Environmental Eng. Sci. Biogeochemistry Joseph Delfino Environmental Eng. Sci. Water chemistry/quality, ethics Peter Frederick Wildlife Ecology and Cons. Wetland ecology, ecotoxicology Jack Jordan Ag & Bio Engineering Remote sensing, image processing, GIS Joann Mossa Geography Fluvial Geomorphology Craig Osenberg Zoology Population & Comm. Ecology; assessment

designs

Ignacio Porzecanski Sch. of Natural Res . and

Env. Agricultural Ecology

Katrina Schwartz Political Scien ce Environmental Politics

Participating Faculty

David Bloomquist Civil Engineering Remote Sensing, Subsurface Exploration Alyson Flournoy Law Environmental Law Sabine Grunwald Soil and Water Scien ce GIS, remote sensing, soil-landscape modeling Dorota Haman Ag & Bio Engineering Irrigation Engineer Susan Jacobson Wildlife Ecology and Cons. Program evaluation, Human dimensions of

wildlife conservation James Jawitz Soil and Water Scien ce Hydrology (wetlands, watersheds, &

groundwater) Stephen Perz Sociology Environmental sociology Taylo r Stein Sch. of Forest Res. and Con. Natural resources & social sciences -

ecotourism Richard Stepp Anthropology Anthropology/Social Science Colette St . Mary Zoology Evolutionary & behavioral ecology,

population modeling Bron Taylor Religion Environmental Ethics

Faculty Involvement…

Integration of Education and Training

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Integration of Education and Training

Coursework - stress team building/work

Teaching - team taught undergraduate honors class

Group projects - require multi-discipline/ multi-authored research

Group field work - summer field course

Integration of social and natural science

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Integration of social and natural science

Emphasis on Systems Education - holistic thinking

Tacit requirement - co-chairs on dissertation committee

Integrated paper/chapter - with member of opposite discipline

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IGERT Challenges & Opportunities

Funding flexibility - “topping off” Interdisciplinary research - Multi-author/integrative

research not easy to imagine Team Teaching - Credit in home departments Student Teaching - outside discipline/team

approach Student mentoring - undergraduate

Developing Context: Whole systemsapproach to understanding sustainability.

Systems approach…

(combining ecological, social, andsystems principles with simulation forunderstanding dynamics)

Integrating SUSTAINABILITY

Quantitative Perspective: measuringsustainability

How best to measure sustainability?

Must include methods of measurement that can include biophysical,economic and social systems.

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Integrating SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability must be Grounded in Interdisciplinarity…Should be based on Integrative knowledge that includes the following:

• Concepts of systems, types of systems, and general properties of systems

• Concepts of integration, unification, and unity of knowledge

• Concepts of unity, and types of unity

• Concepts of wholes, types of wholes, and general properties of wholes

• Concepts to link together or structure other concepts into a larger whole

• Concepts to encompass or grasp complexity

• Concepts that interrelate balanced (social) action and policy formulation

• Modes of analysis in the light of the above concepts

Integrating SUSTAINABILITY

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Thank you…Questions?

Project year… Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6

Cohort 1NSF Funding 7 3 2 2Other sources 3 9 10 8

Cohort 2NSF Funding 7 1 3 3Other sources 3 10 8 7

Cohort 3NSF Funding 7 3 4Other sources 3 7 6 10

NSF Funding 7 10 10 8 7U of F Funding 3 12 23 23 13 10Total Students 10 22 33 31 20 7

Table 3. Funding Cycle for Graduate Students

Traineeships Funding Cycle

30 total

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