transitional zones ecosystem initiative
The balance between human populations and natural and managed ecosystems is continually challenged by the process of development. Pennsylvania forms a near-perfect laboratory for understanding the changes and adjustments taking place in this ecosystem, i.e., in the transitional zone.
Farms and forests, even now important components of Pennsylvania’s landscapes, undergo change and may even largely disappear as human population growth and urban-exurban-rural development occurs. The process of transition implies complex human-environment interactions not well understood. This understanding requires an interdisciplinary approach – bringing together ecologists, geochemists, spatial analysts, demographers, sociologists, economists, statisticians, historians, planners and others – to explore and build knowledge of the relevant interrelated dimensions of this ecosystem using both short and long-term perspectives. No single discipline can provide this knowledge so critical to maintaining human health, biological stability, and long-run sustainability.
The Transitional Zone Ecosystem Initiative seeks to enhance knowledge discovery and translation of the complex dynamics of transitional zone landscapes and ecosystems in the face of often rapid and spatially-concentrated human population growth and the sustained pressure of human-induced development.
This is an interdisciplinary initiative including:
- Agroecology
- Demography
- Chemical Ecology
- Environmental Economics
- Geochemistry
- Geospatial Modeling
- Environmental Sociology
- Statistical Modeling
project objectives:
- Make new contributions to ecological theory by understanding the complex interrelationships between ecosystems characterizing agriculture and human population dynamics - including both population growth and lifestyle change.
- Develop a clear understanding of relevant sustainable alternatives for agriculture in a population-driven transitional zone.
- Train graduate and undergraduate students - via field-based and geospatial lab-based interdisciplinary collaborations - in theories and methodologies that advance knowledge of human-environment interactions related to agriculture.
- Better inform the public and public policy, including farm policy, on the implications of the research results.
t-zone core faculty & affiliates
For a list of core faculty and other affiliates of the T-Zone Initiative please see:
T-Zone Core Faculty and Affiliates
