ULTRA-Ex: Human-Nature Interactions in an Urbanized Island Setting: Hilo and Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i as Model Socio-Ecological Systems

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The pervasive and growing influence of humans on ecosystem functioning and the concurrent decrease in the extent of "natural" areas have prompted a reconceptualization of the long-term study of ecosystems to include a human dimension. Human systems interact with "natural" systems directly through the extraction and disposal of material, water, and energy resources and indirectly through changes in land use and land cover. These interactions are concentrated and magnified in urban areas. Human-dominated socioecological systems often are characterized by complex patterns of resource flows and landscape alteration, processes that can be difficult to track, quantify, and link to ecological impacts as a result of the multiple entry and exit points through which resources may pass, the rapid pace of growth in many urban areas, and the general difficulty in obtaining representative data. In this light, the "big island" of Hawai'i provides a model setting to test theories about human impacts on the earth system and about resource constraints on urban growth. Resource management issues are of critical concern for the island of Hawai'i, which holds only a ten-day reserve of food supplies and maintains the highest electricity rates in the country. By focusing on the island's two major urban areas, Hilo and Kailua-Kona, this interdisciplinary research project will provide a comparative analysis of the structure and function of two socioecological systems related through resource exchanges, geographic proximity, and historical and contemporary cultural configurations. Although similar in population and area, these areas have markedly different socioeconomic and biophysical characteristics. In recent years, Hilo has struggled with the demise of the sugarcane industry and the transition from a plantation economy to a more diversified base, while Kailua-Kona has experienced explosive growth fueled by its attractiveness as an international tourist and second-home destination. Based on the island of Hawai'i's clear physical boundaries, limited number of entry points, relatively small geographic area, biological wealth and fragility, and relative isolation, the Hilo and Kailua-Kona provide a comprehensible living laboratory for the two principal objectives of this project, which are (1) to analyze the material, water, and energy throughput of these two urban areas quantitatively over the past 200 years; and (2) to analyze past, present, and potential human-induced landscape change in these areas geospatially. Material and energy flow analysis, a tool drawn from industrial ecology, will be used to track the input, output, conversion, and accumulation of materials, energy, and selected substances through each urban system. Land-use and land-cover dynamics will be analyzed by coupling remote satellite imagery, statistical demographic data, and biophysical data for both cities. Information and data for these objectives will be collected from historical archives, statistical databases, and a number of stakeholders, including county agencies, local businesses, and community members. An understanding of resource flows and landscape modification has the potential to transform the ways in which society interacts with the "natural" world by explicitly measuring the ways in which the activities of human society affect ecosystems and the ways in which ecosystem changes produce feedback in the human system. Essential to this process is the linkage of scientific findings with local communities and their particular sustainability challenges. With two locally embedded partners devoted to science education in Hawai'i, this project will be a platform for developing awareness of the issues faced on the island of Hawai'i by providing cross-disciplinary and multi-cultural educational initiatives for a diverse group of local and national students, teachers, and decision makers. In addition to informing policies that encourage ecological and socioeconomic prosperity, this project will also contribute to the advancement of socioecological and land-change science theories by applying a novel, comparative approach to the quantitative analysis of human-nature interactions. This award was funded as an Urban Long-Term Research Area Exploratory (ULTRA-Ex) award as the result of a special competition jointly supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.