Adaptive Management refers to the process for continually improving management policies and practices by learning from the outcomes of operational programs. This approach to managing natural resources requires a high degree of cooperation among engineers, biophysical and social scientists to translate management objectives into a research framework that can be used to guide implementation. This IGERT program in Adaptive Management focuses on research and training experiences that integrate the physical, biological and social sciences to address the wise use of water, wetlands, and watersheds. The intellectual merit and goal of this IGERT program is to provide scientists with greater understanding of the complex issues of coupled human and natural systems and a framework for interfacing policy and science to manage them. While building from a firm disciplinary base (each trainee's major), the program will overlay coursework in complementary disciplines and incorporate interdisciplinary training and research experiences. The program links four colleges, fifteen departments, and three research centers at the University of Florida with international wetlands research centers in Africa, Mexico, South America, Australia, and south Florida. A core set of interdisciplinary team taught courses is a key part of the educational experience of our trainees. In addition, trainees will spend each summer at one of the international research centers researching and exploring, first hand, Adaptive Management and the science, engineering, and policy frameworks that are necessary to drive it. The broader impacts of the program will be the education and training of scientists and engineers who can adaptively manage coupled human and natural systems, and the institutionalization at the University of Florida of a dynamic, integrative learning environment. Both outcomes will be accomplished by the involvement of faculty and administrators who are committed to the concept of team teaching and research and who are not intimidated by the prospect of graduate education as an adaptive, interdisciplinary endeavor. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
University of Florida’s NSF-IGERT award, entitled "Adaptive Management: Water, Wetlands and Watersheds," (AMw3) supported a broad interdisciplinary program of research and training in physical and biological sciences, engineering, and social science. The program linked four Colleges, fifteen Departments, and three research Centers at the University of Florida with an international wetlands research center in Africa. The emphasis of the AMw3-IGERT addressed complex and emerging issues related to the management, protection, and regulation of coupled human and natural systems in dynamic landscapes. Students and faculty of the AMw3-IGERT used the Florida Everglades ecosystem and the Okavango Delta wetlands in Botswana as their research platforms, studying the interaction of human induced changes (water management and land use decisions) and climate change on the ecosystems and social systems of these two important watersheds. The juxtaposition of these two watersheds... the highly engineered Everglades and the relatively pristine Okavango Delta provided an excellent perspective for researching science based policy and management development. Several research accomplishments stand out above all others because of the interdisciplinary nature of the investigations as follows: Six AMw3-IGERT fellows conducted research in southern Africa on a variety of topics from the effects of drought and fire on land use change to the economics, sustainability, and coping strategies of small rural households under climate change stress. Using simulation models and analysis of satellite imagery from the past 20 years, the team found significant declines in total rainfall and a three fold increase in the number of drought years over the past 25 years. Ecological models of the Okavango Delta predicted significant shifts in the extent of floodplains that are critical wildlife foraging areas and fish breeding areas. Results from the modeling efforts were used to shape management of the Okavango and Chobe watersheds. David Pfahler an AMw3-IGERT Trainee, studied the water sustainability of Winter Haven, Florida. The project included evaluation of inputs and outflows of surface and ground water as well as deep aquifer water and culminated in simulation models used to balance water use with climate inputs. This was the first water sustainability exercise of this magnitude ever done for a Florida city. The City adopted the plan and is now in the process of implementing. AMw3-IGERT trainees, Susanna Blair, Anna Cathey, and Hollie Hall, partnered with students in the University of Florida’s College of Law to integrate policy relevant science into planning at the watershed scale. The team consolidated water quality data and other physical and social science parameters to determine the ecological health of several Florida watersheds and worked directly with stakeholder groups to design and develop management frameworks and policies for their protection. Outcomes of this partnership were a Watershed Assessment Report for the Withlacoochee and St. Mary’s watersheds. Over the past three decades many of Florida’s 700 springs have experienced significant decreases in cover of submerged aquatic vegetation and increases in filamentous algae. Three AMw3-IGERT students, Marie Kurz, Dina Liebowitz, and Sean King, investigated the causes of these changes in Florida Springs. Using a combination of field data collection, experimental mesocosms, and simulation modeling the team provided an explanation for spring ecosystem change involving, a combination of lower overall discharges, the loss of invertebrate grazers (snails) due to decreased dissolved oxygen in discharging water, and increased human recreation. Five AMw3-IGERT trainees collaborated to produce a video essay titled "Living with thirst: People and wildlife in southern Africa's variable climate." Trainees Gregory Parent, Anna Cathey, Andrea Gaughan, Bill Kanapaux, and Deborah Wojcik wrote, filmed and produced the video. The video essay was presented at the first Millennium Conference of the Ecological Society of America where it was one of only ten invited films from a field of over 50 submissions. Trainees in the AMw3 IGERT wrote and published a textbook on resource management for southern African undergraduate students. The textbook was an outgrowth of the dissertation research and field experiences of the trainees Anna Cathey Linhoss, Gregory Parent, Andrea Gaughan, Narcisa Pricope, Deborah Wojcik, Dina Liebowitz, Sarah McKune, and David Pfahler and two faculty members from the University of Botswana’s Okavango Research Institute. The textbook uses a systems approach to describe the biophysical and social systems of southern Africa, introduces simplified modeling, and explores quantitative approaches to adaptive natural resource management. The text is an e-book which will minimize the cost to students in southern Africa. The Amw3-IGERT program at the University of Florida, supported 28 PhD students to develop their dissertation research in an integrative, interdisciplinary program, and provided them with a wealth of international experience that facilitated students to examine and re-assess many of their fundamental assumptions about cultures and environment. It fostered institutional change at the University combining faculty expertise in novel ways, and lead to the establishment of new degree programs and permanent funding of interdisciplinary graduate research.
