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U.S. MAB Research Program Fact Sheet released by the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Department of State, March 5, 1998.

U.S. MAB Research

U.S. MAB funds interdisciplinary research, through the work of its directorates, on topics of resource management, sustainable development, and conservation of biological diversity.

Directorate members are recruited from various scientific disciplines to develop a multi-year core research proposal. Core proposals are peer reviewed by outside scientists as well as by the U.S. MAB National Committee which makes the final funding decisions. In some cases small grants which compliment the core project are supported.

U.S. MAB has often been a 'seed money' organization. The core projects have expanded their area of research because they have successfully attracted funds from other sources to combine with those available from U.S. MAB.

The High Latitude Ecosystems Directorate (HLED)

Phase I of the HLED core project, "Human-Environment Interactions and Institutional Frameworks: Alternative Caribou Management Systems in the Arctic," began in 1991. The study compared two caribou management systems and measured management effectiveness in terms of agreement between managers and users on harvest and herd monitoring practices, the quality of biological data, and the extent to which users and managers hold common beliefs on factors affecting caribou population size and migration.

Phase I was a sociological study. Phase II, begun in 1996, "Ecological Role of Hunting in Herd Dynamics and its Implications for Co-management of Caribou," studies the biological side of caribou hunting. The study expects to identify critical states when caribou populations are most sensitive to hunting, and to develop simple monitoring indices and predictive models that local hunters can use to predict consequences of hunting management.

The Human-Dominated Systems Directorate (H-DSD)

The H-DSD research core project, "Ecological Sustainability and Human Institutions: Case Studies of Three Biosphere Reserves," begun in 1991, addressed practical considerations of management of three wetland areas, the south Florida-Everglades ecosystem, the Maryland Eastern Shore, and the New Jersey Pine Barrens.

The directorate completed its project "Ecosystem Management to Achieve Ecological Sustainability: the Case of South Florida," in 1997. Its evaluation of the needs of agriculture, urban development, recreation, and the natural environment has resulted in specific suggestions for the sustainability of the ecological system and the societal sustainability of south Florida.

The Marine and Coastal Ecosystems Directorate (MACED)

The MACED core project, begun in 1994, is "Ecological and Socio-Economic Impacts of Alternative Access Management Strategies in Marine Protected Areas."

The project investigates the impacts of alternative access management strategies related to fishing and recreational diving in three marine protected areas (Caribbean, West Coast, and Pacific Island.) Each geographic area has both natural resource and socio-economic/cultural assessments with different objectives reflecting the differences in the sites.

The primary objective of this project is to generate data on which cohesive partnerships of managers, scientists, special interests, and the public can make informed decisions for the use and operation of marine and coastal protected areas.

The Temperate Ecosystems Directorate

The core project, "Land Use Patterns in the Olympic and Southern Appalachian Biosphere Reserves: Implications for Long Term Sustainable Development and Environmental Vitality," was supported by U.S. MAB from 1990 to 1995.

The project examined the effects on land cover of changes in land use and ownership on the Olympic peninsula and the southern Appalachian highlands. A computer modeling environment derived from this research, Land Use Change Analysis System (LUCAS), was developed and is available for review at http://www.cs.utk.edu/~LUCAS.

The Tropical Ecosystem Directorate (TED)

The TED core project, "Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Mayan Rainforest," began in 1992. The project has included workshops, community conferences, and a small grants program.

The small grants have studied sustainability of forest products, the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and ground water and soil degradation in the Peten area of Belize, Guatemala and Mexico.

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