ResearchBiocomplexity Project - Eastern Shore - NSF

Biocomplexity Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems

National Science Foundation Project Number: BCS-030846

Hank Shugart, Hayden, Macko, Porter, Szuba (UVA), Brush (Johns Hopkins)

Comparative Stability & Resiliency of Ecosystems: Five Centuries of Human Interactions with the Environment on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

Administrative Information

Human society/landscape ecosystems now tessellate the terrestrial surface of the Earth. There is little land that is not to some degree a consequence of its inhabitants. Indeed, given the capacity of technological society to alter the atmosphere and ocean, even remote and unpopulated regions are influenced in some ways by humans. Furthermore, the influence of humans on landscapes and ecosystems often imparts non-linear and complex system dynamics. It is our contention that this was true on Virginia’s Eastern Shore when Native American farmers and watermen were in control during pre-colonial times. Complex and non-linear system responses also occurred when European whites and African blacks resettled the peninsula, as they did when new laws disenfranchised the descendants of these Native Americans and African Americans. Complex responses continued to be the rule—from Reconstruction to the introduction of modern nitrogen-based agriculture. Moreover, they will continue with today’s unique, peninsula-wide implementation a landscape conservation ethic through market and legal processes.

Associated Links: Virginia Center for Digital History: The Eastern Shore and the Railroad Environmental Sciences Department: Virginia Coast Reserve: Long-term Ecological Research (VCR/LTER)