Evaluating environmental change and behavioral decision-making for sustainability policy using an agent-based model: A case study for the Smoky Hill River Watershed, Kansas.

Autor: Granco G; Department of Geography, Kansas State University, Manhattan, 1002c Seaton Hall, 920 N 17th Street, KS 66506, United States of America. Electronic address: ggranco@cpp.edu., Heier Stamm JL; Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, United States of America., Bergtold JS; Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, United States of America., Daniels MD; Stroud Water Research Center, Avondale, PA 19311, United States of America., Sanderson MR; Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, United States of America., Sheshukov AY; Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, United States of America., Mather ME; U.S. Geological Survey, Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, United States of America., Caldas MM; Department of Geography, Kansas State University, Manhattan, 1002c Seaton Hall, 920 N 17th Street, KS 66506, United States of America., Ramsey SM; Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, United States of America., Lehrter Ii RJ; Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, United States of America., Haukos DA; U.S. Geological Survey, Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, United States of America., Gao J; Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, United States of America., Chatterjee S; Department of Geography, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, United States of America., Nifong JC; Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, United States of America., Aistrup JA; Department of Political Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, United States of America.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2019 Dec 10; Vol. 695, pp. 133769. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Aug 07.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133769
Abstrakt: Sustainability has been at the forefront of the environmental research agenda of the integrated anthroposphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere since the last century and will continue to be critically important for future environmental science. However, linking humans and the environment through effective policy remains a major challenge for sustainability research and practice. Here we address this gap using an agent-based model (ABM) for a coupled natural and human systems in the Smoky Hill River Watershed (SHRW), Kansas, USA. For this freshwater-dependent agricultural watershed with a highly variable flow regime influenced by human-induced land-use and climate change, we tested the support for an environmental policy designed to conserve and protect fish biodiversity in the SHRW. We develop a proof of concept interdisciplinary ABM that integrates field data on hydrology, ecology (fish richness), social-psychology (value-belief-norm) and economics, to simulate human agents' decisions to support environmental policy. The mechanism to link human behaviors to environmental changes is the social-psychological sequence identified by the value-belief-norm framework and is informed by hydrological and fish ecology models. Our results indicate that (1) cultural factors influence the decision to support the policy; (2) a mechanism modifying social-psychological factors can influence the decision-making process; (3) there is resistance to environmental policy in the SHRW, even under potentially extreme climate conditions; and (4) the best opportunities for policy acceptance were found immediately after extreme environmental events. The modeling approach presented herein explicitly links biophysical and social science has broad generality for sustainability problems.
(Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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