Research Activities and Plan by Gerald R. Urquhart
I am a broadly trained ecologist who focuses on three key research areas: 1) coupled natural
and human systems, 2) paleoecology and archaeology, and 3) natural history. My core research
thrust explores the environmental impacts of globalization on previously isolated human
settlements and their surrounding ecosystems in Nicaragua. I also do research on
paleoecological and archaeological records, utilizing palynology, sedimentology, and isotope
analysis. Finally, I maintain a lively interest in natural history. Together, my vision of the
natural world integrates organismal biology, long term processes, and human dimensions and
leads to my involvement in interdisciplinary research.
Current Research Activities
Primary Focus: Globalization and Environmental Change on Nicaragua’s “Mosquito
Coast.” My primary research focuses on coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) in the
tropics to explore complex issues like the loss of tropical forests or threats to indigenous
livelihoods that depend on natural resources. These multidimensional issues require an
interdisciplinary approach to addressing them. I utilize traditional ecological methods, remote
sensing, and survey research as part of a team that includes an economist/conservation biologist
(Daniel Kramer), a sociologist (Aaron McCright), a geographer (Jiaguo Qi), and an
anthropologist (Andrea Allen).
For two decades, I have worked on Nicaragua’s Caribbean “Mosquito” Coast, famed for its
isolation and biodiversity. When I arrived there in the early 1990s, travel to the area was a multiday affair and economic activity was highly depressed. During the past two decades,
globalization has penetrated into some of the most remote regions of the world—like
Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast—places where people directly depend on natural resources for
their livelihoods. As globalization connects remote villages to economic markets, new
technologies, or migration networks, changes in the communities place additional strain on
natural resources. However, these new activities might be counterbalanced by the new economic
opportunities and livelihood diversification that globalization allows, more efficiency through
technology, or emigration from the communities (Kramer et al. 2009).
Daniel Kramer and I lead a team investigating the environmental and economic impact of
globalization on thirteen previously isolated indigenous and traditional communities near Pearl
Lagoon, Nicaragua. This project is funded through the NSF Coupled Natural and Human
Systems program at $1 million over five years. Our hypotheses seek to explain the changes in
terrestrial and marine resources due to the effects of market connections (including a new road),
technological change (e.g., cell phones and electrical grid), and immigration. The region’s
geography provides a “natural experiment” where a continuum of communities exists ranging
from rapidly connecting to control communities experiencing little change. Across this
landscape, there are four key components of this research: 1) terrestrial wildlife monitoring with
camera traps, 2) marine resource monitoring with multiple methods, 3) household surveys in
thirteen communities, and 4) remote sensing of forest cover and land use change.
This region has extensive tropical rainforests, pine savannahs, mangroves, and swamp forest,
along with various agroecosystems. Within these ecosystems lives a hyperdiverse assemblage of
plants and animals, with many species being extracted or hunted. To assess the assemblage of
terrestrial mammals and birds, we are conducting a camera trapping study in forests near the
affected and control communities. Our initial findings show a highly intact mammalian
community with highest diversity in areas only moderately connected to new markets (Jordan et
al. 2010, Jordan et al. under review). When further data are available, we will use occupancy
modeling to determine trends in wildlife occurrence. Marine resources are of equal or greater
importance to the communities along the coast. We are monitoring the changes in fisheries
through catch per unit effort surveys in multiple communities, systematic fish sampling, and
government data on seafood sales in Pearl Lagoon.
To assess the changes in economic activity, technology use, and migration, we are
conducting household surveys in 13 communities. The household surveys will provide a
longitudinal data set to determine changes in the communities. We are also employing remote
sensing to evaluate land use and land cover change in and around the communities.
Once completed, this project will yield longitudinal data on terrestrial wildlife, marine
resources, household economies, and land use that can be integrated to model the complex
coupled natural and human systems of the region. The remote regions of the world are often the
last places to harbor intact assemblages of flora and fauna, and our research will show how
globalization affects those regions’ natural resources as well as the human dimensions.
Secondary Focus: Paleoecology/Archaeology. The past holds the key to understanding
phenomena that have a longer timespan than we can directly observe. Both long term ecological
patterns and the history of human societies fit this category. I am currently working with
archaeologist Bill Lovis and others to understand the complex history of maize agriculture in
Native American societies. Maize is detectable through multiple proxies: macrofossils,
microfossils (phytoliths, pollen, and starch), and isotopic signatures. We have focused on the
δ13C ratios generated by the cooking of maize to understand the ability to detect maize via the
δ13C ratios of charred remnants on potsherds (Hart et al. 2007, 2009). Maize is a C4 plant with a
higher amount of 13C than other human food sources (C3 based), and residues left from cooking
it have enriched δ13C ratios. To this project, I contribute modeling of the nonlinear relationships
between the amount of maize in a diet and the δ13C ratio and have also developed experimental
protocols. We have published two papers in the prestigious Journal of Archaeological Science
and have a third under review there.
The most significant advances from my dissertation research were paleoecological analysis
of hurricane damaged forests on Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast. I identified a prehistoric
hurricane in the sediments and traced the pollen spectra after the hurricane, revealing that posthurricane swamp forests entered an alternative stable state of catastrophic climax due to fire for
over 500 years (Urquhart 2009). Although I am no longer actively studying these swamps, this
research provided me a long term perspective on ecological issues that I apply to other research.
Also, while conducting this research I was able to develop strong social and research networks in
Nicaragua, which eventually led to the success with the NSF-funded CHANS project.
Natural History. I approach research from a strong foundation in natural history and believe
that there is much to be gained from understanding how an organism lives. I have published
several naturalist observations and natural history accounts, mostly focused on birds. My recent
contributions include using my naturalist perspective to address an emerging concept in
ornithology (PNAS 107:e15) and four entries in the second Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas
(MBBA II; Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Northern Harrier and Sharp-shinned
Hawk).
Plans for Future Research
Globalization and Coupled Natural and Human Systems: The majority of my future research
efforts will center on understanding environmental changes along the Caribbean Coast of
Nicaragua as a result of changing human systems. We are approaching the midpoint of our five
year grant for the research on remote communities of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast. Our future
work will focus on generating longitudinal data for terrestrial wildlife, fish populations, and
household surveys. We have household survey data from 2009, 2010 and will resurvey in 2012
and 2014. We have camera trap data from 2010 and 2011 and will continue to generate
longitudinal data sets from the camera trapping effort. Fisheries monitoring began in 2010 and
will continue, and this year graduate student Kara Stevens is replicating the fish surveys done in
1994.
We are actively seeking additional funding for this project and trying to add such
components as GPS collaring of jaguars and tapirs. Collaring jaguars will allow us to better
understand their habitat use in the mosaic of agriculture and forest, and determine whether they
are able to survive in the fragmented landscape. It will also address the question of whether
jaguars are entering farms and killing livestock. The proposed research also includes the
development of local capacity for jaguar conservation.
The analytical extension of our CHANS project to a global scale is an attempt to understand
connections between biodiversity and remoteness. We are developing a combined measure of
remoteness based on satellite imagery, transportation networks, and data on markets,
distribution, and technology—a measurement of the extension of the global economy that can be
compared to various indices of biodiversity (species richness, biodiversity hotspots, protected
areas, etc.). Analyses of changes of this measure over time will elucidate connections between
the loss of remoteness and declines in biodiversity.
Archaeological Research: We plan to further address the impacts of alkali processing on
maize kernels, particularly comparing the signatures of southwestern Native Americans
techniques using lime to create alkali solutions to the eastern North American tribes use of
hardwood ash in alkali processing of maize.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: I have been leading efforts in Lyman Briggs College
to address the poor retention of students who enter with low math placement. Although my
efforts have largely been focused on enacting curricular and course innovations, this project is
very amenable to scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL). If successful in entering a
tenure-stream appointment in LBC and FW, I would like to pursue a Lilly Fellowship to help me
develop SOTL research on the retention of low math students, many of whom are
underrepresented minorities.
Notable Recent Publications
Urquhart, G. R. 2010. Sources, sinks and drains in double-breeding bird species. Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences 107 (5): E15.
Jordan, C. A., K.J. Stevens, G.R. Urquhart, D.B. Kramer, and K. Roe. 2010. A new record of
Baird’s tapir Tapirus bairdii in Nicaragua and potential implications. Tapir Conservation
19:11-15.
Urquhart, G. R. 2009. Paleoecological hurricane disturbance and forest regeneration in
Nicaragua. Quaternary International 195: 88-97.
Kramer, D. B., G. Urquhart, and K. Schmitt. 2009. Globalization and the connection of remote
communities: A review of household effects and their biodiversity implications. Ecological
Economics 68: 2897–2909
Hart, J. P., G. R. Urquhart, R. S. Feranec, and W. A. Lovis. 2009. Nonlinear Relationship
Between Bulk δ13C and Percent Maize in Carbonized Cooking Residues and the Potential of
False Negatives in Detecting Maize. Journal of Archaeological Science 36:2206-2212.
Hart, J. P., W. A. Lovis, J. K. Schulenberg, and G. R. Urquhart. 2007. Paleodietary Implications
from Stable Carbon Isotope Analysis of Experimental Cooking Residues. Journal of
Archaeological Science 34 (2007) 804-813.
Notable Manuscripts Under Review
Lovis, W. A., G. R. Urquhart, M. Raviele, and J. P. Hart. Under Review. Hardwood ash
nixtamalization may lead to false negatives for the presence of maize by depleting bulk δ13C
in carbonized residues. Submitted to Journal of Archaeological Science on 3-4-11.
Jordan, C. A., G. R. Urquhart, D. B. Kramer, and K. Roe-Hulse. Under Review. Patterns in
terrestrial mammal and bird diversity within the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region
(RAAS) of Nicaragua. Submitted to Latin American Journal of Conservation on 2-1-11.