Dr. Arianne Cease https://sustainability.asu.edu/person/arianne-cease/ Thursday, March 24 , 3:45pm. Wslr 116 Title: “Coupled natural-human systems approach to studying and managing locusts” Abstract: Coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) are systems of feedbacks linking people and ecosystems. Failing to account for these dynamic linkages results in intertemporal and spatial externalities, reaping benefits in the present but imposing costs on future and distant people, such as occurs with overgrazing. Recent findings about locust-nutrient dynamics create new opportunities to account for these linkages and develop new, sustainable strategies to understand and manage locust outbreaks. These findings in northeast China demonstrate that excessive livestock grazing promotes Mongolian locust (Oedaleus asiaticus) outbreaks in an unexpected way - by lowering plant nitrogen content due to soil degradation. This seminar will explore recent research integrating insect ecophysiology with economics and other social sciences to understand human-locust-livestock-nutrient interactions using a combination of lab and field studies and mathematical models. We work integratively with government agencies and farming communities in China, Australia, and Senegal to develop sustainable pest management approaches for improved food security.