Systematic review of documented Indigenous Knowledge of freshwater biodiversity in the circumpolar Arctic

• Published in: Freshwater Biology
• Main Authors: Knopp, Jennie A., Levenstein, Brianna, Watson, Annette, Ivanova, Ina, Lento, Jennifer
• Other Authors: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2020
• Subjects: Arctic; Canada; Greenland; Kola Peninsula; Norway; Fennoscandia; kola peninsula; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/fwb.13570; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Ffwb.13570; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/fwb.13570; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/fwb.13570

Abstract Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic have for millennia relied on freshwaters for drinking water and freshwater species that comprise important subsistence harvests, which promotes a strong connection to the land and unique understanding of organisms and ecosystem processes and changes. Despite the importance of freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem services to Arctic Indigenous communities, there have been limited attempts to summarise available Indigenous Knowledge (IK) regarding Arctic freshwater systems and to understand how conservation can benefit from this knowledge base. This paper presents a systematic review of literature documenting circumpolar Arctic IK with a focus on freshwater biodiversity in Canada, Greenland, Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, and Finland), Russia, and the U.S.A. (Alaska). Standardised search terms and methodologies were used to locate relevant documents using Google Scholar and Google Advanced search engines. Thematic coding was used to identify freshwater biodiversity themes within the identified documents. Documented IK of freshwater biodiversity was found from all five geographic regions and included data on both species presence and habitat changes with potential to affect biodiversity. Canada had the highest number of relevant documents ( n = 127), followed by the U.S.A. (Alaska; n = 116), Fennoscandia ( n = 38), Russia ( n = 27), and Greenland ( n = 5). The number of relevant documents with IK published per year was highest in most recent years, from 2010 onwards, in all geographic regions. Fish represented the highest number of faunal observations with 59 species observed, approximately half of which were Salmonidae (29 species). Local‐scale assessment of fish diversity found observations of the highest number of species (11–25) in Alaska, and individual observations of 6–10 species were found throughout Alaska, mainland areas of Canada, and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Documented IK also contributed new information on historical fish diversity and indicated local‐scale ...