Towards a protocol for community monitoring of caribou body condition
Effective ecological monitoring is central to the sustainability of subsistence resources of indigenous communities. For caribou, Arctic indigenous people's most important terrestrial subsistence resource, body condition is a useful measure because it integrates many ecological factors that inf...
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Septentrio Academic Publishing
2003
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.7557/2.23.5.1678 https://doaj.org/article/927c5de29d884d11a6dda794820f29ac |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:927c5de29d884d11a6dda794820f29ac 2023-05-15T15:10:08+02:00 Towards a protocol for community monitoring of caribou body condition Gary Kofinas Phil Lyver Don Russell Robert White Augie Nelson Nicholas Flanders 2003-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7557/2.23.5.1678 https://doaj.org/article/927c5de29d884d11a6dda794820f29ac EN eng Septentrio Academic Publishing https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/1678 https://doaj.org/toc/1890-6729 doi:10.7557/2.23.5.1678 1890-6729 https://doaj.org/article/927c5de29d884d11a6dda794820f29ac Rangifer, Vol 23, Iss 5 (2003) caribou management caribou monitoring body condition local knowledge traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) Animal culture SF1-1100 article 2003 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7557/2.23.5.1678 2022-12-30T21:58:56Z Effective ecological monitoring is central to the sustainability of subsistence resources of indigenous communities. For caribou, Arctic indigenous people's most important terrestrial subsistence resource, body condition is a useful measure because it integrates many ecological factors that influence caribou productivity and is recognized by biologists and hunters as meaningful. We draw on experience working with indigenous communities to develop a body condition monitoring protocol for harvested animals. Local indigenous knowledge provides a broad set of caribou health indicators and explanations of how environmental conditions may affect body condition. Scientific research on caribou body condition provides a basis to develop a simple dichotomous key that includes back fat, intestinal fat, kidney fat and marrow¬fat, as measures of body fat, which in autumn to early winter correlates with the likelihood of pregnancy. The dichotomous key was formulated on "expert knowledge" and validated against field estimates of body composition. We compare local indigenous knowledge indicators with hunter documented data based on the dichotomous key. The potential con¬tribution of community body condition monitoring can be realized through the continued comparative analysis of datasets. Better communication among hunters and scientists, and refinement of data collection and analysis methods are recommended. Results suggest that specific local knowledge may become generalized and integrated between regions if the dichotomous key is used as a generalized (semi-quantitative) index and complemented with other science and community-based assessments. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic caribou Rangifer Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Rangifer 23 5 43 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
caribou management caribou monitoring body condition local knowledge traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) Animal culture SF1-1100 |
spellingShingle |
caribou management caribou monitoring body condition local knowledge traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) Animal culture SF1-1100 Gary Kofinas Phil Lyver Don Russell Robert White Augie Nelson Nicholas Flanders Towards a protocol for community monitoring of caribou body condition |
topic_facet |
caribou management caribou monitoring body condition local knowledge traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) Animal culture SF1-1100 |
description |
Effective ecological monitoring is central to the sustainability of subsistence resources of indigenous communities. For caribou, Arctic indigenous people's most important terrestrial subsistence resource, body condition is a useful measure because it integrates many ecological factors that influence caribou productivity and is recognized by biologists and hunters as meaningful. We draw on experience working with indigenous communities to develop a body condition monitoring protocol for harvested animals. Local indigenous knowledge provides a broad set of caribou health indicators and explanations of how environmental conditions may affect body condition. Scientific research on caribou body condition provides a basis to develop a simple dichotomous key that includes back fat, intestinal fat, kidney fat and marrow¬fat, as measures of body fat, which in autumn to early winter correlates with the likelihood of pregnancy. The dichotomous key was formulated on "expert knowledge" and validated against field estimates of body composition. We compare local indigenous knowledge indicators with hunter documented data based on the dichotomous key. The potential con¬tribution of community body condition monitoring can be realized through the continued comparative analysis of datasets. Better communication among hunters and scientists, and refinement of data collection and analysis methods are recommended. Results suggest that specific local knowledge may become generalized and integrated between regions if the dichotomous key is used as a generalized (semi-quantitative) index and complemented with other science and community-based assessments. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gary Kofinas Phil Lyver Don Russell Robert White Augie Nelson Nicholas Flanders |
author_facet |
Gary Kofinas Phil Lyver Don Russell Robert White Augie Nelson Nicholas Flanders |
author_sort |
Gary Kofinas |
title |
Towards a protocol for community monitoring of caribou body condition |
title_short |
Towards a protocol for community monitoring of caribou body condition |
title_full |
Towards a protocol for community monitoring of caribou body condition |
title_fullStr |
Towards a protocol for community monitoring of caribou body condition |
title_full_unstemmed |
Towards a protocol for community monitoring of caribou body condition |
title_sort |
towards a protocol for community monitoring of caribou body condition |
publisher |
Septentrio Academic Publishing |
publishDate |
2003 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7557/2.23.5.1678 https://doaj.org/article/927c5de29d884d11a6dda794820f29ac |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic caribou Rangifer |
genre_facet |
Arctic caribou Rangifer |
op_source |
Rangifer, Vol 23, Iss 5 (2003) |
op_relation |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/1678 https://doaj.org/toc/1890-6729 doi:10.7557/2.23.5.1678 1890-6729 https://doaj.org/article/927c5de29d884d11a6dda794820f29ac |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7557/2.23.5.1678 |
container_title |
Rangifer |
container_volume |
23 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
43 |
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1766341183156518912 |