Marine mammal ecology and health: finding common ground between conventional science and indigenous knowledge to track arctic ecosystem variability
Marine mammals respond to, and thereby reflect, changes in Arctic ecosystems that are important both to practitioners of conventional science (CS) and to holders of indigenous knowledge (IK). Although often seen as contrasting approaches to tracking ecosystem variability, when CS and IK are combined...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d9f1107e238348bbbbd30aee102d11e9 2023-09-05T13:16:46+02:00 Marine mammal ecology and health: finding common ground between conventional science and indigenous knowledge to track arctic ecosystem variability Sue E Moore Donna D W Hauser 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab20d8 https://doaj.org/article/d9f1107e238348bbbbd30aee102d11e9 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab20d8 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab20d8 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/d9f1107e238348bbbbd30aee102d11e9 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 14, Iss 7, p 075001 (2019) marine mammals Arctic ecosystems conventional science indigenous knowledge marine mammal indicators Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab20d8 2023-08-13T00:37:25Z Marine mammals respond to, and thereby reflect, changes in Arctic ecosystems that are important both to practitioners of conventional science (CS) and to holders of indigenous knowledge (IK). Although often seen as contrasting approaches to tracking ecosystem variability, when CS and IK are combined they can provide complementary and synergistic information. Despite exceptions, ecosystem-focused CS is often spatially broad and time shallow (1000 s km, decades) while IK is comparatively narrow spatially and time deep (10 s km, centuries). In addition, differences in how information is gathered, stored, applied and communicated can confound information integration from these two knowledge systems. Over the past four decades, research partnerships between CS practitioners and IK holders have provided novel insights to an Alaskan Arctic marine ecosystem in rapid transition. We identify insights from some of those projects, as they relate to changes in sea ice, oceanography, and more broadly to marine mammal ecology and health. From those insights and the protocols of existing community-based programs, we suggest that the strong seasonal cycle of Arctic environmental events should be leveraged as a shared framework to provide common ground for communication when developing projects related to marine mammal health and ecology. Adopting a shared temporal framework would foster joint CS–IK thinking and support the development of novel and nonlinear approaches to shared questions and concerns regarding marine mammals. The overarching goal is to extend the range and depth of a common understanding of marine mammal health and ecology during a period of rapid ecosystem alteration. The current focus on CS–IK co-production of knowledge and recent inclusion of marine mammals as essential variables in global ocean observatories makes this an opportune time to find common ground for understanding and adapting to the rapid changes now underway in Arctic marine ecosystems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Sea ice Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Environmental Research Letters 14 7 075001 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
marine mammals Arctic ecosystems conventional science indigenous knowledge marine mammal indicators Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
marine mammals Arctic ecosystems conventional science indigenous knowledge marine mammal indicators Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Sue E Moore Donna D W Hauser Marine mammal ecology and health: finding common ground between conventional science and indigenous knowledge to track arctic ecosystem variability |
topic_facet |
marine mammals Arctic ecosystems conventional science indigenous knowledge marine mammal indicators Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Marine mammals respond to, and thereby reflect, changes in Arctic ecosystems that are important both to practitioners of conventional science (CS) and to holders of indigenous knowledge (IK). Although often seen as contrasting approaches to tracking ecosystem variability, when CS and IK are combined they can provide complementary and synergistic information. Despite exceptions, ecosystem-focused CS is often spatially broad and time shallow (1000 s km, decades) while IK is comparatively narrow spatially and time deep (10 s km, centuries). In addition, differences in how information is gathered, stored, applied and communicated can confound information integration from these two knowledge systems. Over the past four decades, research partnerships between CS practitioners and IK holders have provided novel insights to an Alaskan Arctic marine ecosystem in rapid transition. We identify insights from some of those projects, as they relate to changes in sea ice, oceanography, and more broadly to marine mammal ecology and health. From those insights and the protocols of existing community-based programs, we suggest that the strong seasonal cycle of Arctic environmental events should be leveraged as a shared framework to provide common ground for communication when developing projects related to marine mammal health and ecology. Adopting a shared temporal framework would foster joint CS–IK thinking and support the development of novel and nonlinear approaches to shared questions and concerns regarding marine mammals. The overarching goal is to extend the range and depth of a common understanding of marine mammal health and ecology during a period of rapid ecosystem alteration. The current focus on CS–IK co-production of knowledge and recent inclusion of marine mammals as essential variables in global ocean observatories makes this an opportune time to find common ground for understanding and adapting to the rapid changes now underway in Arctic marine ecosystems. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sue E Moore Donna D W Hauser |
author_facet |
Sue E Moore Donna D W Hauser |
author_sort |
Sue E Moore |
title |
Marine mammal ecology and health: finding common ground between conventional science and indigenous knowledge to track arctic ecosystem variability |
title_short |
Marine mammal ecology and health: finding common ground between conventional science and indigenous knowledge to track arctic ecosystem variability |
title_full |
Marine mammal ecology and health: finding common ground between conventional science and indigenous knowledge to track arctic ecosystem variability |
title_fullStr |
Marine mammal ecology and health: finding common ground between conventional science and indigenous knowledge to track arctic ecosystem variability |
title_full_unstemmed |
Marine mammal ecology and health: finding common ground between conventional science and indigenous knowledge to track arctic ecosystem variability |
title_sort |
marine mammal ecology and health: finding common ground between conventional science and indigenous knowledge to track arctic ecosystem variability |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab20d8 https://doaj.org/article/d9f1107e238348bbbbd30aee102d11e9 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Sea ice |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 14, Iss 7, p 075001 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab20d8 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab20d8 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/d9f1107e238348bbbbd30aee102d11e9 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab20d8 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
075001 |
_version_ |
1776198238976606208 |