Traditional Ecological Knowledge

The estimation of fractional trophic levels (TROPHs) is essential for the management of fisheries resources as well as for quantifying the ecosystem effects of fishing. We gathered all available information concerning the feeding habits of 332 fish stocks, belonging to 146 species, 59 families and 21 orders, throughout the Mediterranean Sea, and estimated their TROPH values. The latter ranged from 2.0 to 4.5 and the following functional trophic groups were identified: (a) pure herbivores (TROPH = 2.0-2.1, mean = 2.02, SD = 0.03), which were very rare and represented by Siganus luridus, Siganus rivulatus and Sarpa salpa, all of which feed on red, brown, green and bluegreen algae; (b) omnivores with a preference for vegetable material (2.1 < TROPH < 2.9, mean = 2.5, SD = 0.12), but feeding on other prey, such as sponges, hydrozoans, anthozoans, polychaetes, ostracods, isopods, amphipods and copepods. This type of omnivore was very rare among the cases reviewed; (c) omnivores with a preference for animal material (2.9 < TROPH < 3.7, mean = 3.4, SD = 0.19) feeding on a wide variety of prey (e.g.). They were the most numerous and were mainly represented by species of the families Blenniidae, Bothidae, Centracanthidae, Gobiidae, Labridae, Lotidae, Macrouridae, Mullidae, Ophidiidae, Soleidae, Triglidae and Engraulidae; and (d) carnivores with a preference for large decapods, cephalopods and fish (3.7 < TROPH < 4.5). They were the next most abundant group among the cases reviewed. They were mainly represented by species of the families Dalatiidae, Lophiidae, Scombridae, Scyliorhinidae, Synodontidae, Torpedinidae, Merlucciidae, Xiphiidae and Zeidae. This group was divided into two subgroups: one exhibiting a preference for decapods and fish (3.7 < TROPH < 4.0, mean = 3.85, SD = 0.09) and another one exhibiting a preference for fish and cephalopods (4.0 < TROPH < 4.5, mean = 4.38, SD = 0.12). Potential top carnivores in the Mediterranean Sea were also identified. Although such a grouping is provisional, and subject to revision when more datasets for other species, habitats and areas (especially from the Southern Mediterranean Sea, which was underrepresented in our compilation) 218 become available, it may serve as a basis for the maintenance of trophic level balance in the Mediterranean Sea. This will set the basis for an ecosystem approach to the management of the Mediterranean Sea. Across species, TROPH values increased asymptotically with maximum reported body length. The same was also true for 9 out of 11 stocks, for which diet composition data were available for more than three length classes. The within-and among-species asymptotic relationships between TROPH and body length are discussed within the framework of foraging behavior and prey selection theory. Finally, based on the sampling characteristics and methodology used in the studies reviewed, some recommendations for future stomach content studies are also provided.

It is now a policy requirement that "traditional ecological knowledge" (TEK) be incorporated into environmental assessment and resource management in the North. However, there is little common understanding about what TEK is, and no guidance on how to implement the policy in public arenas where knowledge claims must be tested. The problems are inconsistent and unclear definitions of TEK, and insufficient attention to appropriate methods of organizing and presenting it for assessment and management purposes. TEK can be classified as knowledge about the environment, knowledge about the use of the environment, values about the environment, and the knowledge system itself. All categories are required for environmental assessment, but each must be presented and examined differently. TEK and "Western" science provide partially different information, based on different sets of observations and procedures, and sometimes on different knowledge claims. It is important that TEK be comprehensible and testable as a knowledge claim in public reviews, and usable for ongoing public monitoring and co-management processes. To this end, certain procedures are recommended for recording, organizing, and presenting TEK, with particular emphasis on the need to differentiate between observation and inference or association. Documenting TEK as recommended usually requires trained intermediaries, but they in turn require the support and cooperation of those who have TEK. One consequence is that it is often both impractical and inappropriate to require development proponents to incorporate TEK into their environmental impact statements. However, the environmental assessment process must facilitate the use of TEK in the public review phase.

Increasingly, federal environmental guidelines require developers to consider the "traditional knowledge" of aboriginal people in assessing the impact of proposed projects on northern environments, economies, and societies. However, several factors have limited the contributions of traditional knowledge to environmental impact assessment (EIA) in the North, including confusion over the meaning of this term, who "owns" this knowledge, and its role in EIA. The term "indigenous knowledge," which comprises traditional and nontraditional, ecological and nonecological knowledge, is proposed as an alternative that should allow aboriginal people, and the full scope of their knowledge, to assume integral roles in EIA.

The widespread call for a transition toward "ecosystem-based" fisheries management implies the development and testing of sustainability indicators suitable for inferences on the status of the ecosystems within which fisheries resource species are embedded. The mean trophic level (TL) of fisheries catches has been shown to allow for such inferences, leading in the process to the identification of global trends toward catches being increasingly dominated by low-TL species, a process now known as "fishing down marine food webs." However, for inferences from TL trends to be accurate, taxonomic and especially geographic over-aggregation of the underlying catch data must be avoided. Accounting for these strong sources of bias suggests that the fishing down effect is far more pervasive than previously thought, and in fact occurs in areas where initial analyses failed to detect it. This confirms the common verdict of absent sustainability for most fisheries of the world. This is illustrated here by five brief case studies, of which three also document a new method for estimating ecosystem transfer efficiency, under a set of specific conditions, from time series of catches and their corresponding mean TL. Some suggestions are given on how work in this area might proceed.

Water levels of lakes fluctuate naturally in response to climatic and hydrological forcing. Human over-exploitation of water resources leads to increased annual and interannual fluctuations of water levels, at times far beyond natural amplitudes and/or at altered time schedules. Climate change models predict increased occurrence of extreme events (flooding, extended droughts), which will further magnify the seasonal and multiannual amplitude of water level fluctuations in lakes. A relatively wide literature base already exists for shallow lakes, demonstrating that excessive water level fluctuations impair ecosystem functioning, ultimately leading to shifts between clear-water and turbid states. Evidence is gradually building in the published literature demonstrating that deep (stratified) freshwater lakes also respond adversely to excessive water level fluctuations. Analysis of existing data suggests that at moderate disturbance levels littoral habitats are affected, and hence their biota is also impacted. At further disturbance levels, ecosystem destabilization symptoms are observed, including weakening of keystone species, proliferation of nuisance and invasive species, loss of biodiversity, and increased internal nutrient loading. Ultimately, eutrophication symptoms are manifested, especially large and more frequent cyanobacterial blooms, without increased external nutrient loading. Examples from a range of subtropic and temperate freshwater lakes and reservoirs demonstrate that both top-down and bottom-up processes promote those symptoms. The response of aquatic ecosystems, particularly deep lakes, to water level fluctuations is an under-studied field of crucial importance to the management of water resources, where limnologists have a leading role to play in the near future.

A well-known facet of ecosystems is that the edges-the boundaries or transitions from one ecosystem to another-often exhibit high levels of species richness or biodiversity. These transitional areas often show features of species composition, structure, and function representative of the ecosystems they transcend, as well as having their own unique array of species and characteristics. Cultural transitional areas-zones where two or more cultures converge and interact-are similarly rich and diverse in cultural traits, exhibiting cultural and linguistic features of each of the contributing peoples. This results in an increase in cultural capital, and resilience, by providing a wider range of traditional ecological knowledge and wisdom on which to draw, especially in times of stress and change. We propose that indigenous peoples whose living territories traverse ecological edges have a correspondingly increased access to economically important resources and therefore have a greater capacity for flexibility. Finally, we suggest that indigenous peoples are drawn to areas having a high incidence of ecological edges, and furthermore, that they actively create and maintain ecological edges. This practice provides them with a greater diversity of cultural capital and helps to maintain their flexibility and resilience. Examples from several regions of Canada are provided, from the southern interior of British Columbia, to the Lake Winnipeg watershed of Manitoba and Ontario, to James Bay.

The circular economy (CE) has recently become a popular discourse especially in government and corporate sectors. Given the socio-ecological challenges of the Anthropocene, the concept of CE could indeed help the transition to a sustainable, just and resilient future. However, the actual definition, objectives and forms of implementation of the CE are still unclear, inconsistent, and contested. Different actors and sectors are thus articulating circular discourses which align with their interests, and which often do not sufficiently examine the ecological, social and political implications of circularity. In this context, this research asks how to better navigate and analyse the history, complexity and plurality of circularity discourses by conceptually differentiating them in a comprehensive discourse typology. To answer this question a critical literature review has been carried out, which first, examines and reflects on the core challenges, gaps and limitations of the CE concept. Second, this research develops a comprehensive timeline of circularity thinking, which identifies and conceptually classifies 72 different CE-related concepts from the Global North and South (such as Gandhian and steady-state economics, buen vivir, doughnut economics and degrowth). This leads to the development of a typology of circularity discourses, which classifies circularity visions according to their position on fundamental social, technological, political and ecological issues. This research thus seeks to provide a basis for a more inclusive and comprehensive discussion on the topic, which opens the imaginary regarding the many circular futures that can exist and allows for a cross-pollination of ideas, policy options, strategies, practices and solutions.

This paper reviews international law and policy regarding the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities that are defining the role of traditional and indigenous knowledge in the management and conservation of biodiversity. The most influential forums occur within the United Nations system, particularly the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and the Convention on Biological Diversity. We discuss the "soft-law" context of declarations, regional agreements, ethical guidelines, research protocols, and policy frameworks, which reinforce indigenous entitlements. The elaboration of these rights will increasingly impinge upon scientific research by regulating access to the knowledge and resources of indigenous and local communities, and by requiring that policy and management be made with their full participation. Scientists should respond by following these developments, institutionalizing this participation at all levels of scientific activity, and respecting the value of indigenous knowledge.

The importance accorded to ethnoecological knowledge for suggesting new paths in scientific research, understanding ecological processes, and designing sustainable management of natural resources has grown in recent years. However, variation in knowledge and practices, both within and across cultures, has not been given much attention in resource management nor in developing scientific understanding of the ecological status of key resources. In this paper, we discuss the heterogeneity and complexity of local ecological knowledge in relation to its practical and institutional context with respect to management of Himalayan medicinal plants. We show factors affecting this variation, and discuss how knowledge is put into action. We assessed variation in knowledge relating to the diversity of medicinal plant species, their distribution, medicinal uses, biological traits, ecology, and management within and between two culturally different social groups living in villages located in the Shey-Phoksundo National Park and its buffer zone in northwestern Nepal. Heterogeneity in levels of knowledge and in practices both within and between these groups corresponds to differences in level of specialization in relation to medicinal plants, to socio-cultural and institutional contexts, and to extra-local factors that govern people’s activities. We argue that understanding the heterogeneity of knowledge and practices within a given area is crucial to design management practices that build on the intricate links between knowledge, practices, and institutional context. It is also important to develop ecological studies that will best inform management.

In the Amazonian basin, the human populations that traditionally inhabit the forest use its natural resources in various ways. One example is the local fauna which, among several other uses, is an important source of protein. The general aim of our study was to investigate the importance of hunting to the lives of the Amazonian riverine communities and to identify

Background: Fishing is probably one of the oldest economic activities in the history of humankind. Lakes, rivers and streams in Europe are important elements in the European landscape with a rich diversity of fish and other aquatic organisms. Artisanal fisheries have therefore been of great importance for the provision of food, but also animal feed, medicine, fertilizer and other needs. These fishermen had a deep knowledge about the waterscape and its biota. However, ethnoichthyology remains a small topic within contemporary ethnobiology in Europe. Our focus lies within northern Europe in the late medieval to modern period, but encompasses the wider area with some reference to earlier periods where informative. Method: We have reviewed a large amount of literature mainly on the relationship between man and fish in freshwaters from late medieval times (defined here as the fifteenth century) until the early twenty-first century. The main focus is on freshwater (including anadromous and catadromous) fish in northern Europe, the main area of study for both authors, though examples have been included from elsewhere to indicate the widespread importance of these fisheries. The review includes studies from various fields such as archaeology, ethnography, fish biology, geography, linguistics and osteology to map what has been studied of interest in ethnoichthyology. These data have been analysed and critically reviewed. Results: There are archaeozoological studies, studies of specialised fishers as well as artisanal fishing among the peasantry, research of folk taxonomies, fishing methods (including the use of poison) and gear, which are all of great interest for ethnoichthyology. There is also research on traditional preserving methods for fish as food and for other purposes. Of interest is the keeping of fish in wells, ponds and aquaria. However, there is still room for more research within many domains of ethnoichthyology.

Fishers' knowledge research is an approach to fisheries research that has a relatively long history, yet has generally failed to become integrated into the fisheries science mainstream alongside approaches that rely primarily on the knowledge of professional scientists. Its continued position on the margins of fisheries science has not however stopped fishers' knowledge researchers from publishing an expanding literature, which they often use to advocate for the greater consideration of fishers' knowledge by fisheries scientists and managers. They believe that the unique and often highly qualitative knowledge of fishers could inform better decision-making, resulting in improved socio-ecological outcomes for fisheries. This review first outlines the scope of the fishers' knowledge literature, before outlining five waves of fishers' knowledge research that have developed over the last century. For each wave, the nature of the fishers' knowledge documented during it is noted, as is the research and dissemination approach taken by its practitioners. The impact of that wave on mainstream fisheries science is then assessed. Overall, it is found that only one wave of fishers' knowledge research is beginning to have consistent success integrating with mainstream fisheries science, a wave that omits the research of many of the unique elements of fishers' knowledge. Other waves have died out, or are in danger of dying out, either because they have failed to be noticed by mainstream fisheries scientists or because mainstream fisheries scientists have not welcomed their outputs. It is summarized that fishers' knowledge research will only continue as a productive activity if mainstream fisheries scientists begin to open their discipline to other knowledge cultures and if fishers' knowledge researchers facilitate this action by disseminating their research so that it is more accessible to these scientists.

The program of People's Biodiversity Registers (PBR) is an attempt to promote folk ecological knowledge and wisdom in two ways: by devising more formal means for their maintenance, and by creating new contexts for their continued practice. PBRs document folk ecological knowledge and practices involving the use of natural resources, with the help of local educational institutions and NGOs working in collaboration with local, decentralized institutions of governance. During 1996During -1998 such documents were prepared from village clusters distributed in eight states and union territories representing a wide spectrum of ecological and social regimes of India. They reveal a picture of generally declining productivity and diversity of living resources outside of intensively managed ecosystems. There are, however, notable exceptions; two of our case studies provide examples of self-organized systems of management that have successfully protected, and indeed promoted, restoration of forest and wildlife resources. The PBRs also indicate a widespread erosion of practical ecological knowledge and of traditions of sustainable use and conservation. This is linked to the fact that those most intimately dependent on and knowledgeable about biodiversity belong to the economically and politically most disadvantaged segments of the society. In consequence, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are not a high priority among the development aspirations held by the people. Nevertheless, people are concerned about degradation of the base of living resources and offer a number of concrete suggestions on their management. In fact, in a few cases, the PBR exercises have encouraged people to put such measures for more prudent use of local biodiversity resources into practice. The process of preparation of PBRs, as well as the resultant documents, could serve a significant role in promoting more sustainable, flexible, participatory systems of management and in ensuring a better flow of benefits from economic use of the living resources to the local communities.

We examine a community-based project to record indigenous knowledge.We explore how indigenous knowledge informs individuals’ values and choices.Worldviews shape how people perceive and respond to climate change.Indigenous knowledge informs the acceptability of adaptation options.Indigenous peoples offer alternative knowledge about climate variability and change based on their own locally developed knowledges and practices of resource use. In this article we discuss the role of traditional ecological knowledge in monitoring and adapting to changing environmental conditions. Our case study documents a project to record the seasonal knowledge of the Miriwoong people in northern Australia. The study demonstrates how indigenous groups’ accumulate detailed baseline information about their environment to guide their resource use and management, and develop worldviews and cultural values associated with this knowledge. We highlight how traditional ecological knowledge plays a critical role in mediating indigenous individuals and communities’ understandings of environmental changes in the East Kimberley region of north-west Australia, and how these beliefs may influence future decision-making about how to go about adapting to climate change at a local level.

This study investigates ethnobotanical uses of wild plants found on Honaz Mountain and its vicinity in Denizli Province in the middle Aegean region of Turkey. Eighty-one persons from 13 villages and six townships were interviewed. Nine hundred and sixty-four species, belonging to 60 plant families, were identified for which 381 different uses were recorded. Informants reported ethnobotanical uses for 19% of the identified species (184 out of 964): food (65), fodder (111), medicinal (119), firewood (28), handicrafts (16) and various other purposes (26). Medicinal tar production was particularly noted.

Please see the version of record here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2018.04.009

This paper examines the long-term development of palm oil landscapes in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia. In contrast to the agroindustrial monocultures that dominate global production, palm oil in Bahia emerges from a biodiverse cultural landscape constructed through five centuries of transatlantic socioecological exchange. Native to West Africa, African oil palms (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) diffused to the New World during colonial overseas expansion, becoming established in Bahia by the seventeenth century. There the palms helped form a complex cultural landscape that continues to supply local alimentary and spiritual demands for palm oil—an essential resource in many Afro-Brazilian cultural expressions. Extending approximately 70 km south of the capital Salvador, Bahia's traditional palm oil landscapes are now officially dubbed the Dendê Coast (Costa do Dendê), following the Kimbundu Bantu-inspired Afro-Brazilian term for palm oil. Historically colonial officials and elite Brazilians showed little interest in Bahia's palm oil economy, effectively conceding it to Afro-descendants until the mid-twentieth century. Since then, a series of modern development interventions have sought to transform the complex, biodiverse landscapes of the Dendê Coast into a legible oil palm monoculture based on an improved hybrid variety. Yet despite recurrent top-down efforts, emergent or " subspontaneous " groves and traditional polycultural landscapes continue to dominate land use in the region. Drawing on ethnography, landscape interpretations, archives, and geospatial analysis, this paper analyzes the historical development of Bahia's palm oil economy, recounting five centuries of socioecological changes on the Dendê Coast. The study integrates recent geographical treatments of the African diaspora with theories of complexity to comprehend the ongoing proliferation of Bahia's traditional palm oil landscapes despite top-down promotion of modern monocultures.

Introduction Study Sites and Methods Results and Discussion Frontloop practices during exploitation and conservation Backloop practices during disturbance, release and reorganization Dynamics of local ecological knowledge Conclusions Responses to this Article Acknowledgments Literature Cited

Aboriginal peoples want their ecological knowledge used in the management of wildlife populations. To accomplish this, management agencies will need regional summaries of aboriginal knowledge about long-term changes in the distribution and abundance of wildlife populations and ecological factors that influence those changes. Between 1983 and 1994, we developed a method for collecting Inuit knowledge about historical changes in a caribou (Rangifer tarandus) population on southern Baffin Island from c. 1900 to 1994. Advice from Inuit allowed us to collect and interpret their oral knowledge in culturally appropriate ways. Local Hunters and Trappers Associations (HTAs) and other Inuit identified potential informants to maximize the spatial and temporal scope of the study. In the final interview protocol, each informant (i) established his biographical map and time line, (ii) described changes in caribou distribution and density during his life, and (iii) discussed ecological factors that may have caused changes in caribou populations. Personal and parental observations of caribou distribution and abundance were reliable and precise. Inuit who had hunted caribou during periods of scarcity provided more extensive information than those hunters who had hunted mainly ringed seals (Phoca hispida); nevertheless, seal hunters provided information about coastal areas where caribou densities were insufficient for the needs of caribou hunters. The wording of our questions influenced the reliability of informants’ answers; leading questions were especially problematic. We used only information that we considered reliable after analyzing the wording of both questions and answers from translated transcripts. This analysis may have excluded some reliable information because informants tended to understate certainty in their recollections. We tried to retain the accuracy and precision inherent in Inuit oral traditions; comparisons of information from several informants and comparisons with published and archival historical reports indicate that we retained these qualities of Inuit knowledge.

Les peuples autochtones veulent voir leurs connaissances sur l’environnement utilisées dans la gestion de la faune sauvage. Pour ce faire, il va falloir que les organismes chargés de la gestion possèdent des résumés à l’échelle régionale du savoir autochtone sur les changements à long terme dans la distribution et l’abondance des populations fauniques et des facteurs écologiques influençant ces changements. Entre 1983 et 1994, on a mis au point une méthode de collecte du savoir inuit sur les changements survenus d’environ 1900 à 1994, changements qui ont affecté une population de caribous (Rangifer tarandus) dans la partie méridionale de l’île de Baffin. Des conseils donnés par les Inuit nous ont permis de recueillir et d’interpréter leur savoir oral selon des modalités pertinentes au plan culturel. Les Associations des chasseurs et des trappeurs (ACT) locales et d’autres Inuit ont indiqué des répondants potentiels, de façon à maximiser l’envergure spatiale et temporelle de l’étude. Lors du dernier protocole d’interview, chaque répondant a 1) établi sa carte biographique et sa ligne de temps, 2) décrit les changements dans la distribution et la densité du caribou au cours de sa vie, 3) discuté des facteurs écologiques qui auraient pu causer des changements dans les populations de caribous. Les observations sur la distribution et l’abondance du caribou émises par les répondants eux-mêmes ou leurs parents étaient à la fois fiables et précises. Les Inuit qui avaient chassé le caribou en des temps de pénurie offraient plus d’information que les chasseurs qui avaient surtout chassé le phoque annelé (Phoca hispida); les chasseurs de phoque n’en donnaient pas moins des renseignements sur des régions côtières où la densité du caribou ne pouvait satisfaire les besoins des chasseurs de cet animal. La formulation de nos questions a influencé la fiabilité des réponses des personnes interrogées; les questions suggestives en particulier posaient des problèmes. Après avoir analysé la formulation des questions ainsi que des réponses, à partir d’une traduction des transcriptions, on a seulement retenu l’information jugée fiable. Cette analyse peut avoir exclu des renseignements fiables car les répondants avaient tendance à sous-estimer l’exactitude de leurs souvenirs. On a essayé de préserver l’exactitude et la précision inhérentes à la tradition orale inuit; des comparaisons d’informations venant de plusieurs répondants ainsi que des comparaisons avec des rapports publiés ou archivés indiquent que ces qualités du savoir inuit ont ont été préservées dans l’étude.

Background: This study seeks to better understand the human-nature interface and to measure the variability of plant use knowledge among cultures, through inter-and intracultural analyses. We compared plant collection, use, and management of two culturally distinct groups (Baitadi and Darchula) of the Nepal Himalaya. They inhabit different physiographic regions, yet share the same ecological landscape, environmental resources, and livelihood challenges. We hypothesized that the elderly, native, and traditional healers living in remote and rural places possess more diverse and detailed knowledge of plant use and conservation than young, non-native, and non-healers. Methods: A total of 106 people were contacted for interviews, and 100 (68 men and 32 women) agreed to share ethnobotanical, demographic, and socioeconomic information. They were asked about the three most important plants for their socioeconomic benefit, culture, primary health care, and livelihood.

This paper examines traditional ecological knowledge of weather and climate in Samoa, a Polynesian community in the South Pacific. The research found Samoans have their own unique seasonal calendar. The Samoan seasonal calendar is predominantly based on the observations of local environmental changes, which are in turn influenced by weather and climate. Monitoring changes in plants and animal behaviour, for example, are key indicators used by the Samoans to forecast changes in weather and climate. In addition, their communal and family social activities like hunting, fishing and feasting are driven by the seasonal calendar. The Samoans knowledge of cloud formation, conditions conducive to the formation and onset of severe weather systems and seasonal changes in climate, helped them anticipate, plan and adapt to extreme weather and climate events. The ability and knowledge of the Samoans to forecast the onset of extreme weather and climate events, relying predominantly on local environmental changes are vital tools that should be incorporated in the formulation of human induced climate change adaptation strategies.

This paper has two overarching aims: (1) presenting the results of studying the Albacete tariff of medicines of 1526 and (2) broadly analyzing the origin and influences of medicinal traditional knowledge in the region of Albacete, Spain. We use historical and modern literature that may have influenced this knowledge. Our primary goal was to determine the ingredients used in the pharmacy in the 16th century CE in Albacete through the analysis of the tariff, and our secondary goal was to investigate until when ingredients and uses present in pharmacy and herbals persisted in later periods.

Methods: The identity of medicines and ingredients was determined by analyzing contemporary pharmacopoeias and classical pharmaceutical references. We analyzed further 21 sources (manuscripts, herbals, and books of medicines, pharmacopoeias, pharmacy inventories, and modern ethnobotanical records) for the presence/absence of ingredients and complex formulations of the tariff. Using factorial and cluster analysis and Bayesian inference applied to evolution models (reversible-jump Markov chain Monte Carlo), we compared textual sources. Finally, we analyzed the medicinal uses of the top 10 species in terms of frequency of citation to assess the dependence of modern ethnobotanical records on Renaissance pharmacy and herbals, and, ultimately, on Dioscorides.

This article examines the productivity of agriculture at the Postclassic polity of Xaltocan, Mexico. Employing multiple lines of data (remote sensing, artifactual, ecofactual, chronological, demographic, historic, ethnographic, and environmental), it reconstructs the potential productivity of an integrated raised field, chinampa system that surrounded the polity. This exercise reveals that the system was capable of producing a sizeable caloric surplus above the needs of the kingdom's estimated total population and the number of laborers necessary to maintain full production. To situate the processes related to agricultural production, the paper considers how farmers' strategies were articulated with multiple institutions. Increased integration between political, social, and household institutions possibly fostered residents' incorporation into the body politic and provided mechanisms to finance the political economy. Such integration and dependency fractured, however, when Xaltocan was conquered.

Reason and rationality, upon which modern, westernized, societies have been founded, have powerfully characterized the nature of human relations with other species and with the natural world. However, countless indigenous and traditional worldviews tell of a very different reality in which humans, conceived of as instinctual and intuitive, are a part of a complex web of ecological relationships. Other species, elements of the natural world, and people are active participants in relations overflowing with communications, interactions sometimes recorded in ethnographies, or as ‘myths’ and ‘stories’. The present article draws upon a range of traditions to explore the biases which shape how indigenous and traditional life-ways are represented in westernized contexts; the phenomenon of receiving direct insight or intuitive knowing from more-than-human worlds; and the numerous valuable understandings regarding the nature of the human being, other species, and how to live well, that are offered by a deeper comprehension of different worldviews. I also argue that the various capacities for instinctual and intuitive knowledge which accompanies these life-ways are endemic to the human species yet overlooked, the correction of which might work to usefully recalibrate our ethical relations with each other, and with other life on earth.

Can local observations and indigenous knowledge be used to provide information that complements research on climate change? Using participatory research methodology and semi-directed interviews, we explored local and traditional knowledge about changes in sea ice in the area of Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories. In this small Inuvialuit community, we interviewed all of the 16 community members and elders considered to be local experts on sea ice to ask about their observations. We organized their comments under the headings multiyear ice, first-year ice, fractures and pressure ridges, breakup and freezeup seasons, and other climate-related variables that influence sea ice (such as changes in winter, spring and summer temperatures, wind, rain, and thunderstorms). Observations were remarkably consistent in providing evidence of local change in such variables as multiyear ice distribution, first-year ice thickness, and ice breakup dates. The changes observed in the 1990s were said to be without precedent and outside the normal range of variation. In assessing the relevance of Inuvialuit knowledge to scientific research on climate change, we note some of the areas in which sharing of information between the two systems of knowledge may be mutually beneficial. These include the analysis of options for adapting to climate change and the generation of research questions and hypotheses for future studies.

THE STUDY OF HOW MEDIEVAL FARMERS colonised upland environments, and lived there on a year-round basis, can provide valuable insights on the long-term adaptability and resilience of rural communities. Yet there is a lack of clarity on the extent and chronology of this phenomenon in Britain and Ireland, and how to explain it without simplistic climate, population or market determinism. By undertaking a critical review of the evidence for upland colonisation across medieval Britain and Ireland, this article demonstrates that ‘glocal’ perspectives are crucial. Locally favourable geology, non-agrarian resources, and prior domestication of sites through prehistoric settlement and transhumance all encouraged upland colonisation. Indeed, when combined with regional socio-economic trends, these local factors sometimes overrode wider climatic conditions. As researchers look increasingly to large-scale modelling of land-use change, this article provides a reminder not to lose sight of the local landscape context and environmental knowledge of the peoples they are studying.

This study investigates the influence of school sector (private versus state schools) and student gender on knowledge of native fauna. Our main objectives were (a) to describe the knowledge of high school students from the province of Cordoba, Argentina with respect to native animal species, (b) to determine if any exotic species (introduced or domestic) are considered native, and (c) to analyze the effects of school sector and gender on the students’ knowledge of the native fauna. In total, 321 students aged 15–18 from 14 urban schools (8 state and 6 private schools) were asked to write down ten animals native to Córdoba, Argentina, in a free-list questionnaire. Relative frequencies and Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) were used to analyze the categorized (animal names) and continuous answers (quantity of responses, number of native animals, etc.), with the 25 most frequently mentioned species showing a predominance of native ones, of which “Puma” (Puma concolor) and “Andean condor” (Vultur gryphus) were the most prominent. An overrepresentation of mammalian species compared to other classes of chordates was also found, with high school students mentioning native and domestic species higher on the free-list. Using GLMM, we found that school sector had a significant effect on the number of native animals mentioned at both national and local levels, and on domestic and mixed species. Finally, male students mentioned more species and more native animals than their female counterparts. These findings were interpreted and discussed in light of sociocultural and traditional ecological knowledge theories, from which several implications arose related to research and practice.

Khawa Karpo, in the eastern Himalayas, is a mountain considered sacred throughout Tibet, and is internationally recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot. Numerous areas within this landscape are considered ‘sacred’ by the indigenous Tibetans of the region, who interact with these sites in ways potentially beneficial to conservation. Our previous remote sensing study indicated that sacred sites are found in habitats with greater species richness, diversity, and endemism than randomly selected non-sacred sites. This study examines the role of sanctity in biodiversity conservation within habitats in the Khawa Karpo region by pairing plots within the same habitats in sacred and non-sacred areas. Understory richness, diversity, cover, and number of useful species are measured; for trees, richness, diversity, cover, and density are measured. Results indicate that within habitats sanctity does not affect understory plant communities; however, within sacred areas trees are larger (p = 0.003) and forests have greater cover (p = 0.003) than non-sacred areas. Our results indicate that, whereas placement of sacred areas and preservation of vegetation cover affects useful plants, biodiversity and endemism, within habitats sacred sites preserve old growth trees and forest structure. In sum, Tibetan sacred sites are ecologically unique and important for conservation on varying scales of landscape, community, and species.

This paper emerges from and aims to contribute
to conversations on agricultural biodiversity loss, value,
and renewal. Standard international responses to the crisis
of agrobiodiversity erosion focus mostly on ex situ preservation
of germplasm, with little financial and strategic
support for in situ cultivation. Yet, one agrarian collective
in the Peruvian Andes—the Parque de la Papa (Parque)—
has repatriated a thousand native potatoes from the gene
bank in Lima so as to catalyze in situ regeneration of lost
agricultural biodiversity in the region. Drawing on participant
action research and observation, this paper engages
with the projects underway at the Parque—as well as
‘‘indigenous biocultural heritage’’ (IBCH), the original
action-framework guiding the Parque’s work. IBCH
grounds the ecology of successful crop diversity within the
Andean cosmovisio´n, or worldview—which is included,
but marginalized, in mainstream agrobiodiversity conservation
policies. The IBCH concept counters apolitical
renderings of agrobiodiversity erosion, arguing that this
disregard of biocultural heritage perpetuates colonialist
devaluations of efficacious ‘‘traditional ecological knowledge’’
and epistemologies. Accordingly, this paper discerns
here an on-site, or in situ, political ecology of agricultural
biodiversity conservation.

This article examines the landscape as an enduring protagonist in the northern Basin of Mexico over the past 1,000 years in communities north of Mexico City. Viewing materiality as the mutual constitution between social and physical worlds, I discuss the production and inheritance of landscape legacies. The manner in which legacies are inherited is tied to changing political, economic, and social conditions. This project integrates multiple sources of information (archaeological, ethnographic, historical, and ecological) to understand transforming connections between people and the landscape in this region, from the ancient state of Xaltocan to the Aztec and Spanish empires, continuing into the struggle for a modern nation. It reveals relationships that are apparent only via a perspective in dialogue with the landscape's materiality over time. In so doing, this article asserts archaeologists' unique contribution to the study of not only long-term change but also historical processes inherited by and relevant to the contemporary world.

In response to growing interest in accessing traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) for conservation purposes, we discuss some of the complexities involved in doing TEK research. Specifically, we consider the issues of power and politicisation, ethics and situated knowledge. These are standard issues to be considered in any social scientific endeavour and are particularly compelling when dealing with indigenous groups or cross-cultural contexts. We argue that the human context, and the researcher's ability to adequately understand and account for it, will largely determine the success or failure of TEK research. To this end, we offer three broad recommendations for conservation researchers hoping to engage TEK. Only through an informed and conscientious approach can TEK be incorporated into mainstream conservation research in a manner beneficial to both conservation and TEK holders.

The erosion of cultural knowledge and traditions as a result of globalization and migration is a commonly reported phenomenon. We compared one type of cultural knowledge about medicinal plants (number of plants reported to treat thirty common health conditions) among Dominican laypersons who self-medicate with plants and live in rural or urban areas of the Dominican Republic (DR), and those who have moved to New York City (NYC). Many plants used as medicines were popular Dominican food plants. These plants were reported significantly more often by Dominicans living in NYC as compared to the DR, and this knowledge was not age-dependent. These results contradict the popular paradigm about loss of cultural plant knowledge and is the first study to report a statistically measurable increase in this type of knowledge associated with migration.

Despite their dual importance in the assessment of endangered/threatened species, there have been few attempts to integrate traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and evolutionary biology knowledge (EBK) at the population level. We contrasted long-term aboriginal TEK with previously obtained EBK in the context of seasonal migratory habits and population biology of a salmonid fish, brook charr, (Salvelinus fontinalis) inhabiting a large, remote postglacial lake. Compilation of TEK spanning four decades involved analytical workshops, semidirective interviews, and collaborative fieldwork with local aboriginal informants and fishing guides. We found that TEK complemented EBK of brook charr by providing concordant and additional information about (1) population viability; (2) breeding areas and migration patterns of divergent populations; and (3) the behavioral ecology of populations within feeding areas; all of which may ultimately affect the maintenance of population diversity. Aboriginal concerns related to human pressures on this species, not revealed by EBK, also help to focus future conservation initiatives for divergent populations and to encourage restoration of traditional fishing practices. However, relative to EBK, the relevance of TEK to salmonid biodiversity conservation was evident mainly at a smaller spatial scale, for example, that of individual rivers occupied by populations or certain lake sectors. Nevertheless, EBK was only collected over a 4-yr period, so TEK provided an essential long-term temporal window to evaluate population differences and persistence. We concluded that, despite different conceptual underpinnings, spatially and temporally varying TEK and EBK both contribute to the knowledge base required to achieve sustainability and effective biodiversity conservation planning for a given species. Such integration may be particularly relevant in many isolated regions, where intraspecific diversity can go unrecognized due to sparse scientific knowledge or undocumented TEK, and where governmental agencies and local communities increasingly seek to find common ground on which to address biodiversity issues.