Back to top

SFS Annual Meeting

Poster Details

<< Back to Posters

REVIEW OF AVAILABLE DOCUMENTED TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE OF FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS AND BIOTA IN THE CIRCUMPOLAR ARCTIC

The inclusion of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in the assessment of biodiversity is important to provide a more holistic understanding of observed or studied phenomenon and to include Indigenous voice and knowledge. As with many northern projects, it is cost-prohibitive to work across vast regions with distant communities to conduct in-community TEK studies; however, the use of existing TEK records provides the opportunity to incorporate these knowledge bases into freshwater assessments and has the added value of providing a compilation of this documented knowledge. This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review for circumpolar Arctic TEK on freshwater ecosystems and biota. Emergent trends in freshwater biodiversity, as identified through the TEK in the published literature, are discussed and suggestions are made for ways to improve the incorporation of this documented knowledge into scientific assessments.

Brianna Levenstein (Primary Presenter/Author), Canadian Rivers Institute, Department of Biology, University of New Brunwsick, brianna.levenstein@unb.ca;


Jennifer Lento (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Canadian Rivers Institute, Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, jlento@gmail.com;


Jennie Knopp (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Oceans North, jennie.knopp@yahoo.com;


Annette Watson (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), College of Charleston, WatsonAM@cofc.edu;