SFS Annual Meeting

5/20/2019  |   14:00 - 14:15   |  151 DEF

RETHINKING HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF FRESHWATER CONSERVATION: A BIOCULTURAL APPROACH Human connections to rivers often go unaccounted for in freshwater conservation and restoration efforts. Biocultural approaches to conservation frame issues from the perspective of place-based communities and develop desired outcomes for resource users by recognizing links between people and the environment and evaluating feedbacks between social and ecological components. By reframing conservation practices to include human dimensions, we can leverage these interactions as assets to conservation for improved environmental and well being outcomes. To date, most discussion in the literature about biocultural approaches to conservation has emphasized terrestrial landscapes and agricultural sustainability, and focused mostly on Indigenous communities. By applying a biocultural approach to freshwater systems, we can identify cultural strengths and assets of human-river interactions that support or improve freshwater conservation efforts. Here, we discuss new research on the Miami River in Florida that illustrates the way that biocultural approaches paint a more holistic picture of the complexities of freshwater conservation. Additionally, we highlight numerous examples—from the U.S. to the Amazon to Northern Australia and beyond—where stakeholder perspectives and cultural priorities have been considered as integral components during the conception of freshwater system conservation efforts.

Brenna Kays (Primary Presenter/Author,Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Florida International University, Bkays001@fiu.edu;


Elizabeth P Anderson (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Florida International University, epanders@fiu.edu;


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5/20/2019  |   14:15 - 14:30   |  151 DEF

THE CITIZEN SCIENCE FOR THE AMAZON PROJECT: TRACKING FISH MIGRATIONS TO IMPROVE SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT AND EMPOWER CITIZENS ACROSS THE AMAZON BASIN In the Amazon, migratory fishes are central to the river’s ecology, as well as to people’s food security and livelihoods. However, sustainable management of Amazonian fisheries requires data collection across vast and remote areas, and analyses that link processes occurring from local to basin-wide scales and targeting diverse stakeholders. Here we report on the Citizen Science for the Amazon Project, which uses a citizen science approach to understand the ecological drivers of fish migrations across the Amazon Basin, while empowering the peoples of the region to work towards freshwater conservation and fisheries management. Since the project launch in April 2018, we have built a network of more than 30 collaborating organizations and engaged more than 150 users in using an application called Ictio (ictio.org) for tracking fish migrations from the Andes to the estuary. However, barriers to building a network of citizen scientists in the Amazon include a lack of telecommunications infrastructure, scientific literacy and motivation across a diversity of actors. In the next phase, improving recruitment to generate data at the necessary scale while providing strong utility to the fishing community will be priorities for achieving the project’s goals.

Mariana Varese (Primary Presenter/Author), Wildlife Conservation Society, mvarese@wcs.org;


Sebastian Heilpern (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Columbia University, s.heilpern@columbia.edu;


Gina Leite (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Wildlife Conservation Society, gleite@wcs.org;


Chris Wood (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Cornell University, chris.wood@cornell.edu ;


Cullen Hanks (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Cornell University, ckh7@cornell.edu;


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5/20/2019  |   14:30 - 14:45   |  151 DEF

COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION EFFORTS TO PROTECT THE LARGEST AMAZONIAN FISH ENDEMIC TO GUYANA, ARAPAIMA ARAPAIMA In south-central Guyana, the Rupununi savannas and wetlands form a hydrological connection with the Amazon River during the rainy season. The dynamic nature of this corridor has influenced aquatic diversity creating an area of 100,000 km2 with more than 450 species of freshwater fishes. Several species are endemic to this region including, Arapaima arapaima, the largest freshwater-scaled fish on the globe. Reaching up to 3m in length and over 100 kg, this apex predator plays an important role in the ecosystem. Amerindians inhabiting this region live intimately connected to their environment and when arapaima populations began to decline in the late 1990s Rupununi communities stepped into action to conserve this species. With support from the government regulations were placed to protect arapaima. Despite these efforts illegal harvesting still impacted arapaima populations. To better patrol and monitor arapaima populations communities began a counting system and collaborated with scientists to initiate the first every radio-telemetry project tracking arapaima. This study resulted in a better understanding of arapaima's movement patterns in the Rewa River drainage, which allowed them to strategically prevent poachers from decimating arapaima populations and potentially create a new protected area.

Lesley de Souza (Primary Presenter/Author), Field Museum of Natural History, ldesouza@fieldmuseum.org;


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5/20/2019  |   14:45 - 15:00   |  151 DEF

DO RACE, GENDER, AND EDUCATION INFLUENCE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN STORMWATER MANAGEMENT? Public participation in urban water management is integral to stream conservation. Public engagement in stormwater management, in particular, is challenging due to the long history of water governance by technical experts. As awareness of broader societal needs of water increases, stormwater management shifts towards decentralized infrastructure and a participatory approach to conservation. Hence, it is critical that we understand factors that influence citizens’ participation in water management. While there is strong evidence that attitudes and norms influence proenvironmental behaviors, the influence of social structural factors on proenvironmental behavior is indeterminate. Our primary interest is to examine differences, if any, in peoples’ willingness to participate in stormwater management based on their race, gender, and education. We analyzed a survey of 400 Charlotte residents and performed regressions to test for influences of race, gender, and education on willingness to participate. We found that 1) racially marginalized groups were consistently more willing to participate in stream volunteer programs and pay more in stormwater fees but the explanatory power was weak, 2) education and gender were not significant, and 3) environmental concern was a significant and strong influence on willingness to participate.

Rachel Scarlett (Primary Presenter/Author), Purdue University, rscarlet@purdue.edu;


Mangala Subramaniam (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Purdue University, msubrama@purdue.edu;


Sara McMillan (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Iowa State University, swmcmill@iastate.edu;


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5/20/2019  |   15:00 - 15:15   |  151 DEF

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: ECOLOGICAL AND SOCIO-CULTURAL REQUIREMENTS FOR WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND FOOD PRODUCTION IN NORTHERN AUSTRALIA The wet-dry tropics in northern Australia cover about 25% of the country but contain more than 50% of the country’s water resources. Recent studies have highlighted the potential to increase in the nation’s irrigated land by 50% by developing the water resources of northern Australia. This has stimulated great interest in the potential of northern Australia as a “food bowl”. However, research over the past decade has provided new information on the ecological and socio-cultural values of the water in these rivers. We summarise the recent studies which reveal that the water in these rivers is already being used to support healthy river ecosystems, Indigenous livelihoods, and recreation and commercial fisheries. This food production is not well recognised, is not valued and is therefore easily traded-off. We argue that re-framing the debate around northern development to include consideration of all components of the food production systems in these catchments could help to inform a sustainable future for the regions water resources.

Michael Douglas (Primary Presenter/Author), University of Western Australia & Charles Darwin University, michael.douglas@uwa.edu.au;


Sue Jackson (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Australian Rivers Institute and Griffith University, sue.jackson@griffith.edu.au;


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5/20/2019  |   15:15 - 15:30   |  151 DEF

USING TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE TO PROTECT WETLANDS: THE SWINOMISH TRIBE’S WETLANDS CULTURAL ASSESSMENT PROJECT Traditional wetland physical assessments do not adequately identify tribal cultural values of wetlands and thus not adequately protecting for cultural uses. The Swinomish Wetlands Cultural Assessment Project has developed a cultural module that can be incorporated into wetland assessments to better inform wetland protections. Local native knowledge was gathered about the traditional uses of 99 plant species. A cultural module was developed based on the presence of plants in several use categories including: construction, ceremonial, subsistence, medicinal, common use, plant rarity, and place of value for each wetland. The combined score of the cultural and physical modules provides an overall wetland score that relates to proscribed buffer protection widths through the Tribe’s wetland protection law. We hope this innovative method can serve as a model in combining traditional cultural values with scientific methods to help promote the breath of knowledge our ancestors possessed into modern practical environmental protection.

Todd Mitchell (Primary Presenter/Author), Swinomish Tribe, tmitchell@swinomish.nsn.us;


Nicole Casper (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Swinomish Tribe, ncasper@swinomish.nsn.us;


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