Brook lampreys of life: towards holistic monitoring of boreal aquatic habitats using ‘subtle signs’ and oral histories

Abstract

Brook lampreys of life: towards holistic monitoring of boreal aquatic habitats using 'subtle signs' and oral histories Version: final draft

How to know about waters? Finnish traditional knowledge related to waters and implications for management reforms

“…Mustonen (2013) shows how oral histories were able to detect and convey baselines of a large-scale restoration of a lake. Mustonen and Tossavainen (2018) demonstrate that subtle signs are important and may yield valuable ecosystem data and discoveries when TEK has a safe and understanding context. Of special Puruvesi TEK remains mostly communal, shared and collective as opposed to the individualised knowledge of the Western Finnish professional fishermen and the household fishing knowledge in Jukajärvi.…”

“…In this case we seek to understand and contextualize a large number of traditional knowledge entries over a decade and deduce results from an altered ecosystem as restoration activities are planned and executed based on both science and traditional knowledge (Kiiskinen 2013, Tossavainen 2014). Of special interest is the discovery of the brook lamprey in the catchment area and its importance as an ecological indicator (Mustonen and Tossavainen 2018).…”

“…Bream size is observed to go down while numbers trend up, and they are also understood to advance the eutrophication processes through their feeding patterns. Of special importance is the discovery of brook lamprey in the Kissapuro stream in the Jukajärvi catchment area (Mustonen and Tossavainen 2018) using 'subtle signs'. This is a major indicator species for ecosystem health, and therefore meaningful in surveys of a damaged catchment.…”

Towards a shared understanding of Arctic climate change and urgency in Alaska

“…By necessity this requires methodological reform, immersing ourselves in the available evidence and perspectives over time and with necessary context. In Finland, Mustonen and Tossavainen (2018) worked with local communities to detect “subtle signs” that emerged only when the context, the safety of sharing observations and the openness of scientific research all had merged, enabling the acceptance (by the receiver) of the message (from the communicator on their own terms) in order to understand either in part or in whole a new fact, reality or change . We build here on the work of Macdonald (2000) and Mustonen and Tossavainen (2018) to position the knowledge shared by Elders such as Stanton Katchatag first into an unbroken Indigenous engagement with the sea and land and second to highlight the subtle signs that emerged early on that then escalated into the present system‐wide change that is altering the structure of the Bering Sea and associated socio‐ecological systems (Huntington et al, 2020).…”

The Concept, Practice, Application, and Results of Locally Based Monitoring of the Environment

“…It is increasingly recognized that local community members who may not qualify as experts in academic terms can be very knowledgeable about local resources (Zhao et al 2016 , Mustonen and Tossavainen 2018 ). Moreover, local community members have an important role in the sustainable use of natural resources (Garnett et al 2018 , O'Bryan et al 2020 ).…”