DISES:Restoration of a southwestern cultural keystone species: Integrating socio-ecological systems to predict resilience of traditional acorn harvest by western Apache communities

疾病：西南文化关键物种的恢复：整合社会生态系统来预测西部阿帕奇社区传统橡子收获的恢复力

• 批准号: 2206810
• 负责人: Sara Souther
• 金额: $ 146万
• 依托单位: Northern Arizona University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-03-15 至 2028-02-29
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2206810&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISES; Restoration; southwestern; cultural; keystone

For many Native American communities, spiritual and cultural activities rely on natural resources that provide food, dyes, medicines, and materials for traditional crafts. In the southwestern US, western Apache people use Emory oak acorns (Chi-chil) to cook traditional or ceremonial foods. For thousands of years, Apache Tribes managed key processes in oak woodlands, moving acorns around the landscape, shaping fire patterns, and hunting wildlife that feed on acorns and young plants. Similarly, oak forests supported cultural practices, provided nutritious food, and encouraged families to meet, giving elders the opportunity to teach new generations about traditional life ways. For these reasons, the health of both Apache communities and oak woodlands are linked. The relationship between western Apache Tribes and Emory oaks was disrupted after most Apache people were moved to reservations in the 1800s. Now, Emory oaks are declining due to factors like drought, which are increasing in severity due to climate change. At the same time, fewer young Apache Tribal members harvest acorns than in the past. By examining patterns hidden in the DNA and tree rings of Emory oak, combined with the knowledge of tribal elders, researchers, and tribal members piece together key aspects of the traditional relationship between Apache people and oaks. Lessons from the past combined with an understanding of modern oak woodlands allows researchers to develop strategies to better conserve oaks, and in doing so, support Apache traditions related to acorn harvest. The project will contribute to the training of Indigenous scholars by reaching out to undergraduate interns and graduate fellows at historically Indigenous learning institutions. Broder impacts will also arise from a novel mentorship program that includes Tribal professionals and/or elders on student advising teams to foster a supportive learning environment, increase student retention, and integrate traditional ecological knowledge into western scientific knowledge frameworks. The research will support tribal youth initiatives and intergenerational knowledge transfer, and it will curate sociological and ecological information to ensure persistence of regional Indigenous knowledge. For thousands of years the Apache people influenced the oak ecosystems, by moving acorns around the landscape, altering patterns of disturbance like fire regimes, and affecting wildlife consumption of acorns and seedlings. When Apache communities were relocated onto reservations, traditional management and knowledge of these oak woodlands was largely lost. Today, oak populations are declining, and fewer Apache youth practice traditional harvest. In the case of Emory oaks, climate change drives habitats to cooler or wetter areas, sometimes away from tribal lands, and intensifies disturbances like drought and fire that can destroy traditional gathering sites. To address this problem, this research reconstructs key components of the past Emory oak-western Apache system using Apache oral history and ecological messages from the past. Ecological Data will be collected from tree rings and genetic sampling. The researchers will integrate this historical information into models, in combination with data describing current ecological function and cultural practices using multi-paradigm modeling techniques. These analytical methods will integrate social and ecological variables, flows, and feedbacks within complex socio-ecological systems and advance socio- ecological modeling, which necessitates the incorporation of disparate data types into quantitative frameworks to explore emergent system properties.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

对于许多美洲原住民社区来说，精神和文化活动依赖于提供食物、染料、药物和传统工艺材料的自然资源。在美国西南部，西部阿帕奇人使用埃默里橡树橡子（Chi-chil）烹饪传统或仪式食物。数千年来，阿帕奇部落管理着橡树林地的关键过程，在景观中移动橡子，塑造火灾模式，并狩猎以橡子和幼苗为食的野生动物。同样，橡树林支持文化习俗，提供营养食品，鼓励家庭聚会，让长者有机会向新一代传授传统生活方式。出于这些原因，阿帕奇社区和橡树林地的健康状况是相互联系的。在19世纪，大多数阿帕奇人被迁移到保留地后，西部阿帕奇部落和埃默里橡树之间的关系被破坏了。现在，埃默里橡树正在下降，由于干旱等因素，这是由于气候变化日益严重。与此同时，年轻的阿帕奇部落成员比过去更少收获橡子。通过研究埃默里橡树的DNA和年轮中隐藏的模式，结合部落长老的知识，研究人员和部落成员拼凑出了阿帕奇人和橡树之间传统关系的关键方面。从过去的经验教训结合对现代橡树林地的理解，使研究人员能够制定战略，以更好地保护橡树，并在这样做，支持阿帕奇传统有关橡子收获。该项目将通过接触历史上土著学习机构的本科实习生和研究生研究员，促进土著学者的培训。更广泛的影响也将产生从一个新的导师计划，包括部落的专业人士和/或长者对学生的建议团队，以促进支持性的学习环境，提高学生的保留，并将传统的生态知识融入西方科学知识框架。该研究将支持部落青年倡议和代际知识转移，并将策划社会学和生态信息，以确保区域土著知识的持久性。数千年来，阿帕奇人通过在景观周围移动橡子，改变火灾制度等干扰模式，并影响野生动物对橡子和幼苗的消费，影响了橡树生态系统。当阿帕契人社区搬迁到保留地时，这些橡树林地的传统管理和知识在很大程度上消失了。今天，橡树的数量正在下降，越来越少的阿帕奇青年实行传统的收获。在埃默里橡树的情况下，气候变化驱使栖息地转向凉爽或潮湿的地区，有时远离部落土地，并加剧干旱和火灾等干扰，这些干扰可能会破坏传统的采集地点。为了解决这个问题，本研究重建过去的埃默里橡树西部阿帕奇系统的关键组成部分，阿帕奇口述历史和生态信息从过去。生态数据将从树木年轮和遗传取样中收集。研究人员将这些历史信息整合到模型中，并结合使用多范式建模技术描述当前生态功能和文化实践的数据。这些分析方法将在复杂的社会生态系统中整合社会和生态变量、流量和反馈，并推进社会生态建模，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查进行评估来支持的搜索.

项目成果

Integrating traditional ecological knowledge into US public land management: Knowledge gaps and research priorities

将传统生态知识纳入美国公共土地管理：知识差距和研究重点

• DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2023.988126
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
• 影响因子: 3
• 作者: Souther, Sara;Colombo, Sarah;Lyndon, Nanebah N.
• 通讯作者: Lyndon, Nanebah N.