Documenting Indigenous Knowledge to Identify and Understand the Stressors of Muskoxen (<i>Ovibos moschatu</i>s) in Nunavut, Canada

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge provides valuable information on wildlife health and ecology, contributing to a broader understanding of the patterns and phenomena observed. Muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus), an important species for the subsistence and culture of Inuit communities in the Arctic, are increasingly exposed to diverse stressors linked to rapid climate change and other anthropogenic changes. Identifying and understanding these stressors and their impacts on muskoxen will inform management, health monitoring, and future research. To achieve this understanding, we documented Indigenous knowledge through seven semi-structured small group interviews, each involving two to three purposely chosen muskox harvesters in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, Canada to (1) establish the characteristics of healthy muskoxen, (2) determine the factors considered to impact muskoxen, and (3) understand, from an Indigenous knowledge perspective, the results from a study on the sex, seasonal, and annual patterns of glucocorticoids (described as “stress hormones” for the purposes of the interviews) in muskox hair. Key outcomes include (1) a more holistic understanding of muskox health and what it encompasses, (2) recognition and exploration of a rich One Health perspective expressed by participants around factors influencing muskoxen in a changing world and highlighting the multiple socioecological connections, and (3) a broader comprehension of the glucocorticoid (stress) patterns measured in muskox hair, the various factors that influence them, and their interrelations. This study represents a meaningful advancement in the process of actively involving communities at all steps of the research and highlights the important contributions Indigenous knowledge can offer to the complex field of wildlife endocrinology research.

Supporting Inuit food sovereignty through collaborative research of an at-risk caribou herd

“…Caribou stability (e.g., the ability to adjust to shifts within the ecosystem) is then shown through their changing abundance, distribution, diseases, and predation. For Inuit, availability may relate to their seasonal harvesting, e.g., Kugluktukmiut harvest char in early summer (Falardeau et al, 2022), DU caribou in late summer/early fall on Victoria Island, DU caribou in late fall on the mainland (this paper), muskoxen in the winter (Di Francesco et al, 2021), and so on. Inuit adapt to these seasonal changes in availability by adjusting their harvesting locations, timing, and species, thus connecting Inuit availability to stability.…”

Comparative review of One Health and Indigenous approaches to wildlife research in Inuit Nunangat

“…This review also criticizes that the One Health interventions are purely a Western methodology with western definitions of health. Some recent literature documented Indigenous Knowledges in a wildlife health assessment and compared the knowledge that Inuit participants had shared in the study to that of a One Health approach, rather than recognizing it as demonstrating Indigenous worldviews [ 109 ]. These two papers touch on the similarities of One Health and Indigenous ways of understanding health and wellness, but their differences are not explored.…”

Genomic characterization and virulence gene profiling of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae isolated from widespread muskox mortalities in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

“…Understanding the drivers of the emergence and apparently high morbidity and mortality rates associated with the Arctic clone is one of the first steps in developing mitigation and management strategies. Considering the epidemiological triad, plausible explanatory factors for the observed mortalities associated with this pathogen include increased host susceptibility due to genetic bottlenecks [ 6 , 24 ] or increasing stressors [ 25 ]; changing environmental factors facilitating bacterial survival and transmission [ 26 , 27 ]; or increased pathogen virulence. Based on the unusually high mortality and rapidity of deaths in muskoxen infected with the Arctic clone, we hypothesize that this genotype contains unique virulence traits compared to other closely related isolates.…”