Historical Indigenous Land-Use Explains Plant Functional Trait Diversity

Abstract

Human land-use legacies have long-term effects on plant community composition and ecosystem function. While ancient and historical land use is known to affect biodiversity patterns, it is unknown whether such legacies affect other plant community properties such as the diversity of functional traits. Functional traits are a critical tool for understanding ecological communities because they give insights into community assembly processes as well as potential species interactions and other ecosystem functions.Here, we present the first systematic study evaluating how plant functional trait distributions and functional diversity are affected by ancient and historical Indigenous forest management in the Pacific Northwest. We compare forest garden ecosystems -managed perennial fruit and nut communities associated exclusively with archaeological village sites -with surrounding periphery conifer forests. We find that forest gardens have substantially greater plant and functional trait diversity than periphery forests even more than 150 years after management ceased. Forests managed by Indigenous peoples in the past now provide diverse resources and habitat for animals and other pollinators and are more rich than naturally forested ecosystems. Although ecological studies rarely incorporate Indigenous land-use legacies, the positive effects of Indigenous land use on contemporary functional and taxonomic diversity that we observe provide some of the strongest evidence yet that Indigenous management practices are tied to ecosystem health and resilience.

A Systematic Review on the Local Wisdom of Indigenous People in Nature Conservation

“…Furthermore, indigenous people are skilled at forest replantation strategies such as selecting unique species that will aid them and the forest in surviving natural disasters such as drought, flood, and storms. According to Armstrong et al [84], indigenous peoples recognized the regulation service provided by certain species long before modern society.…”

Shifting narratives, recognizing resilience: new anti-oppressive and decolonial approaches to ethnobotanical research with Indigenous communities in Canada

“…One way of understanding the interplay between cultural plant management systems and plant adaptability in an Indigenous context is to shift away from the concept of "disturbance" and move towards the understanding of how upholding cultural "relationships" between plants and people ultimately complements the adaptability and resilience of plants (Anderson 2005;Deur 2005;Turner 2014). There are many examples of relationships between Indigenous Peoples and culturally important plants that are characterized by being mutually beneficial including the previous examples of estuarine root gardens, blue camas gardens, berry gardens, orchard gardens and more (Beckwith 2004;Joseph 2012Joseph , 2020Armstrong et al 2021). Plants can adjust their growth strategies in response to Indigenous plant management practices which include but are not limited to: weeding, burning, tilling, transplanting, relocation, pruning, companion planting and more (Deur 2005;Kimmerer 2013;Turner 2014).…”

“…Plants can adjust their growth strategies in response to Indigenous plant management practices which include but are not limited to: weeding, burning, tilling, transplanting, relocation, pruning, companion planting and more (Deur 2005;Kimmerer 2013;Turner 2014). Plants are known to increase their productivity, enhance biodiversity and benefit overall ecosystem health when growing in culturally managed ecosystems (Turner 2007(Turner , 2020Armstrong et al 2021).…”

“…Indigenous plant foods and medicines strengthen physical, mental and emotional health, prevent illness and connect those in relationship with them to place in a profound and meaningful way 2014; Cuerrier et al 2015;Armstrong et al 2021). The scale and magnitude of the Indigenous management of ecosystems broadly, and plant foods and medicines specifically, is phenomenal, and includes in British Columbia, for example, cultivated blue camas gardens, productive coastal and estuarine root gardens, managed Pacific crab apple orchards, ancestral seaweed harvesting and drying locations and wapato gardens (Turner 1999(Turner , 2005Turner et al 2000;Garibaldi and Turner 2004).…”

Seeking a More Ethical Future for Ethnobiology Publishing: A 40-Year Perspective from Journal of ethnobiology

“…and concerns about social and environmental justice (e.g., Brondizio 2017;Green et al 2015;Lelé and Norgaard 2005). Since much ethnobiological research situates comfortably within this broadened vision, the research world is slowly waking up to the value of ethnobiology (e.g., Saslis-Lagoudakis and Clarke 2013), including the deep-time perspective that ethnobiology can bring to many discussions around conservation and sustainability issues (e.g., Armstrong et al 2021;Briggs et al 2006;Molnár and Babai 2021). All this means that JoE is no longer the only journal curating high-quality ethnobiological content.…”