Nunavik anadromous Arctic char life histories, behaviour, and habitat use informed by both Inuit knowledge and western science: a year in Ungava Bay

Abstract

This study is a comprehensive documentation of anadromous Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) life history in Ungava Bay, Nunavik, Canada, through Inuit knowledge. Inuit experts shared their knowledge during semi-directed interviews and other occasions such as informal discussions and fieldwork. A contextualized synthesis of published western scientific literature is provided for the various life stages of Arctic char. The close year-round relationship Inuit have with Arctic char allows to set evidence of poorly described life history strategies in western literature and to reveal behaviours that, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, have not been documented so far. The connections and paralleling of Inuit knowledge and published studies about Arctic char informs western science with a more holistic understanding of Arctic char ecology. By bringing Inuit knowledge of Arctic char to the foreground, the present study highlights relevant research avenues for co-developed projects on Arctic char ecology.

Introducing a new special section—Indigenous Science and Practice in Ecology and Evolution

“…Combining TEK/LEK with other data sources can identify species range shifts (e.g. Service et al, 2014), climate impacts (Gagnon et al, 2020), and insights into behaviour and habitat use (Dubos et al, 2023). A growing community of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scientists, educators and community members recently gathered at the second Turtle Island Indigenous Science Conference (https:// event.…”

“…Combining TEK/LEK with other data sources can identify species range shifts (e.g. Service et al., 2014 ), climate impacts (Gagnon et al., 2020 ), and insights into behaviour and habitat use (Dubos et al., 2023 ). A growing community of Indigenous and non‐Indigenous scientists, educators and community members recently gathered at the second Turtle Island Indigenous Science Conference ( https://event.fourwaves.com/2024tiisc/pages ), held in atim kâ‐mihkosit (Red Dog) Urban Reserve and Star Blanket Cree Nation, in Treaty 4 Territory (Regina, Canada), to share Indigenous Science approaches to a diversity of topics in ecology and evolution and was informative for the authors of this editorial as we launch this special section.…”