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Invasive plants threaten natural areas, yet Acadia National Park, Maine, USA has been successful in managing invasive plant populations for over three decades. However, rapid environmental change and increasing pressure from encroaching invasive plants may adversely affect the success of ongoing management. This article presents an overview of invasive plant management in Acadia National Park, highlighting lessons learned in over 30 years of active management. Acadia provides a valuable case study for other protected areas, sharing many features with protected areas globally. We offer recommendations for protected area managers in the face of rapid environmental change. Deliberate and continuous management actions by park resource staff starting in the late 1980s and expanding in the mid‐2000s have resulted in extremely low incidence of invasion within Acadia. This success has resulted from effort centred around a science‐based and adaptive approach to management, early detection, and rapid response. Strong partnerships have ensured the continuation of this work. Park staff continue to reduce invasive species populations to <1% cover, monitor managed areas to track treatment success, and re‐treat upon reinvasion. However, total eradication is rare and continued management of new and re‐invasions is expensive and challenging. Maintaining effective invasive plant management is likely to become more difficult as climate change interacts with other stressors in protected areas. Synthesis and applications: Responding to these changes requires articulating desired and realistic future conditions for resources in protected areas, then using actions such as invasive plant removal and native plant revegetation to achieve goals. Long‐term management through a flexible experimental approach is critical to successful invasive plant management. Both Western and Indigenous science are needed to inform responses to the multiple and interacting global change stressors, and management is needed to advance scientific understanding of ecosystem and species responses to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), described as the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the ecosystem, has always been part of Indigenous communities and their daily lives; however, TEK has progressively been incorporated into the academic and professional field of North American wildlife management and ecology despite its historical domination by Western scientific attitudes, knowledge, and methods. The objective of this note is to provide an overview of such progression from the standpoint of the first author, an Indigenous professional trained in a Western scientific paradigm. More specifically, the paper categorizes the history and the current state of TEK in the wildlife management profession while providing insights for the future of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial introducing a new special issue in the journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge about the use of the term "Indigenous science" (IS) is valuable to technical and scientific communication in the larger goal of exposing colonial, appropriative legacies. Using rhetorical content analysis, we analyze 61 instances of IS in US-based news articles and find that IS is often represented as an ongoing activity, connected to food production, and related to higher education activities. However, IS is rarely defined and Indigenous people are not always cited/quoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do cosmological visions unsettle animistic and scientific ways of approaching the world? Whereas 'cosmovisions' have the narrow meaning of 'worldviews', people unleash new 'cosmological visions' through the creative act of relating to—and simultaneously dismantling—their constructs of the world at large. Drawing on my ethnography of the Nuosu, a Tibeto-Burman group of Southwest China, I show how an ethnohistorian and a priest set out, at the request of a local official, to address deforestation with a cosmological vision built upon animistic, indigenous scientific, social scientific, and natural scientific sensibilities. Holding sacrifices to land spirits across the Liangshan mountains of Yunnan province in the mid-2000s, they urged Nuosu to refrain from cutting down trees. Many Nuosu in the lumber trade responded with a counter vision that showed respect for land spirits but an unprecedented detachment from the world in animistic-cum-scientific terms. Cosmological visions like these proliferate among Nuosu, encouraging them to experiment with everything from testing the patience of land spirits to undercutting the science behind China's forest protection policies. Here, creativity opens up new ways of envisioning indigenous autonomy and what it means to be alive to the world as an animist, a scientist, or both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics of marine systems at decadal scales are notoriously hard to predict—hence references to this timescale as the "grey zone" for ocean prediction. Nevertheless, decadal-scale prediction is a rapidly developing field with an increasing number of applications to help guide ocean stewardship and sustainable use of marine environments. Such predictions can provide industry and managers with information more suited to support planning and management over strategic timeframes, as compared to seasonal forecasts or long-term (century-scale) predictions. The most significant advances in capability for decadal-scale prediction over recent years have been for ocean physics and biogeochemistry, with some notable advances in ecological prediction skill. In this paper, we argue that the process of "lighting the grey zone" by providing improved predictions at decadal scales should also focus on including human dimensions in prediction systems to better meet the needs and priorities of end users. Our paper reviews information needs for decision-making at decadal scales and assesses current capabilities for meeting these needs. We identify key gaps in current capabilities, including the particular challenge of integrating human elements into decadal prediction systems. We then suggest approaches for overcoming these challenges and gaps, highlighting the important role of co-production of tools and scenarios, to build trust and ensure uptake with end users of decadal prediction systems. We also highlight opportunities for combining narratives and quantitative predictions to better incorporate the human dimension in future efforts to light the grey zone of decadal-scale prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics of marine systems at decadal scales are notoriously hard to predict—hence references to this timescale as the "grey zone" for ocean prediction. Nevertheless, decadal-scale prediction is a rapidly developing field with an increasing number of applications to help guide ocean stewardship and sustainable use of marine environments. Such predictions can provide industry and managers with information more suited to support planning and management over strategic timeframes, as compared to seasonal forecasts or long-term (century-scale) predictions. The most significant advances in capability for decadal-scale prediction over recent years have been for ocean physics and biogeochemistry, with some notable advances in ecological prediction skill. In this paper, we argue that the process of "lighting the grey zone" by providing improved predictions at decadal scales should also focus on including human dimensions in prediction systems to better meet the needs and priorities of end users. Our paper reviews information needs for decision-making at decadal scales and assesses current capabilities for meeting these needs. We identify key gaps in current capabilities, including the particular challenge of integrating human elements into decadal prediction systems. We then suggest approaches for overcoming these challenges and gaps, highlighting the important role of co-production of tools and scenarios, to build trust and ensure uptake with end users of decadal prediction systems. We also highlight opportunities for combining narratives and quantitative predictions to better incorporate the human dimension in future efforts to light the grey zone of decadal-scale prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous peoples' diversity and intricate knowledge systems rooted in place-based ecologies have the potential to dismantle institutional barriers and structural disparities, finding relevant ways to reinforce climate justice in their communities. Climate vulnerabilities of some Indigenous communities are being offset by the strength of elder's knowledge, input, and decision-making into valuable adaptation and mitigation strategies. The wisdom of Indigenous elders provides a unique cultural perspective to the changing climate, which may better help characterize the effects of environmental shifts for a more relatable approach to communicating long-term impacts and initiating action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual reality offers tremendous opportunities for Indigenous communities to experience themselves inside unreal settings not available in the real world. However, virtual reality as a technology is complex involving both an internal and external connection that is usually dependent on one's attention shifting from the physical Indigenous environment to the virtual reality environment. Any deviance from heritage or known Indigenous relationships may result in a disconnected drift between the traditional and unreal digital world if wrongly presented. The concern virtual reality maybe replacing the traditional identity of users with a digital version of themselves. At the centre of this problem is the technology itself, not being exposed to Indigenous concepts during the construction of any virtual reality IT artefact? This study applies a multidisciplinary approach to tackle a key issue for virtual reality by locating a version of Indigenous identity of self within a digital setting during the construction of the virtual reality artefact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mid-2000s, the term Two-Eyed Seeing was introduced by Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall to suggest the complementarity of Western and Indigenous sciences. The concept has since been adopted and applied in a diverse range of research. This article examines the latent tension in Two-Eyed Seeing between a desire to foster dialogue—in order, ideally, to generate a trans-cultural "third space" of understanding—and the denial or suppression of major contradictions between predominantly wholistic Indigenous and predominantly reductionist Eurocentric worldviews. Examples are considered of both fruitful Two-Eyed Seeing collaborations and areas where antithetical approaches cannot be combined, for reasons that a more critical application of the Two-Eyed Seeing concept could help make clear. Conversely, revisioned in this way, Two-Eyed Seeing can deepen appreciation of those areas of Western science, such as the delicate empiricism of Goethean science, authentically resonant with Indigenous approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, an increasing recognition of the importance of ecosystem-based management (EBM), Indigenous resource management (IRM), and Indigenous-led research and management is emerging; yet, case studies within scholarly literature illustrating comprehensive application of these theories and philosophies are scarce. We present the collaborative management model for the He'eia National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) as a contemporary Indigenous Community and Conserved Area (ICCA) that has synergistically operationalized these principles, as well as one that approaches research as a reciprocal collaboration with the Indigenous people and local community (IPLC) of place. The He'eia NERR was designated in 2017 through a process led by IPLC members in Hawai'i. This research framework is aimed at informing EBM within social-ecological systems. It, therefore, serves as an example of a program designed to demonstrate and provide practical solutions for adaptive resource management. The framework of the He'eia NERR embraces the values, perspectives, and IRM strategies that have been foundational for the people of the Pacific to thrive sustainably in the context of limited resources for millennia. As a program, the He'eia NERR aims to build bridges between coexisting worldviews as a means of informing policy in the realms of conservation and sustainability. We do this by weaving together conventional and Indigenous science to collaboratively develop research and collaboratively produce new knowledge. We examine these issues through the lens of holistic ecosystem services that consider both the reciprocal benefits that humans provide to nature as well as the full range of existential benefits that humans gain from nature. Research collaborations between the He'eia NERR and its partners (University of Hawai'i, state and federal agencies, and Indigenous-led NGOs operating in the community) are grounded in Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) with applications that will guide a future of enhanced ecosystem services in a changing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While 'place-making' is a productive concept for many scholars, I consider land relations and research through Indigenous (re)making by narrating embodied and experiential ethnographic approaches. Through (re)making, one reimagines ethnography and ethnographic practices with Indigenous land and Indigenous land practices that work to contribute to forms of decolonial healing and Indigenous survivance. In consideration of the wounds among multiple bodies, not only humans, for which large-scale settler-colonial agricultural plantations in Hawai'i and the Sonoran Desert are responsible, this work discusses possibilities for (re)making toward healing with land. Song, poetry, and story are the agents who make such engagements with many more-than-(but including)-human collaborators translatable. As such, it asks how an understanding of ethnography in the contexts of Indigenous science and technology studies that cares about environmental research might shift the ways in which methodologies are formed and 'data' is shaped. And it asks how ethnographic practitioners might better affirm the plights, journeys, cycles, relations, and encounters that more-than-human beings experience, remember, hold, and live. This is one contribution among many that attend to the variety of ways in which ethnographic texts are formed and understood in Indigenous research practices that challenge Euro-Western genres and structures of knowledge production, and how/with whom such knowledges and practices are co-created. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID pandemic, researchers considered whether conferences might change in permanent ways, perhaps to be held remotely or otherwise become more inclusive. The proceedings of two large scientific meetings—the International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB) and the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America (ESA)—held in July and August 2023 suggest that scientific meetings have changed, but not in all the ways many thought they would. Namely, the meetings were held in-person, were expensive to attend, and contributed to the emission of greenhouse gases as scientists flew long distances to the meeting venues. Both meetings, however, emphasized diversity, inclusion, and the human context of science much more than we had seen at previous ecology and conservation conferences. The meetings provided excellent opportunities to learn about new projects and directions in ecology and conservation, and their emphasis on diversity, Indigenous science, and working with local communities brought new voices and perspectives and added to the vibrancy and quality of the meetings. • During COVID researchers considered whether conferences might become more inclusive. • Two large scientific meetings in 2023 suggest that scientific meetings have changed. • Both meetings emphasized diversity, inclusion, and the human context of science. • The meetings provided excellent opportunities to learn about new projects and directions in ecology and conservation. • The meetings brought new perspectives, which added to the quality of the meetings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of work illustrates that community-based archaeology can contribute in valuable and meaningful ways to communities, including helping individuals and groups to heal from historical trauma. Yet the current political climate makes it challenging, even dangerous at times, to engage in such work. In what is being called the 'post-truth' era, there is concern that science is under attack, and I argue that the threat is heightened for Indigenous science. For Indigenous communities and archaeologists, efforts to work in partnership to bring Indigenous perspectives into public view can make one a target for bullying, aggression, and hostility. This can be damaging and have serious negative repercussions including producing further trauma for communities and individuals. Drawing on Indigenous epistemologies, I propose a model of 'braiding knowledge' to create space for multiple ways of knowing that complement each other, arguing that such symbiosis is necessary for our contemporary forms of knowledge production, particularly in the current political climate. I provide the example of Archibald's approach to 'Indigenous storywork' as one method for archaeologists to explore, presenting examples drawn from research and teaching contexts to demonstrate the potential of arts-based research methods, such as graphic narratives, augmented reality, and animation. I propose these methods of storywork as worthy of further exploration by archaeologists in the current divisive political climate and as we face a world in crisis as one way of increasing science literacy. I argue that they have the capacity to 'mobilize knowledge', allowing archaeologists to reach diverse groups, creating space for knowledge exchange and connecting across differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: native american; american indian; pacific islander; indigenous science; traditional ecological knowledge; indigenous knowledge; epistemologies; community-based participatory research; community engagement; research framework; gene drive; stem education EN native american american indian pacific islander indigenous science traditional ecological knowledge indigenous knowledge epistemologies community-based participatory research community engagement research framework gene drive stem education 137 140 4 06/15/20 20190701 NES 190701 Science, at its core, is knowledge systematically gained through repeated observations about the world around us. Thus, Indigenous science is the process by which Indigenous people construct and disseminate empirical knowledge of their environment. As approaches to gathering knowledge, Indigenous science may arise independently of Western science, but the two are not antithetical. [Extracted from the article]

Universalists believe that indigenous knowledge should not be studied since it excludes non-indigenous people. A qualitative method was used to explore the impact of lesson study on a science teacher at a secondary school. The research indicated that lesson study has positive impacts on teachers professionally by improving their science content knowledge, developing their teaching strategy and skill, enhancing their interest in working collaboratively, and creating a sense of an indigenous paradigm. The four categories of impact are interrelated and mutually influential. Through a lesson study, a relationship of mutual trust is well established in an indigenous learning community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is increasingly being applied in the field of wildlife conservation, yet conceptualizations of what TEK is and views regarding whether TEK is science remain diverse and, at times, conflicting in the TEK discourse. Many practical and philosophical challenges come with the pursuit of TEK initiatives, potentially leaving wildlife researchers and managers wondering how to conduct projects effectively and also in a culturally sensitive manner. The consideration of historical and philosophical contexts that affect tribal communities may be beneficial in such cases. I provide a historical context by presenting chronological events of Indian Country in the United States as related to Federal Indian Law in parallel with the development of wildlife management as a profession. Additionally, I explore the philosophical context of TEK as science by discussing Western and Indigenous scientific paradigms and their linkages to TEK. Finally, given these contexts, I provide several suggestions for developing culturally sensitive approaches to TEK research in the wildlife field. © 2018 The Wildlife Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Native/Aboriginal students are underrepresented in Western science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), due in part to perceived cultural irrelevance. Yet many Native people continue to engage in Indigenous science, such as through traditional medicine and food systems. Recently it was shown that Aboriginal university students are significant users of natural health products (NHP) and learn about NHP from Elders. Thus, in post-secondary educational settings, the presence of Elders may positively impact Native students' interest in science-related topics. At the First Nations University of Canada, partnering of STEM-trained faculty with Elders occurs in community-based research and education endeavours. This paper highlights these efforts, which include a traditional medicine room teaching laboratory. Medicine walks with Elders have been videotaped and used in live and online classes. Workshops have led to the development and publication of traditional foods and medicine booklets. A prairie medicine wheel garden on campus serves to reinforce Aboriginal values in the appreciation of native prairie plants. An evidence-based ethnomedicine course engages STEM-trained PhDs and Indigenous science Elders as co-educators in the online environment. In these applications, Elders share cultural knowledge to ensure relevance to Natives and to positively impact student interest in science. Future directions include a pedagogical experiment to determine the impact of Elders as educators upon post-secondary student interest in STEM. This ongoing work should facilitate a discourse regarding Aboriginal science education, and illuminates downstream policy implications regarding science literacy, Native retention in science, Indigenous science, and the role of Elders in post-secondary STEM education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Students in rural and urban areas in Tanzania, and elsewhere in Africa, continue to have limited or lack access to culturally and employment-relevant science education. The current case study, a 2007–2009 examination of barriers to the reform movement of science education in Tanzania, uses data from interviews, classroom observations, document analysis, and a survey questionnaire. Areas of interest included overcrowding, lack of textbooks, a general low or inadequate access to education, irrelevant curricula, poor learning outcomes, and weak links to general employment options. The study discusses these barriers and their influence in thwarting implementation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in Tanzania. The totality of data constitutes a case study that results in proposing an instructional model called iSPACES (which stands for Innovation, Science, Practicals, Application, Conceptualization, Entrepreneurship and Systems), that encompasses core principles of science, systems thinking, and entrepreneurship. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article shares some of the experiences of an integrative science team based at Cape Breton University, Canada. Integrative science is deined as "bringing together Indigenous and Western scientiic knowledge and ways of knowing" and the team includes Mi'kmaq Elders and educators, Cheryl Bartlett and her Research Associates. Together we worked to rekindle the Mi'kmaq Sky Story, Muin and the Seven Hunters, to produce a DVD of the story as well as a children's book, and then to share it with people throughout Canada and the world. We offer insights into the manner in which night sky stories engender interconnectiveness1 and interdependability2 through their cultural, scientiic and ecological teachings and so help to revitalise the culture and the individual by feeding all aspects of the human experience (spiritual, emotional, physical and cognitional). We explore the concept of storywork3, with emphasis on the relationship between storyteller and listener as a story is told, as well as considering the multi-layered aspect of Indigenous stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the earliest days of the European Enlightenment, Western people have sought to remove themselves from nature and the ‘savage’ non-European masses. This distancing has relied upon various intellectual techniques and theories. The social construction of nature precipitated by Enlightenment thinking separated culture from nature, culture being defined as civilised European society. This separation has served to displace the Native voice within the colonial construction of Nature. This separation has also served as one thread in the long modern ‘disenchantment’ of Westerners and nature, a ‘disenchantment’ described so adeptly by Adorno and Horkheimer (1973 ). Unfortunately though, this displacement is not only a historical event. The absence of modern Native voices within discussions of nature perpetuates the colonial displacement which blossomed following the Enlightenment. In his book entitled, Native Science, Gregory Cajete describes Native science as ‘a lived and creative relationship with the natural world ... [an] intimate and creative participation [which] heightens awareness of the subtle qualities of a place’ (2000, 20). Perhaps place offers a ‘common ground’ between Western and Indigenous thought; a ‘common ground’ upon which to re/write the meta-narrative of Enlightenment thought. This paper will seek to aid in the re/placement of modern Native voices within constructions of nature and seek to begin healing the disenchantment caused through the rupture between culture and nature in Western science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the current state of development of Mäori science curriculum policy, and the roles that various discourses have played in shaping these developments. These discussions provide a background for suggestions about a possible future direction, and the presentation of a new concept for Mäori science education (note that in this paper this phrase refers to science that incorporates Mäori language and/or knowledge, rather than Mäori participation in science education). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: Indigenous Science; Indigenizing; Ecology EN Indigenous Science Indigenizing Ecology N.PAG N.PAG 1 11/20/20 20200101 NES 200101 B I b ndigenous peoples are the original stewards of their native and ancestral lands, having maintained the balances of their ecosystems since time immemorial. Climate change impacts Indigenous peoples' culture-nature nexus, furthering the injustices they face ([14]). For example, the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil has calculated a 9.1% mortality rate among Indigenous peoples who have contracted COVID-19 ([7]). Because they rely heavily on natural resources for cultural resilience and survival, when natural resources are impacted as a result of climate change, Indigenous peoples are also impacted. [Extracted from the article]