As the impacts of climate change are felt in Canada's North, researchers are working to understand what this means for eider ducks. The distinctive black and white seabird is a source of food, a commercial trade, and an important cultural focus for Inuit people.
Biology professor Christina Semeniuk, whose predictive ecology lab at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research has done significant work with seabirds in the past, is supporting Inuit communities in gathering knowledge about the ducks and how they are affected by a warming climate.
"Our mission with this project is to understand what Inuit communities need, not to map Southern research priorities on to them," says Dr. Semeniuk. "We are interweaving the tools of research as we understand them with diverse sources of biological information and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, localized and culturally relevant ways of knowing."
Conceptualized as a departure from the traditional academic mode of research, the project has the goal of being fully led by Inuit partners. Academic partners provide support, but the objectives and the methodologies are both defined by the Northern communities.
The team expects to learn much about eider ducks, but its goals go beyond data collection.
"Research has a lot to offer communities threatened by climate change, but there is a tradition of leading with our own needs and values, instead of letting the community lead," Semeniuk says. "The purpose of our work is to interweave our knowledge with theirs and form something new science that is for, and of, the people it impacts."
Learn more in the full article, "Eider ducks and Inuit-led research in Canada's North," published in the Research and Innovation in Action report.
