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Cultural Keystone Species: Implications for Ecological Conservation and Restoration
Abstract
"Ecologists have long recognized that some species, by virtue of the key roles they play in the overall structure and functioning of an ecosystem, are essential to its integrity; these are known as keystone species. Similarly, in human cultures everywhere, there are plants and animals that form the contextual underpinnings of a culture, as reflected in their fundamental roles in diet, as materials, or in medicine. In addition, these species often feature prominently in the language, ceremonies, and narratives of native peoples and can be considered cultural icons. Without these 'cultural keystone species,'the societies they support would be completely different. An obvious example is western red-cedar (Thuja plicata) for Northwest Coast cultures of North America. Often prominent elements of local ecosystems, cultural keystone species may be used and harvested in large quantities and intensively managed for quality and productivity. Given that biological conservation and ecological restoration embody human cultures as crucial components, one approach that may improve success in overall conservation or restoration efforts is to recognize and focus on cultural keystone species. In this paper, we explore the concept of cultural keystone species, describe similarities to and differences from ecological keystone species, present examples from First Nations cultures of British Columbia, and discuss the application of this concept in ecological restoration and conservation initiatives."
... The cultural keystone species (CKS) concept (i.e. 'species that shape in a major way the cultural identity of a people' as defined by Garibaldi and Turner in 2004) has been proposed as part of a common framing for the multiple entangled relationships between species and the socioecological systems in which they exist. ...
... The CKS concept was inspired by Paine's (1969) use of the term 'ecological keystone' and it was first defined by Garibaldi and Turner (2004) as 'culturally salient species that shape in a major way the cultural identity of a people, as reflected in the fundamental roles these species have in their diet, materials, medicine, and/or spiritual practices'. Under this definition, the term CKS captures the relationships between specific societies or groups of people and their environment, through species that play outstanding roles in their culture. ...
... Further developing the CKS concept in biocultural stewardship has been hampered by at least three challenges: (1) the varying use of the concept by researchers, IP and LC, (2) geographical, cultural and/ or disciplinary biases in CKS studies and (3) ineffective bridging of the divide between academic research and on-the-ground implementation. The original definition by Garibaldi and Turner (2004) has received several criticisms (e.g. Davic, 2004;Nuñez & Simberloff, 2005;Platten & Henfrey, 2009 [Ellen, 2006]) have also emerged. ...
The cultural keystone species (CKS) concept (i.e. ‘species that shape in a major way the cultural identity of a people’ as defined by Garibaldi and Turner in 2004) has been proposed as part of a common framing for the multiple entangled relationships between species and the socioecological systems in which they exist. However, the blurred and prolific definitions of CKS hamper its univocal application. This work examines the current use of the term CKS to reconcile a definition and explore its practical applications for biocultural stewardship.
We ran a search for the words ‘cultural’ AND ‘keystone’ AND ‘species’. Our search was limited to peer‐reviewed articles published in English between 1994 and 2022 (inclusive) and was conducted using Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. We extracted and analysed bibliometric information as well as information on (i) the CKS components, (ii) humans' support for CKS and (iii) the definitions of CKS.
From the 313 selected documents, the CKS concept appears to be increasingly accepted, as evidenced by a growing corpus of literature. However, the absence of a systematic and precise way of documenting CKS precludes global cross‐cultural comparisons.
The geographical distribution of authors using the concept is biased. We found that 47% of all the CKS reported and 38% of the works identified in our review were located in North America.
Beyond ‘supporting identity’, several other of nature's contributions to people are associated with the CKS definitions. However, the contributions of the sociocultural group to the survival and conservation of the CKS (i.e. stewardship) are made explicit only in one‐third of the documents reviewed.
To advance biocultural stewardship as a conservation paradigm, we suggest (a) defining CKS as an indissoluble combination of a non‐human species and one or more sociocultural groups; (b) acknowledging that species and sociocultural group relations should be classified in a continuum, according to gradients of relationship intensity; and (c) explicitly acknowledging the reciprocal relationships between sociocultural groups and species.
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
... There has been a decline in the knowledge on working with wild food plants as generations become further detached from their culture and more integrated with the global and technologically connected world [112]. Along with the evidence of wild foods improving nutrition, it should be noted that they are also integral to the identity of many communities [113,114].There has been a decline of knowledge on wild foods and their stewardship, as generations become further detached from their land and culture and more integrated with the global and technologically connected world [113]. Along with the evidence of wild foods improving nutrition, it should be noted that they are also integral to the identity of many communities [114,115]. ...
... There has been a decline in the knowledge on working with wild food plants as generations become further detached from their culture and more integrated with the global and technologically connected world [112]. Along with the evidence of wild foods improving nutrition, it should be noted that they are also integral to the identity of many communities [113,114].There has been a decline of knowledge on wild foods and their stewardship, as generations become further detached from their land and culture and more integrated with the global and technologically connected world [113]. Along with the evidence of wild foods improving nutrition, it should be noted that they are also integral to the identity of many communities [114,115]. ...
Agroecology frameworks do not explicitly include nutrition, but nutrition is an outcome of many principles of agroecology, with growing evidence that agroecological interventions improve diet quality and nutrition. In this paper, we argue that more explicit attention to the importance of wild foods from diverse agroecological landscapes will further enhance the nutrition outcomes associated with agroecology. In rural landscapes around the world, wild foods provide nutrient-dense and culturally important foods that make significant contributions to the diet in some contexts and are culturally important and highly valued delicacies in others. Agroecological principles, science, and practice already support the maintenance of wild foods in food systems by highlighting ecological principles. These include low or no use of pesticides, landscape diversity, and maintenance of biodiversity, alongside social principles such as traditional knowledge and cultural practices. The focus in agroecology on working with traditional knowledge and cultural practices supports the preservation of traditional knowledge required to responsibly harvest and prepare wild foods. Centering landscape diversity and nutrition as outcomes of agroecology supports the continued use of wild foods and cultural knowledge, especially in rural communities around the globe. More explicit attention to wild foods in agroecological systems will further contribute to associated nutrition outcomes, while simultaneously promoting the maintenance of landscape diversity, biodiversity, preservation of cultural knowledge, and other ecological sound and socially just agricultural practices.
... For example, recent studies have shown that Haitians living in French Guiana continue to regularly use a significant number (94 species) of medicinal plants (15). Some of these, such as Mormordica charantia and Ricinus communis, can even be considered "keystone species" within the community (16). ...
Introduction
In French Guiana, a European territory in Guiana shield in the Amazon area, close to 40% of the current population was born abroad. In this context, it is important to listen to the experiences of migrants to better understand the difficulties encountered within the healthcare pathways. This is the aim of ANRS Parcours d’Haïti project, an epidemiological, biographical and socio-anthropological study conducted on a representative sample of the Haitian community in French Guiana and focusing on the social determinants of health.
Methodology
Within the framework of this study, the Infectious and Tropical Diseases clinical team of Cayenne Hospital has established close collaboration with health mediators and the ethnobotanist anthropologist of the study. To illustrate the contribution of a personalized approach to health mediation, we report the case of a migrant woman of Haitian origin admitted to the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Unit. We highlight the different socio-cultural aspects addressed and their place in the care process through a thematic discussion and socio-anthropological analysis of the care relationship, based on participatory ethnography and inductive analysis of an in-depth interview with the patient.
Result
This example illustrates the need for a multidisciplinary approach to ensure culturally adapted care for patients. Personal interviews are important because they allow to better take into account the cultural specificities of patients’ experiences and the socio-cultural environment in which they live (and especially, in the case of Haitian patients, their religious affiliation). By allowing them to speak and express themselves freely, they integrate not only their own cultural baggage, but also their own expectations and representations of the disease they suffer from and how it should be treated. Ultimately, this tripartite collaboration between patient, caregiver, and anthropologist or health mediator leads to a better therapeutic alliance.
Conclusion
The analysis of this health care relationship is emblematic of the issue of cultural competence and pre-conceptualizes what intercultural mediation in health care could be, as close as possible to the caregiver and the individual.
... These foods can supplement and enrich the diets of farmers and consumers, and can also have medicinal and cultural values [45]. Forest farming can also help to preserve and promote traditional knowledge and practices related to food and medicine [46]. Community development: Forest farming can create opportunities for community development by generating employment, income, and social capital [47]. ...
Forest farming is an agroforestry practice that cultivates high-value specialty crops under the protection of a forest canopy. This chapter explores the principles, techniques, and benefits of forest farming systems. It covers the selection of suitable sites and species, establishment and management practices, and the ecological and economic advantages of this approach. The chapter also discusses the challenges and opportunities for scaling up forest farming and its potential to support sustainable livelihoods and conservation goals. Case studies from different regions illustrate the diversity and adaptability of forest farming systems. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future research and development to promote the adoption and optimization of forest farming.
... Salmon provide vital services for both people and ecosystems (Janetski et al. 2009). As a "cultural keystone species", Pacific salmon play a foundational role in the culture of Indigenous Peoples across Western Canada (Garibaldi and Turner 2004;Mathews and Turner 2017;Carothers et al. 2021). Despite connecting First Nations and non-Indigenous communities across British Columbia, they face wide-ranging threats throughout their life cycles. ...
In this paper, we argue that Indigenous data sovereignty (IDS) is vital for addressing threats to ecosystems, as well as for Indigenous Peoples re-establishing and maintaining sovereignty over their territories. Indigenous knowledge-holders face pressure from non-Indigenous scientists to collaborate to address environmental problems, while the open data movement is pressuring them to make their data public. We examine the role of IDS in the context of cumulative effects and climate change that threaten salmon-bearing ecosystems in British Columbia, guided by content from an online workshop in June 2022 and attended exclusively by a Tier-1 audience (First Nations knowledge-holders and/or technical staff working for Nations). Attention to data is required for fruitful collaborations between Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous researchers to address the impacts of climate change and the cumulative effects affecting salmon-bearing watersheds in BC. In addition, we provide steps that Indigenous governments can take to assert sovereignty over data, recommendations that external researchers can use to ensure they respect IDS, and questions that external researchers and Indigenous partners can discuss to guide decision-making about data management. Finally, we reflect on what we learned during the process of co-creating materials.
... Key to quantifying ecocultural fire practices for use in western scientific methods like simulation modeling is linking qualitative Indigenous Knowledge with quantitative parameters. We began this process by first assigning key cultural use species to each cultural fire regime group (Garibaldi & Turner, 2004;Karuk Tribe, 2019). We then developed qualitative descriptions of the cultural fire stewardship practices necessary to enhance and maintain these sites and resources indefinitely through our knowledge review process. ...
The combined effects of Indigenous fire stewardship and lightning ignitions shaped historical fire regimes, landscape patterns, and available resources in many ecosystems globally. The resulting fire regimes created complex fire–vegetation dynamics that were further influenced by biophysical setting, disturbance history, and climate. While there is increasing recognition of Indigenous fire stewardship among western scientists and managers, the extent and purpose of cultural burning is generally absent from the landscape–fire modeling literature and our understanding of ecosystem processes and development. In collaboration with the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources, we developed a transdisciplinary Monte Carlo simulation model of cultural ignition location, frequency, and timing to simulate spatially explicit cultural ignitions across a 264,399‐ha landscape within Karuk Aboriginal Territory in northern California. Estimates of cultural ignition parameters were developed with Tribal members and knowledge holders using existing interviews, historical maps, ethnographies, recent ecological studies, contemporary maps, and generational knowledge. Spatial and temporal attributes of cultural burning were explicitly tied to the ecology of specific cultural resources, fuel receptivity, seasonal movement patterns, and spiritual practices. Prior to colonization, cultural burning practices were extensive across the study landscape with an estimated 6972 annual ignitions, averaging approximately 6.5 ignitions per Indigenous fire steward per year. The ignition characteristics we document align closely with data on historical fire regimes and vegetation but differ substantially from the location and timing of contemporary ignitions. This work demonstrates the importance of cultural burning for developing and maintaining the ecosystems present at the time of colonization and underscores the need to work collaboratively with Indigenous communities to restore ecocultural processes in these systems.
Aims
Disturbances exert direct and indirect effects on plants through alterations of soil properties and microbiota composition. This can induce stress, resulting in modifications of plants’ phytochemical profile. This in turn can affect the possibility for Indigenous people to engage in cultural activities depending on wild plants used as food or medicine. As a case study, we evaluated correlations between (poly)phenols in Vaccinium angustifolium fruits, disturbances from mining and hydroelectric activities, soil properties, and soil microbiome composition.
Methods
We collected fruit and soil samples in the territories of three Indigenous communities in eastern Canada. Fruits were analyzed for their concentrations in anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins and other (poly)phenols. Soil microbial DNA was extracted to reconstruct bacterial and fungal communities. A secondary subset of soil samples was used to measure soil properties. Relationships between soil, disturbances and (poly)phenols were investigated using multivariate analyses.
Results
Disturbances affected soil properties and microbiome, but not fruit (poly)phenol content. Two soil bacterial classes unaffected by disturbances, Bacilli and Desulfitobacteriia, were positively correlated with levels of proanthocyanidines and delphinidin-, cyanidin-, and petunidin-3-glucoside in fruits.
Conclusion
Disturbances did not affect (poly)phenol content in V. angustifolium fruits. However, mine disturbances may contaminate fruits with pollutants detrimental to human health, which should be evaluated before drawing conclusions about the effect of disturbances on plant nutritional and medicinal properties. Some soil bacterial classes seem to enhance the (poly)phenolic content of V. angustifolium fruits, suggesting that a strategy could be developed for enhancing the nutritional and medicinal properties of this culturally salient species.
Tourism and Marine Mammal Conservation play a significantly important role. Iran, with its long and diverse coastlines, is recognized as a rich country in marine life and oceans.
Maritime tourism is considered a rapidly growing industry in this country, not only introducing the beauty of coastal areas but also providing an opportunity for studying and protecting marine mammals.In the economic sector, maritime tourism is recognized as the "new frontier of late capitalist transformation" and contributes to income generation, job creation, infrastructure development, and the multiplier effects. The economic impacts of this industry range from income generation and job creation to the promotion of environmental care.In the biological and conservation evaluation section, the biological assessment of the effects of ecotourism on marine mammals is introduced as a crucial research area. These assessments encompass population monitoring, behavioral analysis, impact on habitats, and wildlife health. Finally, preventive measures to reduce the negative impacts of tourism on marine life are discussed. Education and information dissemination, tourism traffic regulation, responsible tourism promotion, monitoring and protection, environmentally friendly practices, and research are among these measures.
Conclusively, for sustainable management of maritime tourism and conservation of marine mammals, essential actions include education, tourism traffic regulation, responsible tourism promotion, monitoring and protection, environmentally friendly practices, and research. These actions can contribute to maintaining a balance between tourism and the protection of marine mammals, promoting ecotourism as a benevolent industry.
We present the counterpart to Chap. 4 in Chap. 5, where we focus on the role of “permanent” exceptions and their importance in scientific knowledge and biology. These exceptions can be analyzed at any scale and are often not appreciated beyond anecdotal mentions. They can be aberrant or teratological groups, taxonomic groups unique for some features of their biology, “intermediate exceptions” with minorities of species or clades with certain characteristics compared to the majority, or organisms with exceptional distributions in space or time. In this chapter, we reviewed groups that have been difficult to classify because of their rarity, rarities that can be used for human benefit, exceptional groups that make us rethink phylogenetic relationships, rare and incredible biological phenomena, and evolutionary and ecological aspects of rare species. Our goal is to vindicate rarities and minorities, to highlight their importance for the understanding of evolution, and to begin to make these cases visible and treasured in the teaching of biology.
The subtidal region at Cape Banks, New South Wales, Australia, is characterized by large areas covered solely by encrusting coralline algae in association with large densities of invertebrate grazers. Orthogonal removals of these grazers (the sea urchin Centrostephanus rodgersii; limpets Patelloida alticostata, P. mufria and Cellana tramoserica; and turbinids Australium tentiforme and Turbo torquata) were undertaken. Initially, removal of urchins and/or all species of limpets resulted in a rapid increase in the amount of noncrustose algae. Removal of turbinids, had no significant effect. Where both limpets and urchins had been removed, cover of foliose algae continued to increase quickly and was 80-100% after 12mo. In areas where only urchins were removed, the increase in the cover of algae was slower, and only approached 100% after 18-24mo. Where only limpets had been removed, 3mo after an initial increase in the cover of filamentous algae the cover declined to be only slightly more than in control areas. Initially, removal of the urchins generally resulted in a large increase in the recruitment and density of the limpets. approx 1yr following removal of urchins, however, density of adult and juvenile limpets of all species had declined to near zero. Removal of the larger species of limpets, P. alticostata and Cellana, increased rate of recruitment of the smaller species, P. mufria.-from Author
As the magnitude of human impacts on the ecological systems of the planet becomes apparent, there is increased realization
of the intimate connections between these systems and human health, the economy, social justice, and national security. The
concept of what constitutes “the environment” is changing rapidly. Urgent and unprecedented environmental and social changes
challenge scientists to define a new social contract. This contract represents a commitment on the part of all scientists
to devote their energies and talents to the most pressing problems of the day, in proportion to their importance, in exchange
for public funding. The new and unmet needs of society include more comprehensive information, understanding, and technologies
for society to move toward a more sustainable biosphere—one which is ecologically sound, economically feasible, and socially
just. New fundamental research, faster and more effective transmission of new and existing knowledge to policy- and decision-makers,
and better communication of this knowledge to the public will all be required to meet this challenge.
This chapter emphasizes ecosystems that are complex and highly susceptible to human activities. The relationships between ecosystems and humans are very strong but unfortunately misunderstood by decision makers and other parts of the societies. It is important to examine the linkages between human activity and the health of the ecosystems, at both the local and global scales. The challenge is to ensure that all levels of society are informed and are able to make more sustainable and healthy decisions. With increasing populations and impacts, the health of humans and ecosystems can be in jeopardy. The arguments presented in this chapter target three important topics that reach all nations—climate change, biodiversity, agrosystems and food production—as they are global in their impacts. It is possible to extract the main challenges that face humanity in order to improve the sustainability and health of all ecosystems.
Through dam building and feeding activities, beaver act as a keystone species to alter hydrology, channel geomorphology, biogeochemical pathways and community productivity. In Quebec, density of dams on the small streams (= or <4th order) studied averages 10.6 dams/km; the streams retain up to 6500 m3 of sediment per dam, and the wetted surface area of the channel is increased up to several hundredfold. Beaver are also active in larger order streams (= or >5th order), but their effects are most noticeable along riverbanks and in floodplains. Comparative carbon budgets per unit area for a riffle on 2nd order Beaver Creek and a beaver pond downstream show the pond receives only 42% of the carbon acquired by the riffle annually, but because the pond has a surface area 7 times greater than the riffle, it receives nearly twice as much carbon as the riffle per unit of channel length. Carbon in the pond has an estimated turnover time of 161 yr compared to 24 yr for the riffle. Beaver ponds are important sites for organic matter processing. -from Authors
In Torch Bay, Alaska, USA, sea urchins structure shallow subtidal communities by consuming most macroscopic algae. Experimental removal of urchins leads to the development, within 1 yr, of a kelp association of high biomass and diversity. In the 2nd yr, however, these attributes decrease as a single kelp species, Laminaria groenlandica, becomes dominant. Additional field experiments confirm the competitive superiority of this kelp. These manipulations lead to predictions regarding the ecological role of sea otters, a once common (but now absent) sea urchin predator. The predictions are tested and verified by examining areas into which sea otters have recently been transplanted. As expected, a rapid and extensive modification of algal species composition and a dramatic increase in kelp biomass follow the return of sea otters.
