Climate- and disturbance-driven changes in subsistence berries in coastal Alaska: Indigenous knowledge to inform ecological inference

Berry-producing plants are a key subsistence resource in Indigenous Alaskan
communities. High-latitude coastal regions are particularly impacted by global climate
change due to their location at the land-sea ecotone subjecting them to terrestrial
stressors as well as shifts in ocean dynamics. While vegetation changes have been
documented for the subarctic coastal region of Alaska, we know little about permafrost underlain
portions of the landscape that support berry communities. To fill this gap
surveys were administered in four communities within the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, to
identify observations of changes in berry resources and integrate Indigenous
Knowledge of drivers of changes with climate projections. We found that while most
participants agreed on several observed changes and drivers, many important
differences were identified at the community level. Regional consensus can be used in
combination with climate projections to forecast potential future impacts to berry
resources while distinctions at the community level can help us to untangle local scale
disturbances.