

Food webs, humans and cod - Part 2
8 snips Aug 19, 2024
Professor Jennifer Dunne, Vice President for Science at the Santa Fe Institute, shares her insights on human-centered interaction networks. She explores the fascinating connections between Indigenous cultures and non-human species, especially in Polynesia. The discussion spans Polynesian navigation, the evolution of food webs, and how canoes shaped Indigenous practices and trade. Jennifer also contrasts whale hunting technologies with sustainable techniques used by the Martu people, highlighting diverse approaches to ecological interactions and resource management.
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Polynesian Research Origins
- Jennifer Dunne's food web research in the Sanak Archipelago led to collaborations with archaeologists in Polynesia.
- This collaboration aimed to study human interaction with species on islands like Mo'orea.
Food Web Challenges
- Creating a complete, high-resolution food web requires extensive resources, especially on islands.
- Researchers shifted to studying human-centered interaction networks due to resource limitations in Mo'orea.
Human-Species Interactions
- Dunne's research expanded beyond feeding interactions to encompass 13 categories of human-species interactions.
- These categories include material uses (food, clothing, housing) and non-material uses (companionship, cosmology).