Meating the social: sharing atiku-euiash in Sheshatshiu, Labrador

This work examines atiku-euiash (caribou meat) sharing practices in Sheshatshiu, Newfoundland and Labrador, and aims to elucidate an overarching question: how do sharing practices participate in the co-constitution of the Innu ‘social’? The ‘social’ is understood in this work as a descriptor that refers to the emergent properties of the Innu collective. The thesis is that sharing practices participate in the co-constitution of the Innu social and enact its boundaries. Inside these boundaries, atiku-euiash is more than simply a food resource: by realizing Innu values of generosity, respect and autonomy, sharing implicates the associations of human, animal, and animal masters that constitute the Innu world. Sharing is connected with the enskilment of the younger generations by their el-ders, and thus with the reproduction of Innu values through time. The ways of sharing are relevant because changes in such practices affect the constitution of the Innu social. Giv-en Euro-Canadian colonization, the Innu are in a fraught social space in which sharing is interrupted by colonization practices and values. Understanding sharing is necessary to develop policies that do not interrupt the reproduction of the Innu world This work uses several research methods: participant observation, sharing surveys, and interviews. It also uses network analysis as sharing practices leave traces of giving and receiving actions and these traces can be represented as a network of givers, receivers and circulating caribou meat. There are two main ways in which caribou is hunted and shared: household-based hunts and community-based hunts. The household-based hunts are organized by the hunters themselves, who are able and willing to hunt. Community-based hunts are completely organized and funded by the SIFN or the Innu Nation. In or-der to understand the differences in the distribution of the two hunt types, the categories of centrality and clustering are used to show how the flow of atiku-eiuash and its associ-ated realization of values and enskilment correlate with different degrees of centralization inside the sharing clusters.

Potential impact of invasive anuran species in western Newfoundland

Successful dispersal and establishment of invasive anurans (frogs and toads) may be influenced by competitive exclusion and/or niche differentiation with competing species. I investigated the dispersal of anurans in western Newfoundland using anuran calling surveys and pond-edge visual encounter surveys. The Mink Frog, Lithobates septentrionalis, had dispersed ~50 km northeast from the original (2001) discovery location and ~34 km southwest; displaying spatial separation from Green Frogs, Lithobates clamitans, at landscape and local scales. Visual encounter surveys did not reveal any correlation between adult Mink Frogs and odonate competitors. Additionally, I assessed the impact of varying tadpole densities on removal of epilithic periphyton by providing epilithon covered substrates for American Toad, Anaxyrus americanus, tadpoles raised in laboratory or field enclosures. Higher tadpole densities resulted in smaller tadpoles that removed more periphyton from substrates. As anuran population ranges expand, there may be effects on ecological resources for vertebrate and invertebrate competitors.

Restoring forests degraded by overabundant moose on the island of Newfoundland

Global forests are being degraded at an alarming rate; hence ecological restoration becomes an integral component ensuring future forest health. Beneficial effects of restoration will arise from scientifically based practices that are efficient and effective. On the island of Newfoundland, moose (Alces alces) have become overabundant since their introduction in early 1900’s. Intensive selective browsing by moose on foundation species such as balsam fir (Abies balsamea) interacts with natural insect disturbance and limits advanced regeneration, creating moose meadows. In this thesis, I focused on where and how active restoration should be implemented in Terra Nova National Park (Newfoundland, Canada) balsam fir forests within the context of the natural disturbance regime under conditions of overbrowsing. Environmental surveys and experimental seedling planting were carried out along a disturbance gradient from closed canopy forest to large insect-disturbed stands. To develop cost-effective and science-based planting protocols, several ground treatments were tested to enhance seedlings success: (1) control, field planting, (2) removal of the aboveground vegetation and (3) ground scarification. Results indicate that (1) priority for restoration should be given to insectdisturbed areas > 5 ha rather than smaller gaps, and (2) that active restoration should be implemented following scientifically determined field planting protocols, as no substantial benefit was detected following ground treatment. The recommendations arising for this thesis allow for the development of efficient and effective protocols towards the reestablishment of multi-aged balsam fir forests in Newfoundland.