Elucidating the sustainability of 700 years of Inuvialuit beluga whale hunting in the Mackenzie River Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Beluga whales play a critical role in the subsistence economies and cultural heritage of Indigenous communities across the Arctic, yet the effects of Indigenous hunting on beluga whales remains unknown. Here, we integrate paleogenomics and stable δ 13 C and δ 15 N isotope analysis to investigate 700 years of beluga subsistence hunting in the Mackenzie Delta area of northwestern Canada. Genetic identification of the zooarchaeological remains, which based on radiocarbon dating span three time periods (1290-1440 CE; 1450-1650 CE; 1800-1870 CE), indicate shifts across time in the sex ratio of the harvested belugas. The equal number of females and males harvested in 1450-1650 CE versus more males harvested in the two other time periods may reflect changes in hunting practices or temporal shifts in beluga availability. We find temporal shifts and sex-based differences in δ 13 C of the harvested belugas across time, suggesting historical adaptability in the foraging ecology of the whales. Although we uncovered novel mitochondrial diversity in the Mackenzie Delta belugas, we found no changes in nuclear genomic diversity nor any substructuring across time. Our findings indicate the genomic stability and continuity of the Mackenzie Delta beluga population across the 700 years surveyed, indicating the impact of Inuvialuit subsistence harvests on the genetic diversity of contemporary beluga individuals has been negligible. Significance Statement Since colonizing the Mackenzie Delta in northwestern Canada ∼1200 CE, Inuvialuit have been heavily reliant on belugas for their livelihoods and cultural heritage. However, little is known of the impact of centuries of sustained Inuvialuit subsistence hunting on the beluga population inhabiting the Mackenzie Delta. Using palaeogenomic and stable isotope analysis of zooarchaeological remains, and comparing the findings with contemporary data, we investigate temporal changes in beluga diversity, structuring, and foraging ecology. We show Inuvialuit harvests had a negligible impact on the genetic diversity of contemporary Mackenzie belugas, and highlight the applicability of combining genomic sexing and isotope analysis of zooarchaeological remains for advancing our understanding of past hunting practices and faunal ecologies.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".