In-nii (Bison bison L.) reintroduction to Amskapiipikini (Blackfeet) Nation homeland: relationships with ksahko (soils)
Bibliographic record
Abstract
In-nii (American Bison) are returning to their Traditional Territories after being nearly wiped out of the Great Plains of North America and Canada. The in-nii are slowly returning to Native American tribes who have the resources to run reintroduction programs like that of the Amskapiipikini (Blackfeet). This in-nii reintroduction presented an opportunity to look at the effects of the return of in-nii to the Amskapiipikini, and what their influences might be on the soils, plants, and water resources of the Blackfeet Nation. This research project was conducted on the Blackfeet Buffalo (In-nii) Ranch and the adjacent RRJ Cattle Ranch, comparing the influence of in-nii and cattle on soil nutrient cycles and soil carbon dynamics. Soil samples were taken from locations on the landscape that were near water sources on lower elevations, mid hillslopes for mid-elevation sites and on hilltops at higher elevations. Soil characteristics included soil organic matter (SOM), nitrate, pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and exchangeable calcium, potassium, sodium, and magnesium. Only two (CEC, magnesium) appeared to have been influenced by in-nii and cattle. The remaining soil characteristics were little influenced by grazer type. Substrate-induced respiration was also measured in the lab to see how microbes decomposed SOM (carbohydrates and other molecules) to release energy and CO2; we found no evidence of differences between in-nii- and cattle-influenced soils. Finally, we measured field respiration rates and water infiltration rates at multiple fence line sites; field soil respiration rates increased when soil had water infiltrated after the dry readings, soils also increased the time to absorb water after the first infiltration tests were run. Our preliminary results suggest that the reintroduction of in-nii to these lands has not yet resulted in measurable differences in soil-related properties of the Blackfeet Nation. Even so, the return of the in-nii for the Amskapiipikini is also about understanding the importance of using cultural science when studying the ecology of a system. Doing this can create an understanding of the traditional ways of knowing while bringing cultural healing and restoring connections between Amskapiipikini, in-nii, and land.
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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 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 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".