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Aims and backgroundUnderground storage organs (USOs) have long featured prominently in human diets. They are reliable year-round resources, especially valuable in seasonal climates. We review a significant but scattered literature and oral recounts of USOs utilised by Noongar people of the Southwest Australian Floristic Region (SWAFR). USOs are important to First Nations cultures in other geophyte-rich regions with Mediterranean climate, with specialist knowledge employed, and productive parts of the landscape targeted for harvest, with likely ecological interactions and consequences.MethodsWe have gathered Noongar knowledge of USOs in the SWAFR to better understand the ecological role of Noongar-USO relationships that have existed for millennia.ResultsWe estimate that 418 USO taxa across 25 families have Noongar names and/or uses. Additionally, three USO taxa in the SWAFR weed flora are consumed by Noongar people. We found parallels in employment of specific knowledge and targeted ecological disturbance with First Nations’ practice in other geophyte-rich floristic regions. We found that only in 20% of cases could we identify the original source of recorded USO knowledge to an acknowledged Noongar person.ConclusionThis review identified that traditional Noongar access to USOs is taxonomically and geographically extensive, employing specific knowledge and technology to target and maintain resource rich locations. However, we also found a general practice of ‘extractive’ documentation of Noongar plant knowledge. We identify negative implications of such practice for Noongar people and SWAFR conservation outcomes and assert ways to avoid this going forward, reviving Noongar agency to care for traditional Country.

Protection of biodiversity, human assets, and cultural heritage pose significant challenges to contemporary planning of bushfire mitigation activities. Current mitigation approaches are not always appropriate, and mismanagement is a source of distress for Indigenous peoples. Increased understanding of Indigenous fire knowledge and increased Indigenous participation may provide insight into more appropriate and inclusive land management for fire mitigation. We analysed contemporary Noongar and Western fire practitioner approaches within an Indigenous fire knowledge (IFK) framework to explore knowledge and aspirations for small reserves in the Southwest Australian Floristic Region (SWAFR) global biodiversity hotspot. We recorded an extensive knowledge base, characterised by a highly nuanced approach to burning, held by the Noongar coauthors. We explore potential approaches to applying this knowledge to build collaborative fire mitigation strategies with mutually beneficial outcomes for biodiversity, cultural heritage, and human assets.

Cultures in Mediterranean climate zones (MCZs) around the world have long been reliant on groundwater and springs as freshwater sources. While their ecology and cultural sustainability are recognized as critically important, inter-relationships between springs and culture in MCZs have received less attention. Here we augmented a global literature review with case studies in MCZ cultural landscapes to examine the diversity and intensity of cultural and socio-economic relationships on spring ecohydrogeology. MCZs are often oriented on western and southern coasts in tectonically active landscapes which control aquifer structure, the prevalence of westerly winds, and aridity, and generally expose associated habitats and cultures to harsh afternoon sunlight. Cultural appreciation and appropriation of springs ranges widely, from their use as subsistence water supplies to their roles in profound traditions such as Greco-Roman nymphalea as well as Asian and Abrahamic spiritual cleansing and baptism. The abandonment of traditional ways of life, such as rural livestock production, for urban ones has shifted impacts on aquifers from local to regional groundwater exploitation. The commoditization of water resources for regional agricultural, industrial (e.g., mining, water bottling, geothermal resorts), and urban uses is placing ever-increasing unsustainable demands on aquifers and spring ecosystems. When the regional economic value of springs approaches or exceeds local cultural values, these irreplaceable aquatic ecosystems are often degraded, over-looked, and lost. Sustainable stewardship of springs and the aquifers that support them is a poorly recognized but central conservation challenge for modern Mediterranean societies as they face impending impacts of global climate change. Solutions to this crisis require education, societal dialogue, and improved policy and implementation.

Suicide death rates in the state of Alaska are second in the nation. Consequentially, suicide leaves behind a survivor population at increased risk for contagion. In many Alaskan villages and cities, suicide contagion remains a public health concern and tragically impacts students, families, employers, and communities throughout the state. This action research study focused on the uniquely lived experiences of Alaskans as suicide survivors and the effects in the workplace. The purpose of this action research study was to inquire about a real-life problem for an identified population utilizing methods of phenomenological inquiry. The overarching goal of this action research project was to identify the collective voices of suicide survivors and integrate new knowledge into postvention strategies. Action research participants were referred and recruited from Southwest Alaska. Phenomenological inquiry methods were used to capture the uniquely lived experiences of suicide survivors thorough idiographic interviews. Interview data from research participant interview transcripts retrieved from audio recordings were analyzed utilizing qualitative software. Coding paradigms, themes, and sub themes were annotated reflecting culture, kinship, life story, and voice. Action research outcomes included recommendations for suicide postvention strategies. These recommendations included the rights of survivors to be recognized based upon kinship, permission to tell their story, and the need to establish multiple doors of access for survivors to become engaged in postvention to avert an increase contagion risk and prolonged grief reaction. As the research facilitator, these recommendations were presented to community stakeholders with the research participants as co-presenters.