Combining Aboriginal knowledge and Western science to investigate possible explanations for the decline in fruit production of a bush tucker shrub, Djutpi, near Ngukurr, Northern Territory

摘要

Based on our preliminary research, we propose that non-customary harvest of Djutpi, where branches or entire plants were removed, was the likely cause of the Djutpi production decline. Western scientists or land managers may not have realised that Djutpi fruit production had decreased or been able rapidly to identify plausible causes using Western knowledge alone. Aboriginal Rangers observed the decline in fruit production through cultural use of and interest in this species. They were also able rapidly to identify probable causes of the decline based on their connection to and historical ecological understanding of their ancestral lands.