Indigenous plant naming and experimentation reveal a plant–insect relationship in New Zealand forests

Abstract

AbstractDrawing from both Indigenous and “Western” scientific knowledge offers the opportunity to better incorporate ecological systems knowledge into conservation science. Here, we demonstrate a “two‐eyed” approach that weaves Indigenous ecological knowledge (IK) with experimental data to provide detailed and comprehensive information about regional plant–insect interactions in New Zealand forests. We first examined Māori names for a common forest tree, Carpodetus serratus, that suggest a close species interaction between an herbivorous, hole‐dwelling insect, and host trees. We detected consistent regional variation in both Māori names for C. serratus and the plant–insect relationship that reflect Hemideina spp. abundances, mediated by the presence of a wood‐boring moth species. We found that in regions with moths C. serratus trees are home to more wētā than adjacent forest species and that these wētā readily ate C. serratus leaves, fruits and seeds. These findings confirm that a joint IK—experimental approach can stimulate new hypotheses and reveal spatially important ecological patterns. We recommend that conservation managers partner with local IK‐holders to develop two‐eyed seeing approaches that weave IK with quantitative data to assist planning and management. Next steps in our system could include assembling IK species names within each locality to construct a multilayered understanding of local ecosystems through an IK lens.