CONSIDERING ANCESTRAL UNANGAM SELECTION BIASES IN TRANSDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH.

Multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research combine data from multiple fields to address critical issues in the Aleutian Islands and elsewhere. One such project is the Aleutian Mercury Dynamics Project, which focuses on changes in mercury concentrations in the Aleutian Islands. The project analyzes modern and ancient bone samples from sentinel species: northern fur seal, Steller sea lion, and Pacific cod, many of which are sourced from ancestral Unangam middens across the Aleutian Islands. Ancient acts of harvest, processing, and discard impart resource acquisition selection biases, which may impact mercury concentration patterns in the study samples. Here we report on a summary of Unangam intersections with the sentinel species as expressed in primary sources such as language texts and narratives. This allows for consistent consideration of ancestral Unangam acquisition and processing selection bias factors in age, sex, species, and elements present in middens for the study focus species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]