| Mechanism and case study example | Adaptive outcome |
| Adaptive caribou harvesting—decreased harvesting during periods of decline (and corresponding increase in harvest of other species and/or substitution for market foods) (11, 62, 64, 110, 113–115) | Decreased hunting pressure on declining resources; diversification of traditional diets and/or increased dependence on market foods of lesser nutritional value |
| Increase in depth of observation by individual harvesters, communities (39, 54, 92, 93, 114, 116–119) | Increase in the scope of traditional knowledge available on which to make harvest decisions |
| Increase in organization and communication at larger scales (36, 120, 121) | More complex institutional arrangements; opportunities for cross-scale decision-making |
| Increased in enforcement of informal property rights (for example, traditional hunting territory) and rules for caribou harvest (122, 123) | Self-organized enforcement of rules to protect caribou |
| Strengthening and/or expansion of food sharing networks within and outside the caribou range (63, 124, 125) | Increase in knowledge generation and transmission (including with younger generations) within and between communities |
| Cultural rediscovery, social learning, and innovation to address food shortages (108, 126) | Increase in the breadth of potential solutions to food shortages |
| Cultural and spiritual learning (35, 127) | New spiritual learning; changes in the sociocultural and spiritual relationship of people and caribou |