Are we working to save the species our children want to protect? Evaluating species attribute preferences among children

Frew, Kristin N.; Peterson, M. Nils; Stevenson, Kathryn T.

doi:10.1017/s0030605315001477

Cited by 16 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…Interpreting patterns of heightened local interest in endangered species also presented challenges. Multiple studies have shown that people assign greater value to species in need of conservation (11,20,21); however, it is also clear that protected species may attract attention for a variety of reasons (22).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing the cultural niches of North American birds

Schuetz¹,

Johnston

2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Efforts to mitigate the current biodiversity crisis require a better understanding of how and why humans value other species. We use Internet query data and citizen science data to characterize public interest in 621 bird species across the United States. We estimate the relative popularity of different birds by quantifying how frequently people use Google to search for species, relative to the rates at which they are encountered in the environment. In intraspecific analyses, we also quantify the degree to which Google searches are limited to, or extend beyond, the places in which people encounter each species. The resulting metrics of popularity and geographic specificity of interest allow us to define aspects of relationships between people and birds within a cultural niche space. We then estimate the influence of species traits and socially constructed labels on niche positions to assess the importance of observations and ideas in shaping public interest in birds. Our analyses show clear effects of migratory strategy, color, degree of association with bird feeders, and, especially, body size on niche position. They also indicate that cultural labels, including “endangered,” “introduced,” and, especially, “team mascot,” are strongly associated with the magnitude and geographic specificity of public interest in birds. Our results provide a framework for exploring complex relationships between humans and other species and enable more informed decision-making across diverse bird conservation strategies and goals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing the cultural niches of North American birds

Schuetz¹,

Johnston

2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Boys tend to favour animals that evoke fear and disgust over girls, and girls prefer more loveable or cute animals (Prokop & Tunnicliffe 2010; Schlegel & Rupf 2010). Children appear to prioritize species groups in ways that are similar to conservation biologists by prioritizing importance in nature over other attributes (Frew et al 2016; Shapiro et al 2016), whereas adults may place more emphasis on endemism and declining species (Czech et al 1998; Meuser et al 2009; Verissimo et al 2009). Although importance in nature is necessarily a general concept, children tend to view it as referring to a species’ overall significance and value to the natural system in which it resides (Shapiro et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildlife species preferences differ among children in continental and island locations

et al. 2017

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SUMMARYEfforts to prioritize wildlife for conservation benefit from an understanding of public preferences for particular species, yet no studies have integrated species preferences with key attributes of the conservation landscape such as whether species occur on islands (where invasive exotics are the primary extinction threat) or continents (where land use change is the primary extinction threat). In this paper, we compare wildlife species preferences among children from a continental location (North Carolina, USA, n = 433) and an island location (Andros Island, The Bahamas, n = 197). Children on the island preferred feral domesticated species and different types of taxa than mainland children, perhaps due to the strongly divergent species richness between the regions (e.g. island children showed greater preferences for invertebrates, lizards and aquatic species). Boys preferred fish, birds and lizards more than girls, whereas girls preferred mammals. The fact that island children showed strong preferences for invasive species suggests challenges for conservation efforts on islands, where controlling invasive exotic species is often of paramount importance, but can conflict with cultural preferences for these same species.

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“…Our results that younger students included more local animals as liked (sixth graders) and fewer as scary (fourth graders) than other grade levels could be related to curriculum (e.g., both sixth and fourth grades have wildlife-related standards: NC Department of Public Instruction, ). However, other studies find that connections to nature and interest in the environment and wildlife decline as children age (Frew, Peterson & Stevenson, 2016; Stevenson et al, 2013), suggesting that efforts should continue to find ways to engage with older children. Finally, Caucasian children listed more local species for both liked and scary animals, suggesting a higher level of familiarity with local wildlife.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, to the extent that megafauna are often not only threatened, but also conservation targets (Dietz, Dietz & Nagagata, 1994; Smith & Sutton, 2008), the fondness of children for “loveable animals” may actually lead to a fondness for species of conservation concern. One recent study even showed potential for children to align more closely with conservationists’ prioritization of species attributes (Frew, Peterson & Stevenson, 2016) than adults in a similarly designed study (Meuser, Harshaw & Mooers, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children’s attitudes towards animals are similar across suburban, exurban, and rural areas

Schuttler

Stevenson

Kays

et al. 2019

PeerJ

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The decline in the number of hours Americans spend outdoors, exacerbated by urbanization, has affected people’s familiarity with local wildlife. This is concerning to conservationists, as people tend to care about and invest in what they know. Children represent the future supporters of conservation, such that their knowledge about and feelings toward wildlife have the potential to influence conservation for many years to come. Yet, little research has been conducted on children’s attitudes toward wildlife, particularly across zones of urbanization. We surveyed 2,759 4–8th grade children across 22 suburban, exurban, and rural schools in North Carolina to determine their attitudes toward local, domestic, and exotic animals. We predicted that children who live in rural or exurban areas, where they may have more direct access to more wildlife species, would list more local animals as “liked” and fewer as “scary” compared to children in suburban areas. However, children, regardless of where they lived, provided mostly non-native mammals for open-ended responses, and were more likely to list local animals as scary than as liked. We found urbanization to have little effect on the number of local animals children listed, and the rankings of “liked” animals were correlated across zones of urbanization. Promising for conservation was that half of the top “liked” animals included species or taxonomic groups containing threatened or endangered species. Despite different levels of urbanization, children had either an unfamiliarity with and/or low preference for local animals, suggesting that a disconnect between children and local biodiversity is already well-established, even in more rural areas where many wildlife species can be found.

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Are we working to save the species our children want to protect? Evaluating species attribute preferences among children

Cited by 16 publications

References 77 publications

Characterizing the cultural niches of North American birds

Characterizing the cultural niches of North American birds

Wildlife species preferences differ among children in continental and island locations

Children’s attitudes towards animals are similar across suburban, exurban, and rural areas

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