Plant awareness is linked to plant relevance: A review of educational and ethnobiological literature (1998–2020)

Abstract

Societal Impact Statement This research attempts to provide novel insights into plant awareness disparity (plant blindness), through a systematic and critical examination of the educational and ethnobiological literature. The low interest and awareness for plants is well documented in urban societies and has serious implications for biodiversity conservation and sustainable land‐use. This study is significant because it provides a comprehensive analysis of the characteristics of human‐plant relations in different societies, which does not currently exist in the academic literature. The findings suggest that people's plant awareness develops where they have frequent interactions with plants that have direct relevance to their lives. Summary The inattention to plants, known as ‘plant blindness’ or ‘plant awareness disparity’, is an established concern amongst biologists, but there has been no comprehensive and critical examination of the investigative literature to date. This study aims to address this, with a narrative review of experimental studies published in indexed journals from 1998 to 2020. Data were extracted using a suite of relevant search terms, characterised using key words and subjected to a thematic content analysis; 326 studies were shortlisted for review, with the majority in the subject areas of biological education, ethnobiology and biological conservation. The prevalent research methods were interviews and free‐listing exercises (ethnobiology) and questionnaires and tests (education). The most common characteristics of plant awareness disparity were a deficit of knowledge or identification skills, followed by an attention or memory advantage for animals compared to plants, preference for animals and low interest in plants. There was no concrete evidence of innate plant awareness disparity; instead, diminished experience of nature in urbanised societies appeared to be the cause. Virtually, all the 87 studies that found evidence of plant awareness disparity were undertaken in urban populations in high‐income countries. By contrast, there were 109 studies of extensive botanical knowledge based on rural communities dependent on biological resources, where individual expertise was found to be proportionate to the extent of wild plant collecting. We conclude that a decline in relevant experience with plants leads to a cyclical process of inattention that could be addressed through first‐hand experiences of edible and useful plants in local environments.

Perception and appreciation of plant biodiversity among experts and laypeople

“…The bullet points indicate our findings. * refer to cited articles that investigate the indicated connection: *1 Balding and Wiliams (2016) *2 Colléony et al (2017) *3 Saunders et al (2006) *4 Stagg and Dillion (2022) *5 Sanders et al (2021) *6 Ford et al (2012) *7 Ives and Kendal (2014).…”

“…Plant blindness was hypothesised to be inherent in the (contemporary, urban) human mindset (Wandersee & Schussler, 2001). Recently, plant blindness was found to be lower in rural communities, especially for people who collect wild plants for subsistence (Stagg & Dillon, 2022). It was also found to decline with early learning and exposure to plants (Jose et al, 2019) and in higher botany education with teaching methods based on variation theory (Sanders et al, 2021).…”

Absence of botanical European Palaeolithic cave art: What can it tell us about plant awareness disparity?

“…Evidence of modern indigenous communities, for example, suggest that the interaction between human and plants are related to where they live and how oral based knowledge is transferred to the next generations (Haq et al, 2022). For example, a recent literature review showed that communities in urbanised and wealthier societies are less plant aware compared with communities that live closer to nature (Pilgrim et al, 2008; Stagg & Dillon, 2022). It has been suggested that rapidly changing climates during the Palaeolithic would have resulted in subsequent vegetation changes (Bertran et al, 2013; Finlayson & Carrión, 2007; Gómez‐Olivencia et al, 2015; Jones et al, 2021), indicating to have caused population migrations (Kondo et al, 2018) to refugia (Jones et al, 2020) and biomes that offered more diverse environmental opportunities (Gavashelishvili & Tarkhnishvili, 2016).…”

“…The term ‘plant blindness’, or the more recently suggested alternative term, which we use in this paper, ‘plant awareness disparity’ (PAD) (Parsley, 2020), encompasses the idea that, compared with animals, there is a disparity of people that notice plants in their own environment (Wandersee & Schussler, 1999), resulting in the underappreciation or lack of recognition towards plants. PAD is thought to have arisen during the last century as a result of modernisation and urbanisation of many societies (Stagg & Dillon, 2022).…”

Food for flower‐visiting insects: Appreciating common native wild flowering plants

“…However, a diminished potential to encounter plants in urbanised settings appears to underpin this phenomenon. Diminishing experiences with plants results in a cyclical process by reducing awareness and attention (Stagg & Dillon, 2022).…”