Vertebrate species knowledge: an important skill is threatened by extinction

Abstract

Vertebrate species knowledge, a key factor for conserving biodiversity, is a compulsory part of school curricula. This study evaluated the vertebrate species knowledge of sixth-grade German grammar school pupils (aged 11-13) to investigate the influence of sociodemographic factors (gender, size of hometown, mother tongue), personal expectations (favourite school subject, performance in biology, expected test results) and possibilities to do nature observations (favourite playing area, number of excursions to nature) on identification skills. In addition, the study examined whether schoolchildren's taxonomic knowledge changed over the years. In a species identification test, participants (N = 984) scored an average of 14.18 ± 3.82 out of 25 points. The results showed that their species knowledge was significantly influenced by their personal expectations on test performance, the school, favourite playing area, mother tongue and gender. Hometown size, the number of excursions to nature, favourite school subject and performance in biology did not significantly affect children's species knowledge. Mammals had the highest identification rates, whereas birds and reptiles were rather unknown. These results were compared with a similar dataset in 2006 indicating a 15% loss in pupils' species knowledge within the last decade. A change in the curriculum as a reason for this decline in taxonomic knowledge is discussed.

Determinants of Bird Species Literacy—Activity/Interest and Specialization Are More Important Than Socio-Demographic Variables

“…Coding of the answers followed a partial credit model [2,3]. If a bird species was identified correctly, the value 1 was assigned (e.g., Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula).…”

“…Biodiversity is declining around the globe, and knowledge about biodiversity continues to decline in a similar manner [1,2]. As a result, biodiversity knowledge is becoming an increasingly important issue and it is recognized worldwide as an important environmental task [3,4].…”

“…Similarly, Brazilian boys scored better in snake identification than girls [20]. In contrast, girls scored higher than boys in vertebrate species knowledge in secondary school students in Germany [2]. Concerning adults, Mmassy and Røsekaft [18] examined the knowledge of bird species in 330 participants living around the Serengeti.…”

Species identification skills predict in-depth knowledge about species

“…Although levels of both species identification [ 17 , 18 ] and in-depth species knowledge [ 29 – 31 ] have been reported in the past, few studies have explored broad and in-depth species knowledge simultaneously, and when they did [ 32 , 33 ], it was not reported how these were associated with each other. While it is often assumed that when people identify species correctly this also reflects their in-depth knowledge about those species, it is not known whether this is indeed the case.…”

Initial involvement into birding: triggers, gender, and decade effects—a mixed-methods study

“…Concerning the viewpoint form nature conservation, citizen science projects have gained much attention during the last decades, especially when it comes to birding or birdwatching (Sullivan et al, 2014). Although citizen science projects are thriving, we still see a decline of species knowledge among school students and the public (Gerl et al, 2021;Randler and Heil, 2021). Concurrently to the decline of species, and species knowledge, there is also a decline of species specialists (Hopkins and Freckleton, 2002).…”