Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T05:51:25.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Human observers differ in ability to perceive insect diversity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2016

JOSEPH S. WILSON ,
JOSHUA P. JAHNER  and
MATTHEW L. FORISTER
JOSEPH S. WILSON*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Utah State University Tooele, Tooele, UT, USA
JOSHUA P. JAHNER
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
MATTHEW L. FORISTER
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
*
*Correspondence: Joseph S. Wilson e-mail joeswilson@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Human perception of biological variation is an important and understudied issue in the conservation and management of natural resources. Here, we took a novel approach by asking 1152 participants, primarily college biology students, to score examples of insect mimicry by the number of distinct kinds of animals they saw. Latent class analysis successfully separated participants based on their accuracy of perception as well as demographic information and opinions about biodiversity. Contrary to expectations, factors such as childhood experience (growing up in urban, suburban or rural areas) did not affect the ability to see biodiversity as much as political views (location on a spectrum from liberal to conservative) or the position that biodiversity is important for the health of the environment. We conclude that research into effective measures of biological education should consider the connection between personal views and perceptions of natural variation.

Keywords

biodiversityconservationidentifying biodiversitymimicry
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , December 2016 , pp. 376 - 380
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bayne, E.M., Campbell, J. & Haché, S. (2012) Is a picture worth a thousand species? Evaluating human perception of biodiversity intactness using images of cumulative effects. Ecological Indicators 20: 9–16.Google Scholar
Dallimer, M., Irvine, K.N., Skinner, A.M.J., Davies, Z.G., Rouquette, J.R., Maltby, L.L., Warren, P.H., Armsworth, P.R. & Gaston, K.J. (2012) Biodiversity and the feel-good factor: understanding associations between self-reported human well-being and species richness. BioScience 62: 47–55.Google Scholar
Dunlap, R.E., Van Liere, K., Mertig, A. & Jones, R.E. (2000) Measuring endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm: a revised NEP scale. Journal of Social Issues 56: 425–442.Google Scholar
Dunlap, R.E. & McCright, A.M. (2008) A widening gap: Republican and Democratic views on climate change. Environment 50: 26–35.Google Scholar
Heywood, V.H. (1995) Global Biodiversity Assessment. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kaplan, R., Kaplan, S. & Ryan, R.L. (1998) With People in Mind: Design and Management of Everyday Nature. Washington D.C., USA: Island Press.Google Scholar
Lindemann-Matthies, P. (2002) The influence of an educational program on children's perception of biodiversity. Journal of Environmental Education 33: 22–31.Google Scholar
Lindemann-Matthies, P. & Bose, E. (2008) How many species are there? Public understanding and awareness of biodiversity in Switzerland. Human Ecology 38: 731–742.Google Scholar
Maiti, P.K. & Maiti, P. (2011) Biodiversity: Perception, Peril and Preservation. New Delhi, India: Prentice-Hall of India.Google Scholar
McKinney, M.L. (2002) Urbanization, biodiversity, and conservation. BioScience 52: 883–890.Google Scholar
Miller, J.R. (2005) Biodiversity conservation and the extinction of experience. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20: 430–434.Google Scholar
Nabhan, G.P. (1995) The dangers of reductionism in biodiversity conservation. Conservation Biology 9: 479–481.Google Scholar
Schwartz, M.W. (2006) How conservation scientists can help develop social capital for biodiversity. Conservation Biology 20: 1550–1552.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turner-Erfort, G. (1996) Public awareness and perceptions of biodiversity. Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science 90: 113–121.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Wilson supplementary material

Table S1 and Figures S1-S3

Download Wilson supplementary material(File)
File 1.4 MB