Biological invasions in brazilian environmental science courses: do we need new approaches?

Abstract

The increasing destruction of natural environments worldwide favored more and more alien species’ dispersal, distancing people from nature and consequently from native species. We investigated undergrad students’ perception about alien and native Brazilian species evaluating classes of the first (freshmen) and last semesters (seniors) of four courses in environmental sciences in three institutions and assessed these students’ knowledge level in different aspects related to native and alien species. The 509 interviewees were able to identify Brazilian native species better than alien species. They also produced better identifications among taxonomic groups of mammals (either alien or native), native birds, and exotic fish compared to invertebrate species. Most students did not consider themselves well informed about the topic. We found an association between the courses/semesters attended and the level of knowledge of the students. Thus, we concluded that, on the one hand, the students demonstrated relevant knowledge about the native species but, on the other, presented deficiencies in invasive alien species’ knowledge. Therefore, we suggest the revision/restructuring of how the biological invasions theme is covered in the academic curricula of undergraduate courses in the environmental area.

The educational community and its knowledge and perceptions of native and invasive alien species

“…Biological invasions, one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss 5 , was considered less important both globally and locally in the present study as well as in other studies 9 , 23 . This could be a consequence of the absence, in the school curricula, of IAS threats to the environment 4 , 7 , 10 .…”

“…People trained in science and environmental areas have a better knowledge and perception of native species and IAS 7 , 24 . Here, NST recognised native species as such better than non-NST, and did not select correctly non-native species or IAS.…”

“…Biological invasions are becoming widely recognised and the awareness of their impacts is increasing 7 , 20 . More than half of the respondents were aware of biological invasions, especially NST who recognised more plant and animal IAS (e.g., privet, beaver, deer, squirrel, boar, parrot, starling) compared to the non-NST group.…”

“…One of the main threats that affect ecosystems are biological invasions 5 – 7 . Invasive alien species (IAS) are moved far from their native ranges into new regions where they can overcome different biogeographical and ecological barriers, with escalating impacts on the environment, the economies and social activities 6 – 10 .…”

“…The topic of biological invasions is relatively new and it has only recently become relevant to environmental educators 4 . Several studies have evaluated the perception of students (children and teenagers) and student teachers 4 , 7 , 9 , 10 , 21 , 22 , about biodiversity and IAS in countries such Argentina, Brazil, USA, Germany, Switzerland and Spain. While Gayford 2 studied perception and understanding of student from their teachers perspective in UK, no studies have analysed such perception in teachers yet.…”