Guidelines for communicating about bats to prevent persecution in the time of COVID-19

MacFarlane, Douglas; Rocha, Ricardo

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108650

Cited by 89 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Among the most profound examples of human–wildlife disease transmission is the current global COVID‐19 pandemic that is severely affecting public health, society, and the world economy (Chakraborty & Maity, 2020; Messmer, 2020). Evidence suggests bats are a natural reservoir host for the novel coronavirus, SARS‐CoV‐2 (Boni et al., 2020; MacFarlane & Rocha, 2020). Continued urbanization and its resulting expansion of human activities directed at wildlife (e.g., wildlife markets) and use of urban structures by wildlife (e.g., highway underpasses, culverts, buildings) have facilitated increased human–bat urban interactions around the world (Li & Wilkins, 2014; Russo & Ancillotto, 2015).…”

Section: Ecological Drivers Of Conflict and Associated Biological Outmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolutionary consequences of human–wildlife conflict in cities

Schell

Stanton

Young³

et al. 2020

Evolutionary Applications

106

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Human–wildlife interactions, including human–wildlife conflict, are increasingly common as expanding urbanization worldwide creates more opportunities for people to encounter wildlife. Wildlife–vehicle collisions, zoonotic disease transmission, property damage, and physical attacks to people or their pets have negative consequences for both people and wildlife, underscoring the need for comprehensive strategies that mitigate and prevent conflict altogether. Management techniques often aim to deter, relocate, or remove individual organisms, all of which may present a significant selective force in both urban and nonurban systems. Management‐induced selection may significantly affect the adaptive or nonadaptive evolutionary processes of urban populations, yet few studies explicate the links among conflict, wildlife management, and urban evolution. Moreover, the intensity of conflict management can vary considerably by taxon, public perception, policy, religious and cultural beliefs, and geographic region, which underscores the complexity of developing flexible tools to reduce conflict. Here, we present a cross‐disciplinary perspective that integrates human–wildlife conflict, wildlife management, and urban evolution to address how social–ecological processes drive wildlife adaptation in cities. We emphasize that variance in implemented management actions shapes the strength and rate of phenotypic and evolutionary change. We also consider how specific management strategies either promote genetic or plastic changes, and how leveraging those biological inferences could help optimize management actions while minimizing conflict. Investigating human–wildlife conflict as an evolutionary phenomenon may provide insights into how conflict arises and how management plays a critical role in shaping urban wildlife phenotypes.

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Section: Ecological Drivers Of Conflict and Associated Biological Outmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolutionary consequences of human–wildlife conflict in cities

Schell

Stanton

Young³

et al. 2020

Evolutionary Applications

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Conversely, ‘disease’ articles identified parasites and pathogens, but have yet to demonstrate effects on fitness and thus have little direct utility to conservation. However, ‘disease’ studies may negatively affect public perception of bats if they are inappropriately reported, and we reiterate the crucial role of proper outreach in supporting conservation (MacFarlane & Rocha 2020). Social studies relevant to Japanese bat conservation were rare (only Vincenot et al 2015b, 2017), but this area warrants further research, as human factors often decide conservation outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

In the shadow of the rising sun: a systematic review of Japanese bat research and conservation

2020

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Although scientific evidence is critical to prioritising conservation actions, the distribution of research effort does not always align with conservation needs. The conservation of Japanese bats is of global concern, given that 35% of extant species are endemic and 91% of endemics are threatened. However, information on Japanese bats can be inaccessible to the international community, and research trends have yet to be reviewed. To investigate how thoroughly research has addressed conservation needs concerning Japanese bats, we related IUCN category, legal protections, and threats to the results of a systematic review of conservation‐relevant research literature from the last fifty years. We assessed patterns in research distribution in time, regions, research topics, taxa, endemicity, and category to identify gaps and future priorities. We also compared research patterns between international research repositories and the main Japanese repository. Categories did not change over time (except due to changes in knowledge; actual conservation status remained the same), and bat‐specific legal protections and conservation actions are limited (e.g. only one species benefits from a national recovery plan). Research has increased post‐2000, but threatened and endemic species remain less studied than non‐threatened and non‐endemic species. Both the shortage of ecological studies (≤ 1 article) and lack of any conservation study for over 50% of extant species (including most threatened species) are concerning. Ten endemics were identified as top priority species: Murina tenebrosa, Myotis yanbarensis, Murina ryukyuana, Nyctalus furvus, Miniopterus fuscus, Pteropus pselaphon, Myotis pruinosus, Eptesicus japonensis, Rhinolophus perditus, and Hipposideros turpis. Japanese bat conservation could be strengthened by increasing research on endemic species and by providing information on threats, ecological requirements, population trends, and suitable conservation strategies. Concrete conservation planning, improved publishing standards, capacity‐building, and a collaborative effort to improve the situation of bats domestically would set a strong example for bat conservation in Asia.

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“…Although it is unlikely that traditional media will change their exploitation of sensational events, shifting to a regular coverage of biological invasions, scientists should exploit sensational news to introduce laypeople to biological invasions. The adoption of communication guidelines for traditional media [34] and a tight collaboration between journalists and researchers will be fundamental for this task.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blacklists do not necessarily make people curious about invasive alien species. A case study with Bayesian structural time series and Wikipedia searches about invasive mammals in Italy

Cerri¹,

Bertolino²,

Carnevali³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Blacklists of invasive alien species are a popular tool to manage and prevent biological invasions. Furthermore, by providing accessible examples of invasive alien species and by having a certain media resonance, they can in principle raise the awareness and make laypeople curious towards this topic. However, no study ever tested for this side-effect of blacklists. We tested if the implementation of the first blacklist of invasive alien species of the European concern, by the European Union in August 2016, increased visits to Wikipedia pages about invasive alien mammals in Italy. We adopted Bayesian Structural Time Series, using native mammals as a synthetic control, and we considered both invasive alien mammals that appeared on the list and those which were not included.Following the publication of the first European blacklist of invasive alien species, there was no increase in the amount of weekly visits to the Wikipedia pages about invasive mammals. This was true both for species that were included in the list and those which were not. Rather increased search volumes were syncronous to other events that had media resonance. Our results indicate that important policymaking initiatives, do not necessarily raise public awareness about biological invasions, even when these policies, such as blacklists, are easy to understand and have a certain media coverage. We emphasize the importance of coupling them with adequate communication campaigns and also to develop communication guidelines for the media.

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Guidelines for communicating about bats to prevent persecution in the time of COVID-19

Cited by 89 publications

References 79 publications

The evolutionary consequences of human–wildlife conflict in cities

The evolutionary consequences of human–wildlife conflict in cities

In the shadow of the rising sun: a systematic review of Japanese bat research and conservation

Blacklists do not necessarily make people curious about invasive alien species. A case study with Bayesian structural time series and Wikipedia searches about invasive mammals in Italy

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