Knowledge of returning wildlife species and willingness to participate in citizen science projects among wildlife park visitors in Germany

Abstract

1. Successful conservation efforts have led to recent increases of large mammals such as European bison Bison bonasus, moose Alces alces and grey wolf Canis lupus and their return to former habitats in central Europe. While embraced by some, the recovery of these species is a controversial topic and holds potential for human-wildlife conflicts. Involving the public has been suggested to be an effective method for monitoring wildlife and mitigating associated conflicts. To assess two interrelated prerequisites for engaging people in Citizen Science(CS)-knowledge of returning species and respondents' readiness to participate in CS activities for monitoring and managing these species-we conducted a survey (questionnaire) in two wildlife parks located in different states of Germany.Based on 472 complete questionnaires, we developed generalized linear models to understand how sociodemographic variables and exposure to the species affected visitors' knowledge of each species, and to investigate if sociodemographic variables and knowledge influenced the likelihood of visitors to participate in CS activities.3. Almost all visitors were aware of the returning wolf population, while knowledge and awareness about bison and moose were significantly lower. Knowledge of the two herbivores differed geographically (higher knowledge of moose in the north-eastern state), possibly indicating a positive association between exposure to the species and knowledge. However, models generally performed poorly in predicting knowledge about wildlife, suggesting that such specific knowledge is insufficiently explained by sociodemographic variables. 4. Our model, which explained stated willingness in CS indicated that younger participants and those with higher knowledge scores in the survey were more willing to engage in CS activities.

Attitude of European Citizens towards Biodiversity Issues in Germany

“…Also, the results from our ndings align with our hypothesis that the level of education has a positive effect on attitude of German citizens towards biodiversity. Pinning down which factors in uence an individual's formal knowledge of a speci c species [32] is di cult as it relies on a complex set of intrinsic and extrinsic values, cultural and socio-demographic context [33] as well as individual experience [17].Nevertheless, the consistent effect of formal knowledge on attitudes towards biodiversity suggests that environmental education can possibly be a promising strategy for mediating attitudes towards biodiversity and improving the effectiveness of conservation efforts. Previous studies have pointed out the importance and positive impact between education and biodiversity attitudes for gaining public support for conservation activities [33].…”

The contribution of citizen science in the surveillance of wildlife and related arthropods

“…Most CS projects are based on opportunistic observations of live wild animals through GPS-telemetry (i.e. GPS-transmitters that are fitted to the animals with a collar/ear tag to track their movements) in various environmental contexts, including natural parks or faunal reserve (Rafiq et al ., 2019 ; Ostermann-Miyashita et al ., 2022 ). Other studies aim to create maps on the distribution of wildlife employing volunteers to fill specific road-killed schedules (ENETWILD-consortium et al ., 2020 ; Raymond et al ., 2021 ; Heigl et al ., 2022 ).…”

The state of online citizen science in Mongolia and its potential for environmental challenges

“…At the country level, web-information based studies on citizen science projects, for example for Brazil [18], Germany [19], Japan [20], and South Africa [21] examined starting year, target age group, research field, main activities, the level of citizen's participation (Haklay's classification), web technologies, the linkage to UN SDGs, number of participants, number of observations, the type of the involved institutions, among others. Survey based studies, for example for Ireland [22] and Spain [23] examined awareness of citizen science in the educational institutions, the citizen science project's outputs, the level of citizen's participation (Haklay's classification), training of participants, among others.…”