Local Insects as Flagship Species to Promote Nature Conservation? A Survey among Primary School Children on Their Attitudes toward Invertebrates

Abstract

Flagship species play an important role in promoting nature conservation. However, although the significance of invertebrates in biodiversity and ecosystem services is undisputed, they are rarely used as flagship species. A focused approach to better understand the drivers of differences in attitudes toward invertebrates, and insects in particular, would be helpful for selecting and establishing insects as flagship species, especially in a local context for local conservation purposes. Using a standard questionnaire, a total of 363 children, predominantly aged 10 to 12 years, were asked about their attitudes toward 18 invertebrate species indigenous to Switzerland. The species, 14 insect species and four other invertebrates, were individually presented in a color photograph without any background information. Based on ordinal regression models, the survey revealed substantial affinity rating differences across the invertebrates selected. Gender, species knowledge, preferred leisure activities, and family membership of a nature protection organization proved to be significant predictors for children's attitudes in general, and for some specific species in particular. Additionally, existing species knowledge was analyzed and was found to neither depend on school location (urban/rural) nor on gender. The authors propose the inclusion of local invertebrates and species knowledge in the curriculum in early years at primary school while applying teaching methods that allow for real-life experience.

Individual perception of bees: Between perceived danger and willingness to protect

“…Our study found that people show more positive attitudes toward conservation of bees than we would have expected. Besides being quite popular, bees also meet all criteria to be selected as flagship species as described by Schlegel et al[ 70 ]: According to their criteria, bees (i) are local species in most parts of the world [ 71 ], (ii) are ecological key players because of their pollinating service [ 2 ], (iii) should be identified for example because of their prominence in most educational curricula and current media, (iv) but are not explicitly used as flagship species yet, (v) have a familiar name which is known across all ages and levels of expertise. Consequently, we strongly propose using bees, for instance Apis mellifera , as a flagship species for local conservation of pollinating insects.…”

A global parasite conservation plan

“…For non-parasitic invertebrates, public perceptions are largely dependent on experience and familiarity (Schlegel et al, 2015;Schlegel and Rupf, 2010), and one well-known method for familiarizing people with biodiversity is to engage them with anthropomorphized cartoons (Chan, 2012;Tam et al, 2013). This approach is already being used to some degree for parasites.…”