Who knows, who cares? Untangling ecological knowledge and nature connection among Amazonian colonist farmers

Mikołajczak, Katarzyna; Lees, Alexander Charles; Barlow, Jos; Sinclair, Frazer; Almeida, Oriana; Souza, Agnis Cristiane de; Parry, Luke

doi:10.1002/pan3.10183

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…It is increasingly seen as a core issue in human-nature relationships (Richardson et al, 2020a), and meta-analyses have found that individuals with greater connection to nature have more pro-nature behaviours (Whitburn et al, 2019;Barragan-Jason et al, 2022). The strength of this connection to nature is thought to be enhanced in individuals with a richer and deeper personalised ecology and, conversely, to be weakened in those whose personalised ecology is poorer (Richardson et al, 2020b;Mikołajczak et al, 2021;Li et al, 2022;Lim et al, 2022). Indeed, whilst Wilson (1984) defined biophilia as 'the innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes', in subsequent writings he emphasised that it is a complex set of learned behaviours, that is, a disposition that is reinforced, amplified and expressed through human culture (Wilson, 1993).…”

Section: (I) Connection To Naturementioning

confidence: 99%

Personalised ecology and the future of biodiversity

Gaston¹,

Phillips²,

Soga³

2023

Camb. prisms Extinction

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The future of biodiversity lies not just in the strategies and mechanisms by which ecosystems and species are practically best protected from anthropogenic pressures. It lies also, and perhaps foremost, in the many billions of decisions that people make that, intentionally or otherwise, shape their impact on nature and the conservation policies and interventions that are implemented. Personalised ecology – the set of direct sensory interactions that each of us has with nature – is one important consideration in understanding the decisions that people make. Indeed, it has long been argued that people’s personalised ecologies have powerful implications, as captured in such concepts as biophilia, extinction of experience and shifting baselines. In this paper, we briefly review the connections between personalised ecology and the future of biodiversity, and the ways in which personalised ecologies might usefully be enhanced to improve that future.

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Section: (I) Connection To Naturementioning

confidence: 99%

Personalised ecology and the future of biodiversity

Gaston¹,

Phillips²,

Soga³

2023

Camb. prisms Extinction

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“…The very idea of humans as separate from nature may be odd to some people. This may be especially true of Indigenous peoples and other communities for whom relationships with nonhuman elements of the world are central (e.g., Zent 2013, Mikolajczak et al 2021. Studies demonstrate, for instance, that Native American participants are more likely to describe people as "a part of " nature than are European American respondents (Bang et al 2007).…”

Section: Challenges To Understanding Nonmaterials Dimensions Of Human-nature Connectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges to understanding nonmaterial dimensions of human-nature connections, and how to address them

Gould¹,

Schultz²

2021

E&S

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Research on the nonmaterial aspects of human-nature connections has grown steadily in recent years, yet efforts to understand nonmaterial connections between individuals and nature confront myriad challenges. We describe a set of three assumptions inherent in research on human-nature connections: (1) that the conceptions researchers are measuring exist inside a person's head; (2) that individuals can express these conceptions (in words or otherwise); and (3) that individuals express these conceptions honestly when asked by researchers. We frame each of these assumptions as challenges, then offer suggestions for addressing each. We have found this three-part framework helpful in designing research into these difficult-to-describe connections, and we provide examples of how these assumptions and responses to them have influenced and appeared in various research traditions.

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“…Other than golden coin turtle and big‐headed turtle, there is little evidence that most turtle species were reliably differentiated by people living close to forest habitats on Hainan; patterns of local ecological knowledge in this system are highly variable, and differ according to species and to attributes of individual people (cf. Mikołajczak et al., 2021). Confusion may also arise between widely farmed or consumed species and related rare wild species (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological knowledge and value of traded species: Local awareness of native turtles in Hainan, China

Papworth

et al. 2023

Animal Conservation

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Wildlife trade is driving species extinctions globally, and the Asian Turtle Crisis is posing a threat in China as turtle species are collected from the wild and sold at high prices. Local ecological knowledge is increasingly used to determine the status of threatened taxa, but there is little understanding of wider relationships between indices of ecological knowledge and other conservation‐relevant factors such as market values of traded species. To assess whether local people's awareness of potentially traded turtles might indicate direct interaction with trade in these species, we conducted 185 interviews in rural villages around Bawangling National Nature Reserve, Hainan, China. Interviewees were asked to free‐list native turtles to determine species salience and then were shown photographs of the species to assess recognition and knowledge. We investigated relationships between species' salience, whether species were recognized, named and/or perceived to be traded by more people, and independently obtained market prices. Indices of species awareness varied among interviewees, but all species were reported to be traded by at least some people. There was no correlation between indices of awareness and market value, indicating that more valuable species were no more likely to be well known. However, the perception that turtles are traded irrespective of species is a concern for conservation because all species are then vulnerable to exploitation. Our results highlight that local communities should not be assumed to have accurate knowledge of traded species, with implications for the management of wildlife trade and conservation at the community level.

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Who knows, who cares? Untangling ecological knowledge and nature connection among Amazonian colonist farmers

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 10 publications

References 73 publications

Personalised ecology and the future of biodiversity

Personalised ecology and the future of biodiversity

Challenges to understanding nonmaterial dimensions of human-nature connections, and how to address them

Ecological knowledge and value of traded species: Local awareness of native turtles in Hainan, China

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