Plant blindness and the implications for plant conservation

• Published in: Conservation biology 2016-12, Vol.30 (6), p.1192-1199
• Main Authors: Balding, Mung, Williams, Kathryn J.H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; apoyo público; apreciación de la flora; Bias; chovinismo en los zoológicos; Conservation; Conservation of Natural Resources; dimensiones humanas de la conservación; Essay; flora appreciation; Flowers & plants; Funding; human dimensions of conservation; Humans; Plants; Public Opinion; public support; zoo chauvinism
• ISSN: 0888-8892; 1523-1739
• DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12738

Plant conservation initiatives lag behind and receive considerably less funding than animal conservation projects. We explored a potential reason for this bias: a tendency among humans to neither notice nor value plants in the environment. Experimental research and surveys have demonstrated higher preference for, superior recall of and better visual detection of animals compared with plants. This bias has been attributed to perceptual factors such as lack of motion by plants and the tendency of plants to visually blend together but also to cultural factors such as a greater focus on animals informal biological education. In contrast, ethnographic research reveals that many social groups have strong bonds with plants, including nonhierarchical kinship relationships. We argue that plant blindness is common, but not inevitable. If immersed in a plant-affiliated culture, the individual will experience language and practices that enhance capacity to detect, recall, and value plants, something less likely to occur in zoocentric societies. Therefore, conservation programs can contribute to reducing this bias. We considered strategies that might reduce this bias and encourage plant conservation behavior. Psychological research demonstrates that people are more likely to support conservation of species that have human-like characteristics and that support for conservation can be increased by encouraging people to practice empathy and anthropomorphism ofnonhuman species. We argue that support for plant conservation may be garnered through strategies that promote identification and empathy with plants. Las iniciativas de conservación de plantas se quedan atrás y reciben considerablemente menos financiamiento que los proyectos de conservación de animales. Exploramos una posible razón de esta preferencia: una tendencia entre los humanos a no tomar en cuenta ni valorar a las plantas en el ambiente. La investigación experimental y los censos han demostrado una mayor preferencia por, una memoria superior por y una mejor detección visual de los animales en comparación con las plantas. Este sesgo se ha atribuido a factores de percepción como la falta de movimiento de las plantas y la tendencia de las plantas a combinarse entre sí, pero también se atribuye a factores culturales como un mayor enfoque sobre los animales en la educación biológica formal. En contraste, la investigación etnográfica revela que muchos grupos sociales tienen lazos fuertes con las plantas, incluyendo