Social actors’ perceptions of wildlife: Insights for the conservation of species in Mediterranean protected areas

In the current Anthropocene Era, with numerous escalating challenges for biodiversity conservation, the inclusion of the social dimension into management decisions regarding wildlife and protected areas is critical to their success. By conducting 354 questionnaires in a Mediterranean protected area...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ambio 2022-04, Vol.51 (4), p.990-1000
Main Authors: Cortés-Avizanda, Ainara, Pereira, Henrique M., McKee, Ellen, Ceballos, Olga, Martín-López, Berta
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal husbandry
Animals
Animals, Wild
Anthropocene
Atmospheric Sciences
Biodiversity
Biosphere
Conservation of Natural Resources
Decisions
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecology
Endangered & extinct species
Endangered Species
Environment
Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology
Environmental Management
Functional groups
Humans
Knowledge
Perceptions
Physical Geography
Protected areas
Protected species
Research Article
Social factors
Statistical analysis
Steppes
Wildlife
Wildlife conservation
Wildlife management
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Summary:In the current Anthropocene Era, with numerous escalating challenges for biodiversity conservation, the inclusion of the social dimension into management decisions regarding wildlife and protected areas is critical to their success. By conducting 354 questionnaires in a Mediterranean protected area (the Biosphere Reserve of Bardenas Reales, Northern Spain), we aim to determine sociodemographic factors influencing knowledge levels and perceptions of species and functional groups as, emblematic and threatened. We found that hunters and animal husbandry workers knew more species than other social actors. Additionally, the perception of functional groups as threatened or emblematic differed between social actor groups, with statistically significant associations between perceptions and the characteristics of respondents. Interestingly, we found that although elusive steppe species are globally considered as endangered, these species were the least known by all social actor groups and rarely perceived as emblematic. This research is a novel approach and provides a better understanding of how perceptions can facilitate conservation decisions, particularly regarding endangered species Graphic abstract
ISSN:0044-7447
1654-7209
DOI:10.1007/s13280-021-01546-6