Public perception of river fish biodiversity in four European countries
Public support for biodiversity conservation is shaped by people's values and their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes toward the environment. We conducted the first multinational representative survey of the general public's perceptions of river fish biodiversity in France, Germany, Norway...
Published in: | Conservation Biology |
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2018
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Online Access: | https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6411888 https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13180 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.13180#support-information-section |
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ftleibnizopen:oai:oai.leibnizopen.de:29E_fYoBNQPDO7WIyOF2 2023-10-09T21:50:00+02:00 Public perception of river fish biodiversity in four European countries Kochalski, Sophia Riepe, Carsten Fujitani, Marie Aas, Oystein Arlinghaus, Robert 2018 https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6411888 https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13180 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.13180#support-information-section eng eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 Conservation biology, Ahead of print attitudes freshwater ecosystems biodiversity loss public opinion communications species introduction environmental threats conservation planning 2018 ftleibnizopen https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13180 2023-09-10T23:10:17Z Public support for biodiversity conservation is shaped by people's values and their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes toward the environment. We conducted the first multinational representative survey of the general public's perceptions of river fish biodiversity in France, Germany, Norway, and Sweden. For the online survey, 1000 respondents per country were randomly selected from large panels following country‐specific quotas set on age, gender, and educational level. Questions covered people's level of knowledge, beliefs, values, and attitudes toward river fish, environmental threats, and conservation measures. We found that the public had limited knowledge of freshwater fishes. Two non‐native species, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), were widely perceived as native, whereas native Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) was mostly classified as native in Scandinavia and largely as non‐native in central Europe. These results suggest an extinction of experience paralleling the extirpation or decline of salmon stocks in countries such as Germany and France. Respondents thought pollution was the dominant threat to riverine fish biodiversity. In reality, habitat loss, dams, and the spread of non‐native fishes are equally important. Despite limited biological knowledge, respondents from all countries held an overwhelmingly proecological worldview, supported conservation stocking, and appreciated native fishes, although only a minority interacted with them directly. Differences among the 4 countries related to several conservation issues. For example, threats to biodiversity stemming from aquaculture were perceived as more prevalent in Norway compared with the other 3 countries. Promoting fish conservation based on charismatic species and use values of fishes may work well in countries with a strong economic and cultural link to the freshwater environment, such as Norway. In countries where people rather abstractly care for nature, focusing conservation messaging on broader ... Other/Unknown Material Atlantic salmon Salmo salar LeibnizOpen (The Leibniz Association) Norway Conservation Biology 33 1 164 175 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
LeibnizOpen (The Leibniz Association) |
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ftleibnizopen |
language |
English |
topic |
attitudes freshwater ecosystems biodiversity loss public opinion communications species introduction environmental threats conservation planning |
spellingShingle |
attitudes freshwater ecosystems biodiversity loss public opinion communications species introduction environmental threats conservation planning Kochalski, Sophia Riepe, Carsten Fujitani, Marie Aas, Oystein Arlinghaus, Robert Public perception of river fish biodiversity in four European countries |
topic_facet |
attitudes freshwater ecosystems biodiversity loss public opinion communications species introduction environmental threats conservation planning |
description |
Public support for biodiversity conservation is shaped by people's values and their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes toward the environment. We conducted the first multinational representative survey of the general public's perceptions of river fish biodiversity in France, Germany, Norway, and Sweden. For the online survey, 1000 respondents per country were randomly selected from large panels following country‐specific quotas set on age, gender, and educational level. Questions covered people's level of knowledge, beliefs, values, and attitudes toward river fish, environmental threats, and conservation measures. We found that the public had limited knowledge of freshwater fishes. Two non‐native species, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), were widely perceived as native, whereas native Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) was mostly classified as native in Scandinavia and largely as non‐native in central Europe. These results suggest an extinction of experience paralleling the extirpation or decline of salmon stocks in countries such as Germany and France. Respondents thought pollution was the dominant threat to riverine fish biodiversity. In reality, habitat loss, dams, and the spread of non‐native fishes are equally important. Despite limited biological knowledge, respondents from all countries held an overwhelmingly proecological worldview, supported conservation stocking, and appreciated native fishes, although only a minority interacted with them directly. Differences among the 4 countries related to several conservation issues. For example, threats to biodiversity stemming from aquaculture were perceived as more prevalent in Norway compared with the other 3 countries. Promoting fish conservation based on charismatic species and use values of fishes may work well in countries with a strong economic and cultural link to the freshwater environment, such as Norway. In countries where people rather abstractly care for nature, focusing conservation messaging on broader ... |
author |
Kochalski, Sophia Riepe, Carsten Fujitani, Marie Aas, Oystein Arlinghaus, Robert |
author_facet |
Kochalski, Sophia Riepe, Carsten Fujitani, Marie Aas, Oystein Arlinghaus, Robert |
author_sort |
Kochalski, Sophia |
title |
Public perception of river fish biodiversity in four European countries |
title_short |
Public perception of river fish biodiversity in four European countries |
title_full |
Public perception of river fish biodiversity in four European countries |
title_fullStr |
Public perception of river fish biodiversity in four European countries |
title_full_unstemmed |
Public perception of river fish biodiversity in four European countries |
title_sort |
public perception of river fish biodiversity in four european countries |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6411888 https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13180 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.13180#support-information-section |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
genre_facet |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
op_source |
Conservation biology, Ahead of print |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13180 |
container_title |
Conservation Biology |
container_volume |
33 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
164 |
op_container_end_page |
175 |
_version_ |
1779313057102561280 |