Eylering Annike, Neufeld Kerstin, Kottmann Felix, Holt Sebastian, Fiebelkorn Florian
Biology Didactics, Department of Biology and Chemistry, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jun 28;14:1112182. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1112182. eCollection 2023.
Due to the dramatic biodiversity crisis, it is crucial to understand how people perceive biodiversity. Knowledge of how thoughts are organized around this concept can identify which ideas are best to focus on biodiversity conservation information campaigns. The primary aim of the present study was to identify social representations of the German public regarding the concept of biodiversity and its loss using a free word association test. Furthermore, unique association networks were analyzed. For this purpose, data collection was performed in September 2021 in Germany using an online questionnaire to assess participants' associations with the prompt "biodiversity" ( = 131) and "biodiversity loss" ( = 130). Additionally, we used the social network software Gephi to create biodiversity (loss) association networks. The five most commonly mentioned associations for biodiversity were "animal," "plant," "nature," "human," and "flower." For biodiversity loss, the five most commonly mentioned associations were "species extinction," "climate change," "plant," "insect," and "bee." Neither "land use change" nor "invasive species," as key drivers of biodiversity loss, were present in social representations of the German public. A difference was observed in the total number of mentioned associations between biodiversity and biodiversity loss. For both, the associations "plant" and "animal" were related. However, participants associated specific taxa only with animals, such as "insects" and "birds." For plants, no specific taxa were named. Based on the network analysis, the most commonly mentioned word pairs for biodiversity and biodiversity loss were "plant - animal" and "species loss - climate change," respectively. Based on our statistical network analysis, these associations were identified as the most central associations with the greatest influence in the network. Thus, they had the most connections and the function of predicting the flow in the network. In sum, the public's multifaceted views on biodiversity and its loss, as well as the aforementioned central associations, hold great potential to be utilized more for the communication and education of biodiversity conservation. In addition, our findings contribute to the scientific community's understanding of social representations and perceptions of biodiversity and its loss.
由于生物多样性危机急剧，了解人们如何看待生物多样性至关重要。了解围绕这一概念的思维组织方式，有助于确定在生物多样性保护宣传活动中应重点关注哪些观点。本研究的主要目的是通过自由词联想测试，确定德国公众对生物多样性概念及其丧失的社会表征。此外，还分析了独特的联想网络。为此，2021年9月在德国通过在线问卷进行数据收集，以评估参与者对提示词“生物多样性”（n = 131）和“生物多样性丧失”（n = 130）的联想。此外，我们使用社会网络软件Gephi创建生物多样性（丧失）联想网络。生物多样性最常被提及的五个联想词是“动物”“植物”“自然”“人类”和“花朵”。对于生物多样性丧失，最常被提及的五个联想词是“物种灭绝”“气候变化”“植物”“昆虫”和“蜜蜂”。作为生物多样性丧失的关键驱动因素，“土地利用变化”和“入侵物种”均未出现在德国公众的社会表征中。在生物多样性和生物多样性丧失的提及联想词总数上观察到差异。对于两者而言，“植物”和“动物”的联想词是相关的。然而，参与者仅将特定的分类群与动物相关联，如“昆虫”和“鸟类”。对于植物，未提及具体的分类群。基于网络分析，生物多样性和生物多样性丧失最常被提及的词对分别是“植物 - 动物”和“物种丧失 - 气候变化”。基于我们的统计网络分析，这些联想被确定为网络中最核心、影响力最大的联想。因此，它们具有最多的连接以及预测网络中信息流的功能。总之，公众对生物多样性及其丧失的多方面观点，以及上述核心联想，在生物多样性保护的传播和教育方面具有巨大的利用潜力。此外，我们的研究结果有助于科学界理解生物多样性及其丧失的社会表征和认知。
