Societal attention toward extinction threats

Abstract

Public attention and interest in the fate of endangered species is a crucial prerequisite for effective conservation programs. Societal awareness and values will largely determine whether conservation initiatives receive necessary support and lead to adequate policy change. Using text data mining, we assessed general public attention toward climate change and biological invasions, which represent two key threats for endangered amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal species in three European countries (France, Germany and the United Kingdom). Our analysis revealed that public attention patterns differed among species groups and countries but was globally higher for climate change than for biological invasions. Both threats received better recognition in threatened than in non-threatened species, as well as in native species than in species from other countries and regions. The relative level of attention toward the two threats corresponded well with the listing of the threats and their severity within the IUCN Red List. We conclude that more efficient communication regarding the threat from biological invasions should be developed, and that conservation practitioners should take advantage of the existing attention toward the threat of climate change.