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Human observers differ in ability to perceive insect diversity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2016

JOSEPH S. WILSON ,
JOSHUA P. JAHNER  and
MATTHEW L. FORISTER
JOSEPH S. WILSON*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Utah State University Tooele, Tooele, UT, USA
JOSHUA P. JAHNER
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
MATTHEW L. FORISTER
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
*
*Correspondence: Joseph S. Wilson e-mail [email protected]
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Summary

Human perception of biological variation is an important and understudied issue in the conservation and management of natural resources. Here, we took a novel approach by asking 1152 participants, primarily college biology students, to score examples of insect mimicry by the number of distinct kinds of animals they saw. Latent class analysis successfully separated participants based on their accuracy of perception as well as demographic information and opinions about biodiversity. Contrary to expectations, factors such as childhood experience (growing up in urban, suburban or rural areas) did not affect the ability to see biodiversity as much as political views (location on a spectrum from liberal to conservative) or the position that biodiversity is important for the health of the environment. We conclude that research into effective measures of biological education should consider the connection between personal views and perceptions of natural variation.

Keywords

biodiversityconservationidentifying biodiversitymimicry
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , December 2016 , pp. 376 - 380
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2016 

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Supplementary material: File

Wilson supplementary material

Table S1 and Figures S1-S3

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