Rare Species Are Valued Big Time

Elena Angulo,Franck Courchamp,Michael Somers

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005215

Abstract

BackgroundIt has recently been postulated that the value humans place on rarity could cause the extinction of rare species. This is because people are willing to pay the high costs of exploiting the last individuals. Many hobbies, such as ecotourism or the keeping of exotic pets may cause this effect – known as the anthropogenic Allee effect. However, the entire theory relies on the insofar undemonstrated assumption that people do value rarity.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn order to quantify how much people valued rare species relative to common ones, we created online slideshows of photographs of either rare or common species on an Internet web site. The slideshow with photographs of rare species attracted more visitors, and visitors spent, in general, more time waiting to view it.Conclusions/SignificanceWe provide evidence that people value rare more than common species. As we did not target consumers of a specific market, this finding suggests that the anthropogenic Allee effect is likely be driven by a large part of the population. Given the substantial participation in our online experiment, we highlight the potential of the world wide web resource as a tool for conservation action. However, the evidence presented here that the general public value rare species, combined with the assumption that anthropogenic Allee effect is operating, implies that conservationists should be prudent when using rarity to promote conservation.

Highlights

The exploitation of rare and endangered species may result in their extinction, if people who greatly value rarity can drive an increase in the economic incentives to exploit the last individuals, thereby creating a positive feedback loop [1]
Different activities may drive an anthropogenic Allee effect: collections and trophy hunting, in which the rarity of a species is directly related into an exponential increase in their value [5,6,7]; luxury items, traditional medicine and exotic pets, in which the perception of rarity increases the owners prestige and, in turn, increases people willingness to pay even high prices [8,9,10]; negative impacts of ecotourism on species via disturbance would be mostly focused on fashionable species, most of which correspond to already endangered species [2]
Attractiveness of photographs of rare species We provided online slideshows of photographs of either rare or common species

Summary

Introduction

The exploitation of rare and endangered species may result in their extinction, if people who greatly value rarity can drive an increase in the economic incentives to exploit the last individuals, thereby creating a positive feedback loop [1]. Different activities may drive an anthropogenic Allee effect: collections and trophy hunting, in which the rarity of a species is directly related into an exponential increase in their value [5,6,7]; luxury items, traditional medicine and exotic pets, in which the perception of rarity increases the owners prestige and, in turn, increases people willingness to pay even high prices [8,9,10]; negative impacts of ecotourism on species via disturbance would be mostly focused on fashionable species, most of which correspond to already endangered species [2] Such higher value of rare species remains, to be demonstrated. The entire theory relies on the insofar undemonstrated assumption that people do value rarity

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Conclusion