Biodiversity Awareness Research Articles

How Many Species Are There? Public Understanding and Awareness of Biodiversity in Switzerland

This paper presents the results of interviews and a questionnaire study on public knowledge of the concept of biodiversity and of plant species richness in Switzerland. Despite its extensive use in science and policy making, the concept of biodiversity is not widely recognized or known to people in Switzerland. Overall, 60% of all study participants (161 grammar school pupils, 110 non-graduates, and 96 graduates in the Canton of Zurich) had never heard the term biodiversity, while the others had come across it primarily in the media. Few study participants considered their school education a relevant source of information about biodiversity. Study participants most frequently referred to the diversity of plants and animals when defining biodiversity, but also quite often believed that biodiversity had something to do with ecological concepts such as the equilibrium between all components of nature. Both young people and adults held widely inaccurate ideas of the plant species richness of communities. Particularly for Switzerland, plant species richness was strongly overestimated.

Developing and implementing participatory and ecosystem based multiple use forest management planning approach (ETÇAP): Yalnızçam case study

This paper explains the conceptual framework of ecosystem based multiple use forest management (ETÇAP) approach and its implementation in a case study area. The new management philosophy has four important pillars; integration of biodiversity conservation into forest management process, characterization and accommodation of multiple forest values, effective participation of stakeholders and the use of advanced information technologies and management science techniques. These components comprise a sound framework of a forest management planning system in Turkey as the ownership, land use policy, social structure and forest ecosystems are unique to the country. Among few implementation sites, some experiences from the case study area of Yanlızçam planning unit were documented to realize the performance of the concept. The liaison between the government institutions and major stakeholders is found necessary, and the effective use of geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) have been realized critically important to better communicate among stakeholders and generate precise database and the plan. The case study indicated that structured participation is an effective communication tool and has a better possibly to promote multiple use forest management rather than using participation as solo information gathering process. Primary challenges relate to the effectiveness of national conservation program, availability of coherent biodiversity data and adequacy of institutional capacity that involve awareness, training and common understanding of biodiversity and protected area concept; coordination among the related institutions and stakeholders, and willingness and enthusiasm of authorities to accept and implement the concept.

Developing and Implementing Multiple-Use Forest Management Planning in Turkey

This paper explains briefly the conceptual framework of an ecosystem-based multiple-use forest management planning focusing on biodiversity conservation and participation. Some results from a case study were documented to realize the implementation of the concept. A strong liaison between the related institutions and major stakeholders and the effective use of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) are necessary. Effective participation is evident only with the involvement of enthusiastic and skillful stakeholders. A case study of Iğneada, Turkey, supported the idea that participation as communication has better possibilities to promote multiple-use forest management than participation as information gathering. Primary challenges relate to the effectiveness of conservation program, availability of coherent biodiversity data, capacity building; awareness, training, and common understanding of biodiversity and protected area concept; coordination among the related institutions and stakeholders; and willingness and enthusiasm of authorities to accept and implement the concept.

Marine Turtle Newsletter; Herpetological Survey 2006 Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles of Quebec; Bill Cody Receives Yukon Biodiversity Awareness Award

Marine Turtle Newsletter; Herpetological Survey 2006 Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles of Quebec; Bill Cody Receives Yukon Biodiversity Awareness Award

Urban domestic gardens (II): experimental tests of methods for increasing biodiversity

The extent and continued expansion of urbanisation has focused attention on the significance for native biodiversity of those green spaces remaining within such areas and the most appropriate methods of managing them. In the UK, a high proportion of urban space is comprised of the private or domestic gardens associated with residential dwellings, and many recommendations have been made for simple changes to improve their value for biodiversity (‘wildlife gardening’). Here, we report the results of replicated experimental tests of five such common recommendations, involving the introduction to gardens of (i) artificial nest sites for solitary bees and wasps; (ii) artificial nest sites for bumblebees; (iii) small ponds; (iv) dead wood for fungi and other saproxylic organisms; and (v) patches of nettles Urtica dioica L. for butterfly larvae. The broad conclusion is that whilst some methods for increasing the biodiversity of garden environments may be very effective, others have a low probability of success on the timescales and spatial scales likely to be acceptable to many garden owners. If one of the functions of small scale biodiversity enhancement is to develop and encourage awareness of biodiversity and its conservation, then encouragement to conduct particular activities must be balanced with a realistic appraisal of their likely success.

Case Study

This paper describes the development and implementation of a web-based project — Walking with woodlice (www.nhm.ac.uk/woodlice) — intended to encourage and enable first-hand encounters with the biodiversity of the natural world. Targeted principally at 7 to 14 year-olds, the project was designed to raise students' awareness of biodiversity by actively involving them in biological research. It also aimed to explore their use of identification keys and to investigate the potential of the Internet as a mechanism for sharing and distributing biodiversity data. The development of identification tools and the processes of data submission and analysis are described and examples of results are presented graphically. The paper concludes with a preliminary evaluation of the project's findings. The quantity and quality of feedback suggest that active involvement in a project of this type can promote learning about biodiversity both in general and in specific cases.

Biodiversity awareness: People, museums and the Web

(2000). Biodiversity awareness: People, museums and the Web. Biodiversity: Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 38-39.

Restoration ecology and conservation biology

Restoration ecology is undergoing rapid growth as an academic discipline, similar to that experienced by conservation biology over the last 15 years. Restoration ecology and conservation biology share many underlying biodiversity goals, but differ in striking ways. Using data from published literature in these two fields, I document that conservation biology has been more zoological, more descriptive and theoretical, and more focused on population and genetic studies than restoration ecology, which has been more botanical, more experimental, and more focused on population, community and ecosystem studies. I also use documented trends in population, land use, and biodiversity awareness to suggest that in the future ecological restoration will play an increasing role in biodiversity conservation. The conservation mind set is one of loss on a relatively short time horizon, whereas the restoration mind set is one of long-term recovery. I suggest that a restoration mind set can provide useful insights into problems of conservation today, illustrated with examples examining edge effects and integrated conservation and development projects.

Preliminary observations on awareness, management and impact of biodiversity in agricultural systems

Preliminary observations on awareness, management and impact of biodiversity in agricultural systems