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Selection and Implementation of a Flagship Fleet in a Locally Undervalued Region of High Endemicity

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Abstract

Flagships are one conservation education tool. We present a proposed flagship species fleet for environmental education in central Chile. Our methods followed recent flagship guidelines. We present our selection process and a detailed justification for the fleet of flagship species that we selected. Our results are a list of eight flagship species forming a flagship fleet, including two small- and medium-sized mammals, the degu (Octodon degus) and the culpeo fox (Lycalopex culpeaus), two birds, the turca (Pteroptochos megapoidius) and the burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia), the Chilean iguana (Calopistes palluma), the tarantula (Grammostola mollicoma), and two trees, the litre (Lithrea caustica) and the espino (Acacia caven). We then describe how these flagships can be deployed most effectively, describing their audience, effective narrative frames, and modes of presentation. We conclude that general selection rules paired with social science background data allow for an efficient selection process.

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Acknowledgments

Thank you to Ben Campbell for an introduction to ethnographic theory and local ecological knowledge studies. MR-B was supported by a doctoral fellowship from CONICYT, No. 63105446. Funds for production of the environmental education posters in Fig. 3 came from CASEB, Fundación Senda Darwin, and private donors through Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com). The poster was created by Isabel Dedoscruzados with help from MR-B and Valentina Perez.

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  1. Department of Ecology, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Meredith Root-Bernstein & Juan Armesto

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  1. Meredith Root-Bernstein
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  2. Juan Armesto
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Correspondence to Meredith Root-Bernstein.

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Root-Bernstein, M., Armesto, J. Selection and Implementation of a Flagship Fleet in a Locally Undervalued Region of High Endemicity. AMBIO 42, 776–787 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-013-0385-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-013-0385-7

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