Abstract
Human–nature interactions are gaining increasing attention, as evidence accumulates on the health and well-being benefits of interacting with nature. Since public interest in wildlife affects support for biodiversity protection, it is important to elucidate and quantify the relevant factors in conservation efforts. However, the factors that affect public interest are highly abstract proxies for the closeness between humans and species. Therefore, more detailed variables that represent familiarity with humans (e.g., habitat type) and their relationship with public interest need to be identified. In the present study, we examined the factors influencing public interest in 391 bird species in Japan using Wikipedia pageviews as a proxy. Daily view data from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2021 were obtained to explore statistical models explaining Wikipedia pageviews for birds using a generalized linear model and the corrected Akaike information criterion. We used habitat type, nesting place, body size, food use, and conservation status as independent variables. In this study, the Ministry of the Environment Red List was used as a conservation status data source, and other independent variables were obtained from the JAVIAN Database. Our results revealed that species that are ecologically and culturally close to humans attract high public interest. Furthermore, species related to an urban habitat type and food use were particularly associated with high public interest. The results showed that people were highly interested in birds that were physically and culturally close to humans. Although cities are historically novel environments, a variety of species have successfully colonized the urban environment, and cities have already been key interaction sites between people and wildlife. Therefore, planning for a highly biodiverse city owns the potential to increase public interest in these species and generate broad public support for conservation.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
All the data that support the findings of this study are included within the article (and any supplementary files).
References
Akaike H (1974) A new look at the statistical model identification. IEEE Trans Automat Contr 19:716–723. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.1974.1100705
Akasaka M, Kubo T, Soga M (2022) How well does online information-seeking behavior indicate public conservation orientation? Taxonomy and personal characteristics matter. J Nat Conserv 126123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2021.126123
Barragan-Jason G, de Mazancourt C, Parmesan C, Singer MC, Loreau M (2022) Human–nature connectedness as a pathway to sustainability: a global meta-analysis. Conserv Lett 15:e12852. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12852
Bartoń K (2020) MuMIn: multi-model inference. R package version 1.43.17. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=MuMIn
Bratman GN, Anderson CB, Berman MG, Cochran B, De Vries S, Flanders J, Daily GC (2019) Nature and mental health: an ecosystem service perspective. Sci Adv 5:eaax0903. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax0903
Burivalova Z, Butler RA, Wilcove DS (2018) Analyzing Google search data to debunk myths about the public’s interest in conservation. Front Ecol Environ 16:509–514. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1962
Correia RA, Jepson PR, Malhado AC, Ladle RJ (2016) Familiarity breeds content: assessing bird species popularity with culturomics. PeerJ 4:e1728. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1728
Correia RA, Ladle R, Jarić I, Malhado AC, Mittermeier JC, Roll U, Di Minin E (2021) Digital data sources and methods for conservation culturomics. Conserv Biol 35:398–411. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13706
DeFries RS, Rudel T, Uriarte M, Hansen M (2010) Deforestation driven by urban population growth and agricultural trade in the twenty-first century. Nat Geosci 3:178–181. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo756
Engemann K, Pedersen CB, Arge L, Tsirogiannis C, Mortensen PB, Svenning JC (2019) Residential green space in childhood is associated with lower risk of psychiatric disorders from adolescence into adulthood. PNAS 116:5188–5193. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1807504116
Fukano Y, Tanaka Y, Soga M (2020) Zoos and animated animals increase public interest in and support for threatened animals. Sci Total Environ 704:135352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135352
Fukano Y, Soga M, Fukuda M, Takahashi Y, Koyama M, Arakawa Y, Horiguchi M (2021) Debut of an endangered bird in zoos raises public interest, awareness and conservation knowledge of the species. Anim Conserv 24:914–924. https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12693
Funk SM, Rusowsky D (2014) The importance of cultural knowledge and scale for analysing internet search data as a proxy for public interest toward the environment. Biodivers Conserv 23:3101–3112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0767-6
Gama GM, Malhado AC, Bragagnolo C, Correia RA, Ladle RJ (2016) Cultural viability of reintroducing the ecologically extinct Alagoas Curassow (Pauxi mitu Linnaeus, 1766) to Northeast Brazil. J Nat Conserv 29:25–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2015.10.005
Garnett ST, Ainsworth GB, Zander KK (2018) Are we choosing the right flagships? The bird species and traits Australians find most attractive. PLoS ONE 13:e0199253. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199253
Hurvich CM, Tsai CL (1991) Bias of the corrected AIC criterion for underfitted regression and time series models. Biometrika 78:499–509. https://doi.org/10.1093/biomet/78.3.499
Isozaki Y, Aoki K, Nakama T, Yanai S (2010) New insight into a subduction-related orogen: a reappraisal of the geotectonic framework and evolution of the Japanese Islands. Gondwana Res 18:82–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2010.02.015
Japanese Cabinet Office (2022) Opinion polls on biodiversity (in Japanese). https://survey.gov-online.go.jp/hutai/r04/r04-seibutsutayousei/2.html#midashi3
Jarić I, Bellard C, Courchamp F, Kalinkat G, Meinard Y, Roberts DL, Correia RA (2020) Societal attention toward extinction threats: a comparison between climate change and biological invasions. Sci Rep 10:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67931-5
Jarić I, Roll U, Bonaiuto M, Brook BW, Courchamp F, Firth JA, Gaston KJ, Heger T, Jeschke JM, Ladle RJ, Meinard Y, Roberts DL, Sherren K, Soga M, Soriano-Redondo A, Veríssimo D, Correia RA (2022) Societal extinction of species. Trends Ecol Evol 37:411–419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2021.12.011
Keyes O, Lewis J (2020) pageviews: an API client for Wikimedia traffic data. R package version 0.5.0. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=pageviews
Kim JY, Do Y, Im RY, Kim GY, Joo GJ (2014) Use of large web-based data to identify public interest and trends related to endangered species. Biodivers Conserv 23:2961–2984. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0757-8
Kim JY, Noda A, Im RY, Nishihiro J (2018) Web search volume as a surrogate of public interest in biodiversity: a case study of Japanese red list species. Ecosyst Health Sustain 4:289–298. https://doi.org/10.1080/20964129.2018.1547125
Ladle RJ, Correia RA, Do Y, Joo GJ, Malhado ACM, Proulx R, Roberge JM, Jepson P (2016) Conservation culturomics. Front Ecol Environ 14:270–276. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1260
Ladle RJ, Jepson P, Correia RA, Malhado ACM (2019) A culturomics approach to quantifying the salience of species on the global internet. People Nat 1:514–532. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10053
Mak B, Francis RA, Chadwick MA (2021) Living in the concrete jungle: a review and socio-ecological perspective of urban raptor habitat quality in Europe. Urban Ecosyst 24(6):1179–1199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-021-01106-6
Miller JR (2005) Biodiversity conservation and the extinction of experience. Trends Ecol Evol 20:430–434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2005.05.013
Mittermeier JC, Roll U, Matthews TJ, Grenyer R (2019) A season for all things: phenological imprints in Wikipedia usage and their relevance to conservation. PLoS Biol 17:e3000146. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000146
Mittermeier JC, Correia R, Grenyer R, Toivonen T, Roll U (2021) Using Wikipedia to measure public interest in biodiversity and conservation. Conserv Biol 35:412–423. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13702
Nagelkerke NJ (1991) A note on a general definition of the coefficient of determination. Biometrika 78(3):691–692. https://doi.org/10.1093/biomet/78.3.691
Natsukawa H, Mori K, Komuro S, Shiokawa T, Umetsu J, Ichinose T (2019) Environmental factors affecting the reproductive rate of urban Northern Goshawks. J Raptor Res 53:377–386. https://doi.org/10.3356/0892-1016-53.4.377
Norris K, Terry A, Hansford JP, Turvey ST (2020) Biodiversity conservation and the earth system: mind the gap. Trends Ecol Evol 35:919–926. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2020.06.010
Ornithological society of Japan (2012) Check list of Japanese birds 7th revised edition. https://ornithology.jp/en/publications.html
Phillis CC, O’Regan SM, Green SJ, Bruce JE, Anderson SC, Linton JN, Derby EOR, Favaro B (2013) Multiple pathways to conservation success. Conserv Lett 6:98–106. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2012.00294.x
Proulx R, Massicotte P, Pepino M (2014) Googling trends in conservation biology. Conserv Biol 28:44–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12131
R Core Team (2021) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/
Rodrigues AS, Pilgrim JD, Lamoreux JF, Hoffmann M, Brooks TM (2006) The value of the IUCN Red List for conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 21:71–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2005.10.010
Rojas-Rueda D, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ, Gascon M, Perez-Leon D, Mudu P (2019) Green spaces and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies. Lancet Planet Health 3:e469–e477. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(19)30215-3
Roll U, Mittermeier JC, Diaz GI, Novosolov M, Feldman A, Itescu Y, Meiri S, Grenyer R (2016) Using Wikipedia page views to explore the cultural importance of global reptiles. Biol Conserv 204:42–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.03.037
Rosa CD, Profice CC, Collado S (2018) Nature experiences and adults’ self-reported pro-environmental behaviors: the role of connectedness to nature and childhood nature experiences. Front Psychol 9:1055. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01055
Schuetz JG, Johnston A (2019) Characterizing the cultural niches of North American birds. PNAS 116:10868–10873. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1820670116
Schuetz J, Soykan CU, Distler T, Langham G (2015) Searching for backyard birds in virtual worlds: internet queries mirror real species distributions. Biodivers Conserv 24:1147–1154. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0847-7
Soga M, Gaston KJ (2016) Extinction of experience: the loss of human–nature interactions. Front Ecol Environ 14:94–101. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1225
Soga M, Gaston KJ (2018) Shifting baseline syndrome: causes, consequences, and implications. Front Ecol Environ 16:222–230. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1794
Soga M, Gaston KJ (2020) The ecology of human–nature interactions. Proc Royal Soc B 287:20191882. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1882
Soga M, Evans MJ, Yamanoi T, Fukano Y, Tsuchiya K, Koyanagi TF, Kanai T (2020) How can we mitigate against increasing biophobia among children during the extinction of experience? Biol Conserv 242:108420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108420
Su S, Cassey P, Vall-Llosera M, Blackburn TM (2015) Going cheap: determinants of bird price in the Taiwanese pet market. PLoS ONE 10:e0127482. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127482
Takagawa S, Ueta M, Amano T, Okahisa Y, Kamioki M, Takagi K, Takahashi M, Hayama S, Hirano T, Mikami O, Mori S, Morimoto G, Yamaura Y (2011). JAVIAN Database: a species-level database of life history, ecology and morphology of bird species in Japan. Bird Res 7: R9-R12. https://doi.org/10.11211/birdresearch.7.R9
Twohig-Bennett C, Jones A (2018) The health benefits of the great outdoors: a systematic review and meta-analysis of greenspace exposure and health outcomes. Environ Res 166:628–637. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.06.030
Uchida K, Blakey RV, Burger JR, Cooper DS, Niesner CA, Blumstein DT (2021) Urban biodiversity and the importance of scale. Trends Ecol Evol 36:123–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2020.10.011
Ulrich RS (1984) View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science 224:420–421. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.6143402
Venables WN, Ripley BD (2002) Modern applied statistics with S, 4th edn. Springer, New York
Wang Z, Zeng J, Meng W, Lohman DJ, Pierce NE (2021) Out of sight, out of mind: public and research interest in insects is negatively correlated with their conservation status. Insect Conserv Divers 14:700–708. https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12499
Watari Y, Komine H, Angulo E, Diagne C, Ballesteros-Mejia L, Courchamp F (2021) First synthesis of the economic costs of biological invasions in Japan. NeoBiota 67:79–101
Wickham H, Averick M, Bryan J, Chang W, D’Agostino McGowan L, François R, Grolemund G, Hayes A, Henry L, Hester J, Kuhn M, Lin Pedersen T, Miller E, Milton Bache S, Müller K, Ooms J, Robinson D, Paige Seidel D, Spinu V, Takahashi K, Vaughan D, Wilke C, Woo K, Yutani H (2019) Welcome to the tidyverse. J Open Source Softw 4(43), 1686. https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01686
Xu J, Jiang A (2022) Effects of nature contact on children’s willingness to conserve animals under rapid urbanization. Glob Ecol Conserv 38:e02278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02278
Acknowledgements
We thank the anonymous reviewers for comments that helped improve the manuscript. This research was supported by the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN: a constituent member of NIHU) Project No. RIHN14200145.
Funding
This work was supported by the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Kosuke Takaya: Conceptualization, data collection, interpretation, and preparation of the first original manuscript Daiki Tomojiri: Conceptualization, data collection, data analysis and visualization, interpretation, and preparation of the first original manuscript
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Takaya, K., Tomojiri, D. Proxy variables of the closeness between humans and wildlife associated with public interest in bird species in Japan. Eur J Wildl Res 69, 120 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-023-01749-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-023-01749-0