Assessing the effects of information on the level of support toward charismatic and inconspicuous wildlife species in a highly threatened wetland by the urban population of Valdivia, Chile

(Poster)

Martín Espinosa-Molina
mespinosams@gmail.com

Institute of Botanic and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstraße 15, 17489, Greifswald, Germany., Germany
,
Volker Beckmann
Institute of Botanic and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstraße 15, 17489, Greifswald, Germany., Germany

DOI: 10.17011/conference/eccb2018/107221

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The inclusion of human communities into practical conservation of threatened species has received increasing recognition. One way to achieve this is to understand the current (actual) relation between people and wildlife in a specific territory (1,2,3). The advantage of such understanding is to predict public support towards wildlife species, and therefore develop accurate environmental management strategies (2). The willingness to pay method has been used for this purpose (3). Based on surveys, this method elicits the level of support of people by identifying the amount of money that a person would be willing to give to support conservation activities (3). In the present study it will be used not to obtain a monetary value but to compare the level of support towards different species, as an alternative to the Likert scale method. Besides, it is possible within the survey, to classify people's values towards wildlife and nature (1).

The Centro de Humedales Río Cruces (CHRC) is a pro environmental institution in Valdivia, Chile. In accordance with what is described above, it is necessary to understand the relation between the residents of Valdivia and the wildlife. Doing this will help the CHRC to develop activities for the residents of Valdivia, to conserve not only charismatic species but also inconspicuous.

The aim of the study is to understand how additional information could affect public preferences towards native wildlife species and it´s conservation, present in the river "Cruces" wetland, by the residents of the city of Valdivia, Chile. The specific objectives are to determine: i) the support towards charismatic and inconspicuous wildlife species, ii) the influence of knowledge (e.i. threatened category and endemism) in the support of species, iii) and determine the underlying values of the support towards wildlife species.

The study will be conducted in Valdivia, Chile, which is situated in the middle of the river "Cruces" wetland. This wetland have a high percentage of threatened and endemic species and is located in one of the 36 biodiversity hotspot.

A questionnaire will be conducted by in-person interviews (March - April 2018). It will be similar to similar previous studies (2), compose by sections. The sections will be: i) demographic characteristics, ii) naturalistic activities, iii) worldview´s iv) aesthetic and negativistic attitudes, v) the support towards wildlife species, and vi) the influence of information in the support towards wildlife species.

1 Kellert, S R (1997). The value of life: Biological diversity and human society. Island Press.

2 Liordos V et al. (2017). Effects of attitudes and demography on public support for endangered species conservation. Science of The Total Environment, 595, 25-34.

3 Tisdell H S et al. (2005). Association of public support for survival of wildlife species with their likeability. Anthrozoös, 18(2), 160-174

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INTRO:
The manuscript explains the authors' future plans to assess interactions between people and wildlife in Southern Chile. To do this, they are planning to measure people willingness to pay for the conservation of charismatic and inconspicuous species. The authors expect their result to contribute towards a better understanding of the relationship between people in Southern Chile and local wildlife, as well as to future conservation management in the region.
MERITS:
This is an exciting participatory conservation project, which will probably have a positive impact on peoples' perceptions of wildlife at the local scale in Chile.
CRITIQUE:
The manuscript is difficult to follow. There seem to be too many ideas and only a few of them being tested. In addition, the terminology (e.g. human communities) is not used properly, which make the reader missing the focus of the study.
DISCUSSION:
This is a great study to look at in a year time. The authors suggest an innovative way of assessing people relation/perception with/towards wildlife, however, the background, specific methods and outputs need more work. Lastly, because they still have no results, it is difficult to know what are the implications of this project, as well as the authors' interpretation of their results for future management decisions.

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INTRO:
This study aims to inform and optimise conservation actions specific to Valdivia, Chile for future conservation plans, a really important way of ensuring resources are put to the most efficient use.

MERITS:
They have justified the study very clearly, and specified that their findings will inform future conservation of the area. It seems like a very interesting study with obvious implications.

CRITIQUE:
It could be a weakness that no data has been collected yet, but they have included a reference to a similar study, reinforcing the reliability of the methodology. They don't however discuss how their very specific study would apply on a broader scale.

DISCUSSION:
I think overall it sounds like a well justified and interesting study They are very clear about the implications of their specific study, but it would be nice to mention how this would scale up to broader applications.