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Mammola S, Adamo M, Antić D, Calevo J, Cancellario T, Cardoso P, Chamberlain D, Chialva M, Durucan F, Fontaneto D, Goncalves D, Martínez A, Santini L, Rubio-Lopez I, Sousa R, Villegas-Rios D, Verdes A, Correia RA. Drivers of species knowledge across the tree of life. eLife 2023; 12:RP88251. [PMID: 37846960 PMCID: PMC10581686 DOI: 10.7554/elife.88251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Knowledge of biodiversity is unevenly distributed across the Tree of Life. In the long run, such disparity in awareness unbalances our understanding of life on Earth, influencing policy decisions and the allocation of research and conservation funding. We investigated how humans accumulate knowledge of biodiversity by searching for consistent relationships between scientific (number of publications) and societal (number of views in Wikipedia) interest, and species-level morphological, ecological, and sociocultural factors. Across a random selection of 3019 species spanning 29 Phyla/Divisions, we show that sociocultural factors are the most important correlates of scientific and societal interest in biodiversity, including the fact that a species is useful or harmful to humans, has a common name, and is listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. Furthermore, large-bodied, broadly distributed, and taxonomically unique species receive more scientific and societal attention, whereas colorfulness and phylogenetic proximity to humans correlate exclusively with societal attention. These results highlight a favoritism toward limited branches of the Tree of Life, and that scientific and societal priorities in biodiversity research broadly align. This suggests that we may be missing out on key species in our research and conservation agenda simply because they are not on our cultural radar.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Mammola
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research CouncilVerbaniaItaly
- Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research (LIBRe), Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS), University of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
- National Biodiversity Future CenterPalermoItaly
| | - Martino Adamo
- National Biodiversity Future CenterPalermoItaly
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TurinTorinoItaly
| | - Dragan Antić
- University of Belgrade - Faculty of BiologyBelgradeSerbia
| | - Jacopo Calevo
- Royal Botanic GardensLondonUnited Kingdom
- School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin UniversityPerthAustralia
| | - Tommaso Cancellario
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research CouncilVerbaniaItaly
| | - Pedro Cardoso
- Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research (LIBRe), Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS), University of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
| | - Dan Chamberlain
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TurinTorinoItaly
| | - Matteo Chialva
- National Biodiversity Future CenterPalermoItaly
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TurinTorinoItaly
| | - Furkan Durucan
- Department of Aquaculture, Isparta University of Applied SciencesIspartaTurkey
| | - Diego Fontaneto
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research CouncilVerbaniaItaly
- National Biodiversity Future CenterPalermoItaly
| | - Duarte Goncalves
- CIIMAR, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of PortoMatosinhosPortugal
| | - Alejandro Martínez
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research CouncilVerbaniaItaly
| | - Luca Santini
- Department of Biology and Biotechnologies “Charles Darwin”, Sapienza University of RomeRomeItaly
| | - Iñigo Rubio-Lopez
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research CouncilVerbaniaItaly
| | - Ronaldo Sousa
- CBMA – Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology, Department of Biology, University of MinhoMinhoPortugal
| | | | - Aida Verdes
- Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias NaturalesMadridSpain
| | - Ricardo A Correia
- Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science (HELICS), Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
- Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), University of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
- CESAM – Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of AveiroAveiroPortugal
- Biodiversity Unit, University of TurkuTurkuFinland
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Kacprzyk J, Clune S, Clark C, Kane A. Making a greener planet: nature documentaries promote plant awareness. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2023; 131:255-260. [PMID: 36791803 PMCID: PMC9992931 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcac149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Plants underpin life on Earth and are essential to human existence. Alarmingly, almost 40% of plant species are under threat of extinction, with plants that are not directly useful to humans being particularly vulnerable. Plant diversity and its untapped resources require urgent protection to safeguard our future, but conservation initiatives are biased towards mammals and birds. Plant awareness disparity, formerly known as plant blindness, describes our tendency to ignore plant life and has been suggested to play a crucial role in the bias against funding and support for plant conservation programmes. Previous studies indicate that nature documentaries can generate shifts in audience awareness of animal species by providing vicarious connections to nature. Here, we investigated whether the plant-focused popular BBC show Green Planet had a similar effect for plants and stimulated audience engagement for information after the broadcast. METHODS Online searches for further information were considered a form of engagement for evaluation of the interest of the audience in plants portrayed in Green Planet episodes. The big data activities (Google search engine and Wikipedia pageviews trends) related to the plants mentioned in Green Planet episodes were examined over the period covering the broadcast of the show in UK. KEY RESULTS Analyses indicate that Green Planet generated increased awareness and stimulated audience engagement for further information about plants featured in the show, with audience reaction driven by the screen time. CONCLUSIONS Natural history films can promote plant awareness, and culturomic tools can be used to assess their impact on the general public, potentially also to inform plant conservation strategies. These are promising findings as we strive to increase public awareness of the value of plant life.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Stephanie Clune
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | - Clare Clark
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | - Adam Kane
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
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Akasaka M, Kubo T, Soga M. How well does online information-seeking behavior indicate public conservation orientation? Taxonomy and personal characteristics matter. J Nat Conserv 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jnc.2021.126123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Nolan G, Kane A, Fernández‐Bellon D. Natural history films generate more online interest in depicted species than in conservation messages. PEOPLE AND NATURE 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Grace Nolan
- School of Biology and Environmental Science University College Dublin Dublin Ireland
| | - Adam Kane
- School of Biology and Environmental Science University College Dublin Dublin Ireland
- Earth Institute University College Dublin Dublin Ireland
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Mushtaq S, Shafiq M, Tariq MR, Sami A, Nawaz-ul-Rehman MS, Bhatti MHT, Haider MS, Sadiq S, Abbas MT, Hussain M, Shahid MA. Interaction between bacterial endophytes and host plants. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:1092105. [PMID: 36743537 PMCID: PMC9890182 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1092105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 12/22/2022] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
Endophytic bacteria are mainly present in the plant's root systems. Endophytic bacteria improve plant health and are sometimes necessary to fight against adverse conditions. There is an increasing trend for the use of bacterial endophytes as bio-fertilizers. However, new challenges are also arising regarding the management of these newly discovered bacterial endophytes. Plant growth-promoting bacterial endophytes exist in a wide host range as part of their microbiome, and are proven to exhibit positive effects on plant growth. Endophytic bacterial communities within plant hosts are dynamic and affected by abiotic/biotic factors such as soil conditions, geographical distribution, climate, plant species, and plant-microbe interaction at a large scale. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the mechanism of bacterial endophytes' interaction with plants under field conditions before their application. Bacterial endophytes have both beneficial and harmful impacts on plants but the exact mechanism of interaction is poorly understood. A basic approach to exploit the potential genetic elements involved in an endophytic lifestyle is to compare the genomes of rhizospheric plant growth-promoting bacteria with endophytic bacteria. In this mini-review, we will be focused to characterize the genetic diversity and dynamics of endophyte interaction in different host plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sehrish Mushtaq
- Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Shafiq
- Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
- *Correspondence: Muhammad Adnan Shahid, ; Muhammad Shafiq,
| | - Muhammad Rizwan Tariq
- Department of Food Science, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Adnan Sami
- Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Shah Nawaz-ul-Rehman
- Virology Lab, Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture Faisalabad Pakistan, Faisalabad, Pakistan
| | | | | | - Saleha Sadiq
- Institute of Biochemistry, Biotechnology, and Bioinformatics (IBBB), The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Taqqi Abbas
- Department of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Mujahid Hussain
- Horticultural Science Department, North Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida/IFAS, Quincy, FL, United States
| | - Muhammad Adnan Shahid
- Horticultural Science Department, North Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida/IFAS, Quincy, FL, United States
- *Correspondence: Muhammad Adnan Shahid, ; Muhammad Shafiq,
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Correia RA, Ladle R, Jarić I, Malhado ACM, Mittermeier JC, Roll U, Soriano-Redondo A, Veríssimo D, Fink C, Hausmann A, Guedes-Santos J, Vardi R, Di Minin E. Digital data sources and methods for conservation culturomics. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2021; 35:398-411. [PMID: 33749027 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2020] [Revised: 04/27/2020] [Accepted: 06/05/2020] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Ongoing loss of biological diversity is primarily the result of unsustainable human behavior. Thus, the long-term success of biodiversity conservation depends on a thorough understanding of human-nature interactions. Such interactions are ubiquitous but vary greatly in time and space and are difficult to monitor efficiently at large spatial scales. However, the Information Age also provides new opportunities to better understand human-nature interactions because many aspects of daily life are recorded in a variety of digital formats. The emerging field of conservation culturomics aims to take advantage of digital data sources and methods to study human-nature interactions and thus to provide new tools for studying conservation at relevant temporal and spatial scales. Nevertheless, technical challenges associated with the identification, access, and analysis of relevant data hamper the wider adoption of culturomics methods. To help overcome these barriers, we propose a conservation culturomics research framework that addresses data acquisition, analysis, and inherent biases. The main sources of culturomic data include web pages, social media, and other digital platforms from which metrics of content and engagement can be obtained. Obtaining raw data from these platforms is usually desirable but requires careful consideration of how to access, store, and prepare the data for analysis. Methods for data analysis include network approaches to explore connections between topics, time-series analysis for temporal data, and spatial modeling to highlight spatial patterns. Outstanding challenges associated with culturomics research include issues of interdisciplinarity, ethics, data biases, and validation. The practical guidance we offer will help conservation researchers and practitioners identify and obtain the necessary data and carry out appropriate analyses for their specific questions, thus facilitating the wider adoption of culturomics approaches for conservation applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ricardo A Correia
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
- Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
- CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro, 3910-193, Portugal
- Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, 57072-900, Brazil
| | - Richard Ladle
- Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, 57072-900, Brazil
- CIBIO/InBio, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Porto, 4485-661, Portugal
| | - Ivan Jarić
- Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, České Budějovice, 37005, Czech Republic
- Department of Ecosystem Biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, 37005, Czech Republic
| | - Ana C M Malhado
- Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, 57072-900, Brazil
| | - John C Mittermeier
- School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, U.K
| | - Uri Roll
- Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, 8499000, Israel
| | - Andrea Soriano-Redondo
- CIBIO/InBio, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Porto, 4485-661, Portugal
- CIBIO/InBio, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Laboratório Associado, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, 1349-017, Portugal
| | - Diogo Veríssimo
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3SZ, U.K
- Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3BD, U.K
- San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, Escondido, CA, 92027, U.S.A
| | - Christoph Fink
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
- Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
| | - Anna Hausmann
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
- Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
| | - Jhonatan Guedes-Santos
- Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, 57072-900, Brazil
| | - Reut Vardi
- The Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-GurionDurban, 8499000, Israel
| | - Enrico Di Minin
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
- Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
- School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 4041, South Africa
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Correia RA, Ladle R, Roll U. Introduction. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2021; 35:395-397. [PMID: 33749002 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Ricardo A Correia
- Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science (HELICS), Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
- Helsinki Institute for Sustainability Science (HELSUS), Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
- CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro, 3910-193, Portugal
| | - Richard Ladle
- CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação Em Biodiversidade E Recursos Genéticos, Universidade Do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Vairão, 4485-661, Portugal
- Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, 57072-900, Brazil
| | - Uri Roll
- Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, 8499000, Israel
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