Dead or Alive? Teacher Students’ Perception of Invasive Alien Animal Species and Attitudes towards their Management
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Martin Remmele 1 * , Petra Lindemann-Matthies 1
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1 Karlsruhe University of Education, GERMANY* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This study investigated the perception of 13 invasive alien animal species (IAAS) by 220 teacher students and their attitudes towards species management, either with or without prior information about the IAAS presented. In a first questionnaire, the IAAS (eight vertebrates, five invertebrates) were presented as photographs and their invasive status was not revealed. In a second questionnaire, one half of the participants received information about the invasive character of the species, the other half did not. Then, attitudes of both groups towards various management options were assessed. Mammals such as grey squirrel, raccoon and raccoon dog were considered most beautiful and wanted, but the harlequin ladybird, an insect, was also considered attractive. Participants who had received information about the invasive character of the species presented were more in favor of eradication and partial removal than those who had not, but still less willing to remove mammals and birds than arthropods. The present results highlight the importance of information on IAAS so that teacher students can understand the reasons for certain types of management. As multipliers of tomorrow, they might be better prepared for teaching this topic in school.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 16, Issue 5, May 2020, Article No: em1840

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/115105

Publication date: 14 Feb 2020

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