Secondary school students’ familiarity with animals and plants: hometown size matters

Abstract

Species literacy is an important aspect of biodiversity education. This study assesses the ability of secondary students (12/13 years old; n = 944) to list wild animals and plants and aims to determine whether this is linked with their interest in nature, their preferences towards animals and plants and different groups therein, the school type (public or private), per capita income and the size of the students’ hometowns. We have observed that students claim to have a very high interest in nature, but they spontaneously recall a worrisome proportion of exotic species (especially animals), as well as domesticated ones (mainly plants). Besides, they present several ‘Plant Awareness Disparity’ (PAD) symptoms. However, the smaller their hometown is, the more wild native species they list, especially animals, although most PAD symptoms prevail in their answers. Our findings suggest that citizens living in more rural environments may have a higher contact with nature, resulting on a higher spontaneous listing of wild native species. Nevertheless, special efforts must be conducted to counteract PAD as well as ‘Native Species Awareness Disparity’ wherever they live.