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Nuno A, Chesney C, Wellbelove M, Bersacola E, Kalema‐Zikusoka G, Leendertz F, Webber AD, Hockings KJ. Protecting great apes from disease: Compliance with measures to reduce anthroponotic disease transmission. PEOPLE AND NATURE 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ana Nuno
- Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences (CICS.NOVA), School of Social Sciences and Humanities (NOVA FCSH) NOVA University Lisbon Lisbon Portugal
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Exeter Cornwall UK
| | - Chloe Chesney
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Exeter Cornwall UK
| | - Maia Wellbelove
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Exeter Cornwall UK
| | - Elena Bersacola
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Exeter Cornwall UK
| | | | - Fabian Leendertz
- Project Group Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Microorganisms Robert Koch Institute Berlin Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for One Health Greifswald Germany
| | - Amanda D. Webber
- Bristol Zoological Society Bristol UK
- Centre for Water, Communities and Resilience University of the West of England Bristol UK
| | - Kimberley J. Hockings
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Exeter Cornwall UK
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Nanni V, Mammola S, Macías-Hernández N, Castrogiovanni A, Salgado AL, Lunghi E, Ficetola GF, Modica C, Alba R, Spiriti MM, Holtze S, de Mello ÉM, De Mori B, Biasetti P, Chamberlain D, Manenti R. Global response of conservationists across mass media likely constrained bat persecution due to COVID-19. BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION 2022; 272:109591. [PMID: 35603331 PMCID: PMC9110911 DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2022] [Revised: 05/01/2022] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Most people lack direct experience with wildlife and form their risk perception primarily on information provided by the media. The way the media frames news may substantially shape public risk perception, promoting or discouraging public tolerance towards wildlife. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, bats were suggested as the most plausible reservoir of the virus, and this became a recurrent topic in media reports, potentially strengthening a negative view of this ecologically important group. We investigated how media framed bats and bat-associated diseases before and during the COVID-19 pandemic by assessing the content of 2651 online reports published across 26 countries, to understand how and how quickly worldwide media may have affected the perception of bats. We show that the overabundance of poorly contextualized reports on bat-associated diseases likely increased the persecution towards bats immediately after the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the subsequent interventions of different conservation communication initiatives allowed pro-conservation messages to resonate across the global media, likely stemming an increase in bat persecution. Our results highlight the modus operandi of the global media regarding topical biodiversity issues, which has broad implications for species conservation. Knowing how the media acts is pivotal for anticipating the propagation of (mis)information and negative feelings towards wildlife. Working together with journalists by engaging in dialogue and exchanging experiences should be central in future conservation management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronica Nanni
- School for Advanced Studies IUSS, Science, Technology and Society Department, 25100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Stefano Mammola
- Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research (LIBRe), Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IRSA), Largo Tonolli 50, 28922 Verbania Pallanza, Italy
| | - Nuria Macías-Hernández
- Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research (LIBRe), Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Animal Biology, Edaphology and Geology, University of Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife 38206, Canary Islands, Spain
| | - Alessia Castrogiovanni
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Cleoria, 10, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Ana L Salgado
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | - Enrico Lunghi
- Division of Molecular Biology, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenicka cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Gentile Francesco Ficetola
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Cleoria, 10, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Corrado Modica
- Faunico office of species protection, Leanderstraße 16, 54295 Trier, Germany
| | - Riccardo Alba
- Dept. of Life Science and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Via Accademia Albertina, 13, 10123 Torino, Italy
| | - Maria Michela Spiriti
- Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padua, 35020 Padua, Italy
- Ethics Laboratory for Veterinary Medicine, Conservation and Animal Welfare, University of Padua, 35020 Padua, Italy
| | - Susanne Holtze
- Department of Reproduction Management, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, 10315 Berlin, Germany
| | - Érica Munhoz de Mello
- Urban Bats Laboratory, Zoonoses Control Center of Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Barbara De Mori
- Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padua, 35020 Padua, Italy
| | - Pierfrancesco Biasetti
- Department of Reproduction Management, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, 10315 Berlin, Germany
| | - Dan Chamberlain
- Dept. of Life Science and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Via Accademia Albertina, 13, 10123 Torino, Italy
| | - Raoul Manenti
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Cleoria, 10, 20133 Milano, Italy
- Laboratory of Subterranean Biology "Enrico Pezzoli", Parco Regionale del Monte Barro, 23851 Galbiate, Italy
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