Abstract
Biological invasions are widely recognised as a significant threat to biodiversity, a driver of global change and a relevant economic problem. Actions to control or eradicate invasive alien species (IAS) can cause great controversy, especially when targeted species are charismatic. Thus, better understanding people’s perceptions of invasive species is key for ensuring more effective IAS management. The ring-necked parakeet (Psittacula krameri) and the monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) are two of the most successful avian invaders worldwide, causing several ecological and socio-economic impacts in recipient regions. We used image-based questionnaires to assess differences in people’s perceptions of recently established ring-necked and monk parakeet colonies in an urban environment (Porto, Portugal). Most participants recognised both species and had a positive perception of the parakeets, with respondents’ education, gender and age influencing their perception. Potential ecological, economic and social impacts caused by these species do not seem be widely acknowledged yet, likely due to the limited awareness of IAS or the incipiency of their impacts in the area. Our results suggest future actions to manage feral parakeet populations in the area will likely be met with public opposition. While increased public literacy about IAS might help improve risk awareness, complementary tools should be used to promote support for potential interventions. Social assessments are vital to identify, evaluate and address social costs and benefits of IAS. Further research should adopt a multidisciplinary approach to foster communication in IAS management actions, implementing effective and sustainable measures to tackle biological invasions by charismatic vertebrates.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all survey participants for taking part in this study. We would also like to thank Pedro Cardia for help during the fieldwork.
Funding
Ana Nuno acknowledges the support of the Darwin Initiative and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement SocioEcoFrontiers No 843865. Pim Edelaar was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grants ref. CGL2013-49460-EXP and CGL2016-79483-P) and the European Regional Development Fund. Joana Ribeiro acknowledges the support from INTERREG Europe through a post-doc grant within project INTERREG Europe INVALIS - Protecting European Biodiversity from Invasive Alien Species “PGI05271”, funded by the European Union and through project ALIENTRADE (PTDC/BIA-ECO/30931/2017). Luís Reino was supported by Portuguese National Funds through FCT, I.P., under the “Stimulus of Scientific Employment—Individual Support” contract “CEECIND/00445/2017”. Álvaro Luna was supported by La Caixa-Severo Ochoa International PhD Programme 2015. Inês Carneiro acknowledges support from FCT project BIRDTRADE “PTDC/AAG-GLO/0463/2014-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016583”. Miguel Porto was supported by national funds through FCT in the scope of DL57/2016/CP1440/CT0017.
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Inês Carneiro, Pim Edelaar, Álvaro Luna and Luís Reino contributed to study conception and design. Data collection and analysis were performed by Inês Carneiro and Miguel Porto. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Inês Carneiro with contributions from Luís Reino. Following versions were written by Joana Ribeiro with contributions from Ana Nuno and Luís Reino. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Ethical clearance for our research work was not required by the University of Porto (where Inês Carneiro was based when conducting this research, as part of her MSc project), as respondents’ identification was not collected (i.e. no names or addresses written down). Nevertheless, our research adopted international best practices and adhered to the guidelines by the British Sociological Association Statement of Ethical Practice (2017). In particular, when approached for participation, survey respondents were informed that participation was voluntary and anonymous; withdrawal was possible at any time; individual details would not be disclosed or identifiable and information collected would be used for research purposes only.
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Joana Ribeiro and Inês Carneiro shared first authorship.
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Ribeiro, J., Carneiro, I., Nuno, A. et al. Investigating people’s perceptions of alien parakeets in urban environments. Eur J Wildl Res 67, 45 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01487-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01487-1