Vertebrate species knowledge: an important skill is threatened by extinction

Figures & data

Table 1. Questions and hypotheses of this study.

Which determinants influence species knowledge?
Determinant		Hypothesis
Socio-demographic factors	Gender	Girls know more species than boys.
	Size of hometown	Children living in rural areas know more species than those inhabiting big towns.
	Mother tongue	Native speakers know more species than those with another first language.
Animal observations	Favourite playing area	Pupils, who prefer playing in nature know more species than those playing indoor.
	Number of excursions into nature per school year	The more excursions into nature children make, the more species they know.
Expectations and interests	Favourite school subject	Pupils whose favourite school subject is biology know more species than others.
	Performance in biology compared to classmates	The higher the performance of the tested pupils in biology is, the more species they will know.
	Expected test results	The higher the expectations of the tested pupils are, the more species they will know.
Does species knowledge decline over the years?
Factor		Hypothesis
	Change of knowledge over the years	Pupils in 2018 know less species than those of a comparable group in 2006.

Table 2. Popularity of the species according to the identification rate.

Identification rate	Popularity category
100–75%	Well known
74–50%	Rather well known
49–25%	Rarely known
24–0%	Unknown

Table 3. Factors influencing the average species knowledge M with standard error (SE), the ANOVA-Values (F), significance (p) according to a univariate GLM sorted by the effect size partial η².

Factor		n	M ± SE	F	p	η²
Expected test result	<5	47	8.6 ± 0.65	48.713	<.001	.200
	5–9	154	9.8 ± 0.26
	10–14	285	11.3 ± 0.19
	15–20	336	13.4 ± 3.32
	>20	133	15.33 ± 0.40
School (Figure 1)				4.974	<.001	.110
Favourite playing area	Indoor	147	12.81 ± 0.32	10.46	<.001	.030
	Outdoor	537	14.34 ± 0.16
	Nature	149	15.10 ± 0.29
Mother tongue	German	836	14.51 ± 0.10	19.463	<.001	.020
	Other	148	12.28 ± 0.33
Gender	Male	476	13.97 ± 0.19	8.208	.004	.010
	Female	497	14.41 ± 0.16
Size of hometown	<5000	296	14.13 ± 0.22	2.469	.085	.007
	5000–50,000	519	14.01 ± 0.16
	>50,000	112	15.36 ± 0.38
Performance in biology compared to classmates	Better	162	14.81 ± 0.30	0.861	.423	.003
	Equal	609	14.27 ± 0.15
	Worse	185	13.02 ± 0.28
Number of excursions per school year	0	548	13.76 ± 0.16	0.490	.689	.002
	1	233	14.27 ± 0.26
	2	122	14.91 ± 0.32
	>2	60	16.29 ± 0.49
Favourite school subject	Biology	315	14.19 ± 0.23	0.617	.433	.001
	Other	669	14.17 ± 0.14

Figure 1. Average species knowledge M of pupils in different schools with error bars showing the standard error (SE).

Figure 2. Summary of factors influencing species knowledge with their effect sizes. Non-significant factors are marked with dotted lines and smaller font size.

Figure 3. Proportions of correct identifications on species level tested in 2018. Species that were not tested in 2006 are marked with an ‘*’.

Figure 4. Proportions of correct identifications for the different vertebrate classes with error bars showing the standard error depending on the pupils’ interest in the vertebrate class.

Table 4. Species showing a difference of 5% or greater between the identification rates on species level and on a higher taxonomic level in 2018 and 2006.

	2018			2006
Species / Higher taxonomic level	Diff. (%)	Higher taxonomic level (%)	Species level (%)	Diff. (%)	Higher taxonomic level (%)	Species level (%)
Mallard/Duck	41	57	16	27	68	41
Common Frog/Frog	30	45	15	27	32	4
Common Toad/Toad	28	47	19	25	51	25
Gr. Spotted Woodpecker/Woodpecker	27	64	37	12	52	40
Sand Lizard/Lizard	19	30	12	27	34	7
Great Tit/Tit	7	33	26	12	48	36
Fire Salamander/salamander	6	83	77	13	73	60
Common Buzzard/Buzzard	3	14	12	8	23	15

Figure 5. Average species knowledge (M) of boys and girls in 2006 and 2018 with error bars showing the standard error (SE).

Figure 6. Differences in identification rates of vertebrate classes with the same species tested in 2018 and in 2006 with significant differences indicated by ‘*’.

Figure 7. Changes in identification rates of the different vertebrate species tested in 2018 compared to those in 2006 with significant changes indicated by ‘*’.

Table 5. Ranking of species’ identification rates in 2006 compared to those in 2018.

Rank	2006	2018
1	Eurasian Red Squirrel	Eurasian Red Squirrel
2	European Mole	European Mole
3	European Badger	Fire salamander +2
4	Common Blackbird	European badger
5	Fire Salamander	Common Blackbird
6	Common Carp	European Roe Deer +5
7	Deaf Adder	European Robin
8	European Robin	Great Spottet Woodpecker +4
9	Northern Pike	Deaf Adder −2
10	Mallard	Mallard
11	European Roe Deer	Common Toad +2
12	Great spottet Woodpecker	Common Frog +5
13	Common Toad	Northern Pike −4
14	Great Tit	Common Carp −8
15	Grass snake	Grass Snake
16	Sand Lizard	Great Tit −2
17	Common Frog	Sand Lizard
18	Common Starling	Common Starling
19	Common Buzzard	Common Buzzard
20	Common Chaffinch	Common Chaffinch

Data availability statement

Raw data were generated at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich. Derived data supporting the findings of this study are available on request.