A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Spatiotemporal patterns of public attention to invasive species across an invasion front: a case study of lionfish (Pterois miles) from the Mediterranean Sea
Authors: Fazzari, Lara; Vardi, Reut; Jaric, Ivan; Correia, Ricardo A.; Coll, Marta; Sbragaglia, Valerio
Publisher: SPRINGER
Publishing place: DORDRECHT
Publication year: 2024
Journal: Biological Invasions
Journal name in source: BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS
Journal acronym: BIOL INVASIONS
Volume: 26
Issue: 11
First page : 3913
Last page: 3927
Number of pages: 15
ISSN: 1387-3547
eISSN: 1573-1464
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-024-03420-4(external)
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-024-03420-4(external)
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/457630925(external)
Understanding societal interest in invasive species is crucial as greater public attention can support the success of conservation efforts. One of the main challenges in monitoring societal interest to support conservation is the absence of near-real-time indicators to track large-scale spatiotemporal dynamics of public attention. However, the digital revolution has opened up new opportunities to develop such indicators in support of invasive species research and management. Here, we aim to evaluate public awareness and interest in the invasive lionfish (Pterois miles) in the Mediterranean Sea and investigate spatiotemporal patterns of public interest in the species along its invasion front by using Google search volumes as a proxy for public attention. We implemented topic searches for the lionfish to download Google search volumes from 2013 to 2022 and used these data to test two hypotheses: (1) countries experiencing lionfish invasion exhibit higher public attention than those without lionfish, and (2) in invaded countries, public attention peaks around the arrival year, followed by a decline to baseline levels. Our study confirmed the first hypothesis, showing higher public attention in invaded countries. However, temporal patterns of attention did not fully align with the year of lionfish arrival, suggesting that the socio-political complexity of the region (e.g., cultural trends or internet accessibility), may be a key aspect to consider in future studies. Overall our study shows that digital data sources provide a unique opportunity to monitor social aspects of biological invasions with low associated costs and quick access to a great amount of data generated by internet users.
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Funding information in the publication:
Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. L.F. is supported by an Erasmus+ scholarship. V.S. is supported by a Ramón y Cajal research fellowship (RYC2021-033065-I) granted by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. L.F., M.C., and V.S acknowledge the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S). MC, VS and LF acknowledge partial funding support by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 869300 (FutureMares) and No 01059877 (GES4SEAS). R.V. was partly supported by the Alexander and Eva Lester post-doctoral fellowship. I.J. was supported by grant no. 23-07278S from the Czech Science Foundation. R.A.C. acknowledges personal funding from the Academy of Finland (Grant agreement #348352) and the KONE Foundation (Grant agreement #202101976). We also thank the anonymous reviewer for valuable comments and suggestions, which have greatly improved this manuscript.
