Rare species are valued big time.
BACKGROUND: It has recently been postulated that the value humans place on rarity could cause the extinction of rare species. This is because people are willing to pay the high costs of exploiting the last individuals. Many hobbies, such as ecotourism or the keeping of exotic pets may cause this eff...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2009-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2668182?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1819236913454776320 |
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| author | Elena Angulo Franck Courchamp |
| author_facet | Elena Angulo Franck Courchamp |
| author_sort | Elena Angulo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BACKGROUND: It has recently been postulated that the value humans place on rarity could cause the extinction of rare species. This is because people are willing to pay the high costs of exploiting the last individuals. Many hobbies, such as ecotourism or the keeping of exotic pets may cause this effect--known as the anthropogenic Allee effect. However, the entire theory relies on the insofar undemonstrated assumption that people do value rarity. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In order to quantify how much people valued rare species relative to common ones, we created online slideshows of photographs of either rare or common species on an Internet web site. The slideshow with photographs of rare species attracted more visitors, and visitors spent, in general, more time waiting to view it. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We provide evidence that people value rare more than common species. As we did not target consumers of a specific market, this finding suggests that the anthropogenic Allee effect is likely be driven by a large part of the population. Given the substantial participation in our online experiment, we highlight the potential of the world wide web resource as a tool for conservation action. However, the evidence presented here that the general public value rare species, combined with the assumption that anthropogenic Allee effect is operating, implies that conservationists should be prudent when using rarity to promote conservation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:11:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-90aaa81f8dc54bb9bad4195056eb3e3a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:11:59Z |
| publishDate | 2009-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-90aaa81f8dc54bb9bad4195056eb3e3a2022-12-21T17:45:43ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032009-01-0144e521510.1371/journal.pone.0005215Rare species are valued big time.Elena AnguloFranck CourchampBACKGROUND: It has recently been postulated that the value humans place on rarity could cause the extinction of rare species. This is because people are willing to pay the high costs of exploiting the last individuals. Many hobbies, such as ecotourism or the keeping of exotic pets may cause this effect--known as the anthropogenic Allee effect. However, the entire theory relies on the insofar undemonstrated assumption that people do value rarity. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In order to quantify how much people valued rare species relative to common ones, we created online slideshows of photographs of either rare or common species on an Internet web site. The slideshow with photographs of rare species attracted more visitors, and visitors spent, in general, more time waiting to view it. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We provide evidence that people value rare more than common species. As we did not target consumers of a specific market, this finding suggests that the anthropogenic Allee effect is likely be driven by a large part of the population. Given the substantial participation in our online experiment, we highlight the potential of the world wide web resource as a tool for conservation action. However, the evidence presented here that the general public value rare species, combined with the assumption that anthropogenic Allee effect is operating, implies that conservationists should be prudent when using rarity to promote conservation.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2668182?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Elena Angulo Franck Courchamp Rare species are valued big time. PLoS ONE |
| title | Rare species are valued big time. |
| title_full | Rare species are valued big time. |
| title_fullStr | Rare species are valued big time. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rare species are valued big time. |
| title_short | Rare species are valued big time. |
| title_sort | rare species are valued big time |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2668182?pdf=render |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT elenaangulo rarespeciesarevaluedbigtime AT franckcourchamp rarespeciesarevaluedbigtime |