Public attention towards declining global amphibian species

Amphibians are experiencing the fastest and most widespread population declines of any vertebrate group. The evaluation of amphibian conservation efforts is essential to understand the efficacy of current methods and promote an efficient use of resources. The International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is the foremost source of information on the global conservation status of individual species. Here, we examine public awareness of amphibian species as it relates to the extinction risk assigned by the IUCN Red List. To quantify public interest, we used Google Trends to attain internet search patterns of 7297 amphibian species. We found that there was no relationship between IUCN Red List status and the trend of Google searches for species’ common names, and a negative relationship for scientific names. There was also no relationship between body mass and public interest. Remarkably, most amphibian species (89% of common names and 91% of scientific names) were Googled zero times and this percentage increased to 98% for species that were classified as data deficient by the IUCN. However, we find that updating a species’ IUCN Red List status produces immediate spikes in Google searches following the reassessment, leading us to believe that frequent assessment and subsequent advertisement of category changes are important for increasing public awareness. These results highlight the need to increase public awareness of amphibians and their widespread declines at the local, national, and global level.两栖动物是所有脊椎动物类群中种群衰退速度最快、波及范围最广的类群。评估两栖动物保护工作的实施成效，对于明晰当前保护方法的有效性、优化保护资源的高效配置至关重要。国际自然保护联盟（International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN）濒危物种红色名录是获取全球单个物种保护现状信息的最权威来源。本研究围绕公众对两栖动物物种的认知程度，及其与IUCN红色名录所评定的物种灭绝风险之间的关联展开分析。为量化公众关注度，我们借助谷歌趋势（Google Trends）采集了7297种两栖动物的互联网搜索行为数据。研究结果表明，IUCN红色名录评定的物种保护等级与物种通用名的谷歌搜索热度不存在显著相关性，但与物种学名的搜索热度呈负相关关系。此外，物种体重与公众关注度之间同样未发现显著相关性。值得注意的是，绝大多数两栖动物物种（89%的通用名检索项、91%的学名检索项）的谷歌搜索量为零；而对于被IUCN红色名录归类为数据缺乏（Data Deficient）的物种，这一比例更是攀升至98%。不过我们发现，当某一物种的IUCN红色名录保护等级在重新评估后发生更新时，其谷歌搜索量会立即出现峰值。据此我们认为，定期开展物种评估并及时公示保护等级变更情况，对于提升公众认知具有重要意义。本研究结果凸显了在地方、国家乃至全球层面提升公众对两栖动物及其大范围种群衰退问题认知度的迫切需求。