Have you heard of the Ohlone tiger beetle? How knowledge affects recreationists’ stated behaviors and attitude toward an endangered species

Background/Question/Methods

The endangered Ohlone tiger beetle (Cicindela ohlone) occurs on public lands open to recreation. Recreation is the second leading cause of the decline of threatened species on public lands. Paradoxically, C.ohlone utilizes trails and disturbed areas for breeding and foraging. From 2001 to 2005 recreation was considered solely detrimental, as C.ohlone were occasionally crushed on trails. Trails were closed, creating a conflict between recreationists and C.ohlone conservation. After observations that vital bare ground habitat was dissappearing, the trails were reopened, albeit with little management to avoid beetle mortality. With a past conflict, recognition of recreation's positive effect on C.ohlone habitat, and a need for management, this is an ideal system to test how recreationists' knowledge affects their attitudes toward the species and their behavior in protected habitat. Knowledge of ecological issues has been shown to provide the distal basis through which more proximal mediators, such as attitudes, values, incentives, and social consequences change behavior. To test how recreationists’ knowledge of C.ohlone affects attitudes towards the beetle and willingness to comply with proposed management strategies, I conducted 300 in-person surveys of the recreation community. Half of the participants were provided with information on the Ohlone tiger beetle and the effect of recreation prior to taking the survey; half of the participants were provided with no information. 

Results/Conclusions

The majority of recreationists rated C.ohlone conservation as important; yet, chose very important significantly more if they had heard of C.ohlone prior to the survey. In turn, recreationists who rated C.ohlone conservation as very important were more likely to state compliance with both slowing down and dismounting their bike in beetle habitat. Participants with both prior and new (provided at the time of the survey) knowledge recognized the positive effect of recreation on C.ohlone significantly more, and negative effect significantly less, than those with no knowledge. Participants with no prior or new knowledge were more likely to state that recreation has no effect on C.ohlone and less likely to state compliance with slowing down or dismounting their bike. Thus, education both increases the value recreationists place on C.ohlone conservation and provides them with a correct understanding of the recreational impact on the beetle. This awareness can lead to increased compliance with management strategies, such as slowing down in beetle habitat. This result is particularly important because, in a related study, we found that slow cycling is significantly less disruptive to C.ohlone behavior than cycling at high speeds.