Grass frog or great tit? – How should I know?!

Most people know what a squirrel looks like, but could they identify a grass frog or a great tit? Together with Professor Birgit Neuhaus, LMU researcher Thomas Gerl (Division of Biology Education) is currently undertaking a project designed to determine how much Bavarian high-school students know about their local fauna. To do so, he uses what is now known as the ‘BISA test’, which asks participants to identify 25 animal species from photographs. In the following interview, he talks about the results of a survey in which 1000 sixth-graders took the test.

How much do Bavarian secondary-school students know about their local fauna?

Thomas Gerl: Knowledge of local vertebrate fauna has declined over the past 10 years. In comparison with the results of a similar study carried out in 2006, scores have fallen by about 15%. On average, the children we tested were able to recognize 14 of the 25 species presented in the test, but many of our study cohort were able to identify only the more charismatic species, such as the beaver or the fire salamander.

While most of the mammalian species on our list were correctly identified, the results for birds were not very impressive. Interestingly, the order of ranking has remained very similar over this past decade, but the level of knowledge of most of the species has fallen. In both studies, the squirrel and the mole came out on top. In 2006, the least-known animals were the chaffinch, the buzzard, the starling and the sand lizard – and these species are again at the bottom of the table in our new study, together with the partridge, which was not included in the earlier survey. So there has not been much movement, up or down.

Notably, however, one species has dropped no less than eight places – the carp – while the woodpecker has climbed four rungs up the ladder. But those are obviously exceptions.

What is your explanation for the decline in knowledge?

The reasons for the overall decline cannot be reliably deduced on the basis of our study alone. It is, of course, true that lots of things have changed in the lives of young schoolchildren since 2006. One of them is the school system itself. Our study compared children from what in 2006 was still the 9-year high-school course with those in the 8-year cycle (G8). In the meantime, the system has reverted to a 9-year curriculum. Our participants were in the G8, in which knowledge of local species was not part of the curriculum – unlike the case in the G9 cycle, from which the participants in the 2006 study were recruited. Whether this is the decisive factor in the decline in knowledge of local faunas is impossible to say.

What factors determine whether or not a given species can be correctly identified?

Very few people have ever seen a live beaver or badger, yet these two species were those most readily recognized by the members of your study population.The likelihood that the children had actually seen – for real – any of the animals featured in the test played little or no role in the ranking of species in the study. It is highly unlikely that any of the children had ever seen a live mole, but many of them were probably acquainted with molehills. Nevertheless, the animal was readily recognizable for them.

Mammals feature prominently among the best-known animals in our test. We assume that this is because so many of them play prominent roles in children’s books, so that children are familiar with them from a very early age.

On the other hand, some of the birds in our species sample are very common. Probably everyone has seen a chaffinch at some time or other, but they don’t leave much of an impression. For children, they’re just small birds, most of which they can’t distinguish from one another.

How can this situation be improved?

For my colleagues and myself, that‘s really the crux of the matter. That’s why I initiated the BISA project in the Division for Biology in the first place. BISA stands for Biodiversität im Schulalltag (Biodiversity as an Everyday Experience at School). We have developed a variety of teaching materials, which combine field observations with digital media, and are now accessible online. Children are our primary target group, so it’s important that the learning process is embedded in a playful environment.

We’re not interested in getting children to count the stamens on the flowers they come across. Instead, they should be able to associate each species with an intriguing little story. – For example, the French name for the dandelion is pissenlit, which literally means “wet-the-bed”. And the reason is that, after eating dandelion leaves, you have to go to the toilet often.Meanwhile, from a structural point of view, much has changed for the better in Bavarian schools. In the curriculum LehrplanPLUS for the new G9, natural history plays a much more prominent role. For example, each year, biology classes must visit a local ecosystem and get to know the plant and animal communities that it harbors. In this area, Bavaria is definitely playing a pioneering role for other school systems in Germany.

Why is it important that young people should be able to recognize and distinguish between animal species and, for example, differentiate between a toad and a frog?

We are now experiencing a huge biodiversity crisis. Every hour of the day, unique species are irrevocably disappearing. Without knowledge of the species in our local habitats, we are unlikely to notice their passing.

That underlines the need to ensure that children are equipped with the knowledge they need to become familiar with the species that can still be found around us. As Konrad Lorenz once remarked, “you can’t protect what you know nothing about”. So we must ensure that as many people as possible have a greater awareness of biodiversity. After all, observing the natural world and the living organisms that hold it together is a source of joy and satisfaction. Give it a try and you will know, I am right.