Plant awareness is linked to plant relevance: A review of educational and ethnobiological literature (1998–2020)

Abstract

Societal Impact Statement This research attempts to provide novel insights into plant awareness disparity (plant blindness), through a systematic and critical examination of the educational and ethnobiological literature. The low interest and awareness for plants is well documented in urban societies and has serious implications for biodiversity conservation and sustainable land-use. This study is significant because it provides a comprehensive analysis of the characteristics of human-plant relations in different societies, which does not currently exist in the academic literature. The findings suggest that people's plant awareness develops where they have frequent interactions with plants that have direct relevance to their lives.

Summary The inattention to plants, known as ‘plant blindness’ or ‘plant awareness disparity’, is an established concern amongst biologists, but there has been no comprehensive and critical examination of the investigative literature to date. This study aims to address this, with a narrative review of experimental studies published in indexed journals from 1998 to 2020. Data were extracted using a suite of relevant search terms, characterised using key words and subjected to a thematic content analysis; 326 studies were shortlisted for review, with the majority in the subject areas of biological education, ethnobiology and biological conservation. The prevalent research methods were interviews and free-listing exercises (ethnobiology) and questionnaires and tests (education). The most common characteristics of plant awareness disparity were a deficit of knowledge or identification skills, followed by an attention or memory advantage for animals compared to plants, preference for animals and low interest in plants. There was no concrete evidence of innate plant awareness disparity; instead, diminished experience of nature in urbanised societies appeared to be the cause. Virtually, all the 87 studies that found evidence of plant awareness disparity were undertaken in urban populations in high-income countries. By contrast, there were 109 studies of extensive botanical knowledge based on rural communities dependent on biological resources, where individual expertise was found to be proportionate to the extent of wild plant collecting. We conclude that a decline in relevant experience with plants leads to a cyclical process of inattention that could be addressed through first-hand experiences of edible and useful plants in local environments.