Declining Google Trends of public interest in biodiversity: semantics, statistics or traceability of changing priorities?

Biodiversity and Conservation

Volumn 26, Issue 6, 2017, Pages 1495-1505

  Troumbis, Andreas Y ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF THE AEGEAN   (Greece)

Author keywords

Biodiversity; Climate change; Google Trends; Interest; Public opinion

Indexed keywords

BIODIVERSITY; CLIMATE CHANGE; EUROPEAN UNION; POPULATION DECLINE; PRIORITIZATION; PUBLIC ATTITUDE; STATISTICAL ANALYSIS; WORLD WIDE WEB;

EID: 85009760474     PISSN: 09603115     EISSN: 15729710     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s10531-017-1294-z     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. Anderegg WRL, Goldsmith GR (2014) Public interest in climate change over the past decade and the effects of the ‘climategate’ media event. Environ Res Lett. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/5/054005
2. Anderson C (2008) The end of theory: the data deluge makes the scientific method obsolete. Wired Magazine, June 23. https://www.wired.com/2008/06/pb-theory/
3. Andrew L, Arndt D, Beristain N, Cass T, Clow L, Colmenares B, Damm K, Hatcher R, Jackson N, Pasquesi W, Chamberlain-Pham N, Pryd JA, Rund T, Russell G, Ryle C, Schmidt T, Sigan S, Sinkus K, Sneyd K, Strode J, Wallen C, McCallum ML (2016) Changes in United States’ citizens’ interest in sustainability. Life Excit Biol 4(3):138–164. doi:10.9784/LEB4(3)Andrew.01
4. De Groot R, Brander L, van der Ploeg S, Costanza R, Bernard F, Braat L, Christie M, Crossman N, Ghermandi A, Hein L, Hussain S, Kumar P, McVittie A, Portela R, Rodriguez LC, ten Brink P, van Beukering P (2012) Global estimates of the value of ecosystems and their services in monetary units. Ecosyst Serv 1:50–61
5. Diaz S, Demissew S, Carabias J, Joly C, Lonsdale M, Ash N, Larigauderie A, Adhikari JR, Arico S, Baldi A, Bartuska A, Baste IA, Bilgin A, Brondizio E, Chan KMA, Figueroa VE, Duraiappah A, Fischer M, Hill R, Koetz T, Leadley P, Lyver P, Mace GM, Martin-Lopez B, Okumura M, Pacheco D, Pascual U, Perez ES, Reyers B, Roth E, Saito O, Scholes RJ, Sharma N, Tallis H, Thaman R, Watson R, Yahara T, Hamid ZA, Akosim C, Al-Hafedh Y, Allahverdiyev R, Amankwah E, Asah ST, Asfaw Z, Bartus G, Brooks LA, Caillaux J, Dalle G, Darnaedi D, Driver A, Erpul G, Escobar-Eyzaguirre P, Failler P, Fouda AMM, Fu B, Gundimeda H, Hashimoto S, Homer F, Lavorel S, Lichtenstein G, Mala WA, Mandivenyi W, Matczak P, Mbizvo C, Mehrdadi M, Metzger JP, Mikissa JB, Moller H, Mooney HA, Mumby P, Nagendra H, Nesshover C, Oteng-Yeboah AA, Pataki G, Roue M, Rubis J, Schultz M, Smith P, Sumaila R, Takeuchi K, Thomas S, Verma M, Yeo-Chang Y, Zlatanova D (2015) The IPBES Conceptual Framework—connecting nature and people. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 14(1):1–16
6. Do Y, Kim JY, Lineman M, Kim D-K, Joo G-J (2014) Using internet search behavior to assess public awareness of protected wetlands. Conserv Biol 29:271–279
7. Ficetola GF (2013) Is interest toward the environment really declining? The complexity of analysing trends using internet search data. Biodivers Conserv 22:2983–2988
8. Fischer A, Young JA (2007) Understanding mental constructs of biodiversity: implications for biodiversity management and conservation. Biol Conserv 136:271–282
9. Funk SM, Rusowsky D (2014) The importance of cultural knowledge and scale for analysing internet search data as a proxy for public interest toward the environment. Biodivers Conserv 23:3101–3112
10. Ginsberg J, Mohebbi MH, Patel RS, Brammer L, Smolinski MS, Brilliant L (2009) Detecting influenza epidemics using search engine query data. Nature 457:1012–1014
11. Hardin G (1985) Filters against folly. Viking, New York
12. Jepson P, Canney S (2003) Values-led conservation. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 12:271–274
13. Kim JY, Do Y, Im R-Y, Kim G-Y, Joo G-J (2014) Use of large web-based data to identify public interest and trends related to endangered species. Biodivers Conserv 23:2961–2984
14. Kristoufek L (2013) Bitcoin meets Google Trends and Wikipedia: quantifying the realtionship between phenomena of the Internet era. Sci Rep 3:3415. doi:10.1038/srep03415
15. Lewandowsky S (2014) Conspiratory fascination versus public interest: the case of climategate. Environ Res Lett. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/11/111004
16. Lubchenco J (2000) A new social contract for science. P 278–280. In: World conference on science: science for the twenty-first century, a new commitment. Banson/UNESCO, 544 pp
17. McCallum ML, Bury GW (2013) Google search patterns suggest declining interest in the environment. Biodivers Conserv 22:1355–1367
18. McCallum ML, Bury GW (2014) Public interest in the environment is falling: a response to Ficetola (2013). Biodivers Conserv 23(4):1057–1062
19. Mills JH, Waite TA (2009) Economic prosperity, biodiversity conservation, and the environmental Kuznets curve. Ecol Econ 68:2087–2095
20. Nghiem LTP, Papworth SK, Lim FKS, Carrasco LR (2016) Analysis of the capacity of Google Trends to measure interest in conservation topics and the role of online news. PLoS ONE. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0152802
21. Novacek MJ (2008) Engaging the public in biodiversity issues. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105(1):11571–11578
22. Perrings C, Naeem S, Ahrestani F, Bunker DE et al (2010) Ecosyst Serv 2020. Science 330:323–324
23. Preis T, Moat HS, Stanley HE (2013) Quantifying trading behavior in financial markets using Google Trends. Nat Sci Rep 3:1684–1689. doi:10.1038/srep01684
24. Proulx R, Massicotte Pepino M (2013) Googling trends in conservation biology. Conserv Biol 28:44–51
25. Richards DR (2013) The content of historical books as an indicator of past interest in environmental issues. Biodivers Conserv 22:2795–2803. doi:10.1007/s10531-013-0555-8
26. Silver N (2012) The signal and the noise: the art and science of prediction. Allan Lane, London
27. Standard Eurobarometer Series 1-85 (1974–2016). Public opinion in the European Union. http://ec.europa.eu/COMMFrontOffice/PublicOpinion/index.cfm/General/index
28. Stearns BP, Stearns SC (2010) Still watching, from the edge of extinction. Bioscience 60:141–146
29. Wilde GR, Pope KL (2013) Worldwide trends in fishing interest indicated by internet search volume. Fish Manag Ecol 20:211–222
30. Wray-Lake L, Flanagan CA, Osgood DW (2010) Examining trends in adolescent environmental attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors across three decades. Environ Behav 42:61–85