Birds that are more commonly encountered in the wild attract higher public interest online

CONTRIBUTED PAPER Bi ds ha a e mo e commonly encoun e ed in he wild a ac highe public in e es online John C. Mi e meie 1 | U i Roll 2 | Thomas J. Ma hews 3,4 | Rica do Co eia 5,6 | Rich G enye 1 1 School o Geog aphy and The En i onmen , Uni e si y o Ox o d, Ox o d, UK 2 Mi ani Depa men o Dese Ecology, The Jacob Blaus ein Ins i u es o Dese Resea ch, Ben-Gu ion Uni e si y o he Nege , Bee sheba, Is ael 3 School o Geog aphy, Ea h and En i onmen al Sciences, and Bi mingham Ins i u e o Fo es Resea ch, Uni e si y o Bi mingham, Edgbas on, Bi mingham, UK 4 CE3C –Cen e o Ecology, E olu ion and En i onmen al Changes/Azo ean Biodi e si y G oup and Uni . dos Aço es – Dep o de Ciências e Engenha ia do Ambien e, Ang a do He oísmo, Po ugal 5 Helsinki Lab o In e disciplina y Conse a ion Science (HELICS), Depa men o Geosciences and Geog aphy, Uni e si y o Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland 6 Helsinki Ins i u e o Sus ainabili y Science (HELSUS), Uni e si y o Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland Co espondence Rich G enye , School o Geog aphy and The En i onmen , Uni e si y o Ox o d, Ox o d, OX1 3QY, UK. Email: [email p o ec ed].ac.uk Abs ac La ge body size, he de ining cha ac e is ic o “cha isma ic mega auna,”is o en iewed as he mos signi ican co ela e o highe public in e es in species. How- e e , common, local species (many o which a e no la ge) can also gene a e public in e es . We explo ed he ela i e impo ance o body size e sus local occu ence in pa e ns o online in e es in bi ds using a la ge sample o digi al human-wildli e in e ac ions (367 million Wikipedia page iews) ha included mo e han 10,000 bi d species and a ange o cul u al and geog aphic con ex s ( ep esen ed by 25 Wikipedia language edi ions). We compa ed in e es in Wikipedia, as measu ed by page iews, wi h a bi d's body size and i s egional obse a ion equency (using da a om eBi d.o g). We ound ha local species (i.e., hose ha occu in he wild in he coun y esponsible o he majo i y o a Wikipedia language edi ion's page iews) a ac mo e page iews han global spe- cies. Bo h body size and obse a ion equency had a posi i e co ela ion wi h Wikipedia page iews ac oss languages, bu eBi d obse a ion equency explained mo e o he a iance in page iews on a e age. In a model ha included bo h obse a ion equency and body size, obse a ion equency was a signi ican ly be e p edic o o page iews han body size in 24 o 25 languages. Ou esul s demons a e ha he oppo uni y o encoun e bi ds in he wild is a signi ican co ela e o inc eased online in e es in bi ds ac oss mul iple linguis- ic and geog aphic con ex s. This ela ionship p o ides insigh in o why some species a ac g ea e in e es han o he s and emphasizes he o e looked po en- ial o common species in conse a ion ma ke ing. KEYWORDS bi d conse a ion, ci izen science, conse a ion cul u omics, eBi d, geog aphy, Wikipedia 1|INTRODUCTION Unde s anding why some species command g ea e pub- lic in e es han o he s ha e long been o in e es o conse a ionis s (Kelle , 1982; Lo ime , 2007; Macdon- ald e al., 2015). Iden i ying he biological and ecological ai s o species ha co ela e wi h inc eased public in e - es can bene i conse a ion ma ke ing and be used o Recei ed: 4 July 2020 Re ised: 22 No embe 2020 Accep ed: 23 No embe 2020 DOI: 10.1111/csp2.340 This is an open access a icle unde he e ms o he C ea i e Commons A ibu ion License, which pe mi s use, dis ibu ion and ep oduc ion in any medium, p o ided he o iginal wo k is p ope ly ci ed. © 2021 The Au ho s. Conse a ion Science and P ac ice published by Wiley Pe iodicals LLC. on behal o Socie y o Conse a ion Biology Conse a ion Science and P ac ice. 2021;3:e340. wileyonlinelib a y.com/jou nal/csp2 1o 11 h ps://doi.o g/10.1111/csp2.340 iden i y po en ial lagship species (Smi h, Ve íssimo, Isaac, & Jones, 2012; Ve issimo e al., 2013). P e ious s udies ha e e alua ed he ole o biological ai s such as colo a ion (Liško á & F yn a, 2013), enomousness (Roll e al., 2016), and he pe cei ed a ac i eness o species (Gunn ho sdo i , 2001) in de e mining public in e es . While a a ie y o ai s ha e been ecognized as co ela - ing wi h inc eased in e es , la ge body size is equen ly iden i ied as he mos impo an (Be i, Monsa a , Munk, Ja ie, & S enning, 2020; Clucas, McHugh, & Ca o, 2008; Macdonald e al., 2015). Indeed, he wide- sp ead use o he e m “cha isma ic mega auna” o desc ibe species ha a ac high public in e es sugges s ha la ge body size is o en iewed as synonymous wi h inc eased public in e es in he conse a ion communi y. The impo ance o la ge body size sugges s ha di ec in e ac ions wi h animals in he wild may be ela i ely unimpo an o de e mining in e es in species. While la ge species a e s ongly ep esen ed in media (Clucas e al., 2008) and cap i e en i onmen s (Ma in, Lu biecki, Joy, & Mooe s, 2014), hey a e o en a e and in e- quen ly encoun e ed in he wild. In ex eme examples, species such as ige s (Pan he a ig is) and gian pandas (Ailu opoda melanoleuca) a ac subs an ial public in e - es despi e only a iny mino i y o people e e obse ing hem in he wild. Con e sely, di ec encoun e s wi h spe- cies in he wild do seem o d i e public in e es in some si ua ions. The commonness o bu e ly and bi d species in he UK and Poland co ela es wi h he a en ion hese species ecei e online (Zmiho ski, Dzia ska-Palac, Spa ks, & T yjanowski, 2013). In B azil, species ha o e - lap wi h a eas o highe human popula ion densi y ecei e g ea e in e es online, as measu ed by Google sea ch equency (Co eia, Jepson, Malhado, & Ladle, 2016). This ela ionship be ween people's abili y o di ec ly encoun e a species in he wild and hei in e es in i has ele ance o conse a ion. I di ec encoun e s a e ela i ely unimpo an , hen emphasizing la ge and cha isma ic species as well as i ual encoun e s h ough a ious o ms o media should be he op p io i y o engaging g ea e public in e es . In his scena io, public in e es in a species is unlikely o decline i he species becomes a e o e en goes ex inc in he wild. Con- e sely, i di ec encoun e s wi h wild animals a e impo - an o gene a ing public in e es , hen app oaches ha emphasize di ec encoun e s wi h species in he wild may be mo e e ec i e o inc easing public engagemen in conse a ion. Fu he mo e, i public in e es is closely linked o wild encoun e a es hen he declining num- be s o wild animals (Di zo e al., 2014) and ends o inc easing u baniza ion and de achmen om na u e (Mille , 2005; Soga & Gas on, 2016) could lead o dec eased in e es in some species. Conse a ion cul u omics is a new esea ch a ea ha uses online digi al da a o in es iga e ques ions a ound human-na u e in e ac ions ha a e ele an o conse a- ion (Ladle e al., 2016). P e ious s udies ha e used con- se a ion cul u omic me hods o assess people's in e es in ep iles (Roll e al., 2016) and B azilian bi ds (Co eia e al., 2016), and o compa e seasonal pa e ns in biodi- e si y awa eness (Mi e meie , Roll, Ma hews, & G enye , 2019). He e we used hese me hods o assess he ela ionship be ween online in e es , body size and he equency wi h which people ha e di ec encoun e s spe- cies in he wild. Using bi ds as case s udy, we assessed pa e ns o public in e es (as measu ed by Wikipedia page iews) ac oss a la ge numbe o digi al in e ac ions and a ange o cul u al con ex s (25 di e en Wikipedia languages). We compa ed Wikipedia page iew da a o in o ma ion on he equency wi h which bi ds a e obse ed in he wild de i ed om eBi d, an online da a- base o a ian dis ibu ions. Wi h mo e han 700 million eco ds, eBi d is he wo ld's la ges biodi e si y- ela ed communi y science p ojec and p o ides occu ence da a o bi ds a ound he wo ld (Le a ich & Ligocki, 2020; Sul- li an e al., 2009; Wood, Sulli an, Ili , Fink, & Kelling, 2011). Mul iple s udies ha e used eBi d da a o moni o pa e ns in a ian dis ibu ion and abundance a a a ie y o scales (eBi d, 2020). We es ed h ee hypo heses a ound he impo ance o di ec encoun e s in gene a ing online in e es in bi ds. Fi s , we assessed whe he he geog aphic dis ibu ion o bi ds impac ed hei Wikipedia page iews. I wild encoun e s a e unimpo an , we p edic ed ha he local occu ence o bi d species would ha e a minimal impac on hei page iews; i di ec encoun e s a e impo an , we p edic ed page iews would be skewed owa d local species (i.e., hose ha occu ed in he wild in a gi en egion). Second, we es ed o co ela ions be ween page iews and body size/eBi d equency. We p edic ed a posi i e co ela ion be ween page iews and body size i indi ec encoun e s a e impo an and a posi i e co ela- ion be ween page iews and eBi d equency i di ec encoun e s wi h species a e impo an . Thi d, in ins ances whe e we had bo h body size and eBi d e- quency da a, we es ed he ela i e impo ance o bo h a iables in p edic ing Wikipedia page iews in a com- bined model. He e, we p edic ed ha body size would explain mo e a ia ion in page iews i di ec encoun e s a e less impo an and eBi d equency would explain mo e a ia ion i di ec encoun e s a e mo e impo an . P e iously, Mi e meie e al. (2019) iden i ied empo al co espondence be ween eBi d sigh ings and Wikipedia page iews o a sample o mig a o y bi ds in I aly, Ge - many, Sweden, and he Uni ed S a es. Thei s udy demon- s a ed ha , o some mig a o y bi ds, he physical p esence 2o 11 MITTERMEIER ET AL. o he species in a egion co ela ed wi h inc eased public in e es . This s udy builds on hese indings by e alua ing he ela ionship be ween he obse a ion equency and online in e es ac oss a much la ge ange o languages (25 language edi ions), geog aphic egions (25 egions including bo h empe a e and opical coun ies) and spe- cies (mo e han 10,000 bi d species, nea ly he en i e global di e si y). Thus, we p o ide a gene alized unde s anding o he ela ionship be ween wild encoun e equency and public in e es in bi ds i espec i e o he phenomenon o mig a ion and es he impo ance o he ela ionship ac oss a ange o linguis ic and geog aphic con ex s. 2|METHODS 2.1 |Da a selec ion and ex ac ion We used he numbe o page iews ha a page ecei es in Wikipedia as a measu e o online in e es (e.g., Mi e meie e al., 2019; Roll e al., 2016). Wikipedia does no include geog aphic in o ma ion wi h i s page iews, bu Wikipedia edi ions a e cons uc ed in di e en languages and sum- ma y da a a e a ailable ha lis he p opo ion o page iews each language edi ion ecei es by coun y (Zach e, 2020). Following p e ious s udies, we used hese coun y-le el summa ies as a coa se p oxy o geog aphy by pai ing Wikipedia language edi ions wi h he geo- g aphic egion ha accoun s o he majo i y o a language edi ion's page iews (Gene ous, Fai child, Deshpande, Del Valle, & P iedho sky, 2014; Mi e meie e al., 2019). We selec ed 25 Wikipedia edi ions o non-a i icial lan- guages ha , as o June 22, 2019, had o e 100,000 a icles, a Wikipedia edi ing dep h highe han 10 (a measu e o he language edi ion's quali y; Wikimedia 2019), and mo e han 50% o he language's page iews o igina ing om a single coun y (Appendix S1; Wikipedia, 2020; Zach e, 2020). Selec ing language edi ions wi h mo e han 50% o hei page iews o igina ing om a single coun y p o ided highe con idence in he geog aphic o igin o he page iews in ou da a se . I also esul ed in se e al widely spoken lan- guages wi h la ge Wikipedia edi ions no being included in ou da a se (e.g., Spanish, English). We iden i ied pages o bi d species in Wikipedia using he Wikida a Que y Se ice (h ps://que y. wikida a.o g/) o ex ac a lis o en i ies agged wi h an eBi d axon ID (Wikida a p ope y: P3444) on June 23, 2019. Wikida a is a seconda y da abase ha collec s s uc u ed da a o Wikimedia p ojec s, including all Wikipedia language edi ions (h ps://www.wikida a.o g). We c oss- e e enced ou lis o Wikida a en i ies wi h he eBi d/Clemen s global a ian axonomy (Clemen s e al., 2018) o ensu e ha non-bi d pages we e no included. We ob ained page links o Wikipedia pages in languages ha me ou c i e ia and downloaded page iews o each page o he pe iod be ween July 1, 2015 and June 22, 2019 (1,453 days) using “page iews” in R (Keyes & Lewis, 2016). To ob ain eBi d da a, we downloaded he eBi d Basic Da a se ( e sion Ap il 2019) wi h eco ds o all species and all yea s (eBi d, 2019) o he egions associa ed wi h each o ou 25 Wikipedia language edi ions. In mos cases, we de ined a egion as a single coun y, howe e , in a e ins ances whe e he dis ibu ion o a language co esponded s ongly o a speci ic subna ional egion, we downloaded da a o ha egion a he han o he en i e coun y (e.g., Tamil Wikipedia was pai ed wi h eBi d eco ds om Tamil Nadu a he han all o India). We limi ed ou analyses o egions wi h a minimum o 10,000 unique sampling e en s in eBi d, and o species ha appea ed in mo e han 10 sampling e en s in he egion's eBi d da a se . These h esholds helped minimize biases p esen in smalle eBi d da a se s and educe ins ances whe e inco ec ly iden i ied species had no ye been emo ed ia eBi d's e iew p ocess (Wood e al., 2011). Bi d pages in each Wikipedia language edi- ion we e assigned as ei he “local”i hey occu ed on he eBi d lis o he associa ed egion o “global”i hey did no (eBi d, 2019). Fo local species, we calcula ed he obse a ion equency o a species as he o al epo s o ha species in he egion di ided by he o al unique sampling e en s in he egion (Sulli an e al., 2009). This app oach p o ided a ough o e all measu e o obse a- ion equency o all local species in egion. I did no accoun o seasonal a ia ions (such as o mig a o y species) o o how species we e dis ibu ed wi hin he egion. Since global species by de ini ion had no sam- pling e en s in a egion, hey did no ha e an eBi d e- quency o ha egion in ou da a se . We ob ained bi d body mass da a om Dunning (2008). 2.2 |Da a analysis We explo ed he ela ionship be ween Wikipedia page iews, eBi d sigh ings, and a ian body mass ac oss each o he 25 language- egion pai s in ou da a se . Since language edi ions a ied subs an ially in hei iews, we assessed pa e ns in each language sepa a ely. Fu he - mo e, since ou da a we e spa se (we only had eBi d e- quency da a o local species, and we did no ha e body mass da a o all species) we analyzed da a o each lan- guage in ou sepa a e analyses. Fi s , o all o he bi d Wikipedia pages in a language, we looked a he o e all pa e n be ween page iews o global as opposed o local species and compa ed he median page iews o local MITTERMEIER ET AL.3o 11 and global species using a Wilcoxon ank-sum es . Sec- ond, o all he bi ds wi h Wikipedia pages in a language o which we had eBi d sigh ing equency (i.e., he local species ha occu ed in he egion associa ed wi h he language), we es ed he ela ionship be ween eBi d sigh ing equency as a p edic o and Wikipedia page iews as a esponse a iable using a simple linea eg ession model. Thi d, o all he bi ds wi h Wikipedia pages in a language o which we had body mass da a ( his included bo h local and global species), we modeled he ela ionship be ween body mass (p edic o ) and Wikipedia page iews ( esponse) using a simple linea eg ession model. Since we had body mass da a o bo h global and local species in each language, we es ed whe he a species being classi ied as local o global in luenced he ela ionship be ween body mass and page iews using an analysis o co a iance (ANCOVA). Fou h, o he bi ds wi h Wikipedia pages in a language o which we had bo h eBi d equency da a and body mass da a (i.e., local species wi h body mass da a) we used a combined linea eg ession model wi h eBi d e- quency and body mass as p edic o s o Wikipedia page iews. In he combined model, we compa ed he el- a i e in luence o eBi d equency and body mass as p e- dic o s o Wikipedia page iews using a ia ion pa i ioning (Oksanen e al., 2017). Fo all analyses, we no malized a iables using a logi ans o ma ion o p o- po ions (eBi d equency) and a log ans o ma ion o coun s and con inuous a iables (Wikipedia page iews, body mass). Final models we e es ed o assump ions o no mali y and homoscedas ici y o esiduals. 3|RESULTS 3.1 |Da a selec ion and ex ac ion Ou da a se con ained 78,415 Wikipedia pages o bi ds ac oss 25 languages (Appendix S2). In o al, 10,174 bi d species had a leas one Wikipedia page in ou da a se (96.1% o he o al bi d species; Clemen s e al., 2018). Numbe s o bi d pages pe language a ied om 103 (Hindi) o 10,103 in Du ch (mean pages pe language 3,137, SD 3,034). Wikipedia pages in ou da a se ecei ed 367 million iews o e he sampling pe iod ( iews pe language 417,000–70.9 million; mean 14.7 million, SD 18.5 million). Wi h he excep ion o B azil (which accoun ed o 79.7% o he page iews o Po uguese Wikipedia), all o ou geog aphic egions we e in Eu ope (15 egions) and Asia (nine egions). Ou eBi d da a se con ained 2.3 million unique sam- pling e en s wi h eco ds o 4,340 bi d species. Unique sampling e en s pe egion anged om 10,600 (Sou h Ko ea) o 817,000 (India; mean 91,900, SD 169,000). eBi d species ichness pe egion anged om 313 species (Czech Republic) o 1,716 (B azil; mean o e all 615, SD 374). No all species ha occu ed in a egion had a Wikipedia page in he associa ed language. The p opo - ion o eBi d species in a egion wi h Wikipedia pages a ied om 7.62% o species (Hindi—India) o >98% o species in ele en language– egion pai s (mean o e all 82.5%, SD 25.6%). We ob ained body mass da a o 9,406 species. 3.2 |Wikipedia page iews o local s. global species Ou da a se con ained many mo e Wikipedia pages ha we classi ied as global (70,250 global s. 8,165 local). Despi e his, pages o local species ecei ed mo e iews han hose o global species (218 million s. 149 million page iews; mean page iews o local species 26,700, SD 74,900; mean page iews o global species 2,120, SD 14,300). The mean page iews o local species was highe han he mean page iews o global species in all 25 lan- guages, wi h he di e ence be ween he means being s a- is ically signi ican in all bu wo languages (Wilcoxon ank-sum p< .01; mean page iews local 723–131,000; mean page iews global 106–16,600; Figu e 1, Appendix S3). The e ec size o he di e ence in mean page iews o local as opposed o global species was ei he la ge o mode a e in 20 languages (la ge de ined as >0.5, mode a e as 0.3–0.5). 3.3 |eBi d equency as a p edic o o Wikipedia page iews Fo local bi ds in ou da a se (i.e., hose o which we had eBi d equency da a) we es ed he ela ionship be ween eBi d equency as a p edic o and Wikipedia page iews as a esponse a iable using a linea eg ession model. The numbe o species on a egion's eBi d lis wi h Wikipedia pages anged om 82 o 1,138 (mean 399, SD 216; o al local pages ac oss all languages 8,165). eBi d equency showed a signi ican posi i e co ela ion wi h Wikipedia page iews in all 25 languages (p< .01). Ac oss languages, a linea eg ession model wi h eBi d equency as a p edic o explained be ween 6.9 and 49.0% o he a iance in Wikipedia page iews o bi d pages (adj. R 2 = .07–.49, mean 0.25, SD .13; Figu e 2, Table 1). The mos equen ly epo ed bi ds in eBi d in each language ecei ed a high p opo ion o he Wikipedia page iews o bi ds. Among local species, he 20 mos e- quen ly eco ded species in eBi d accoun ed o 20.2 o 4o 11 MITTERMEIER ET AL. 49.8% o he page iews o local bi d species, while mak- ing up 3.14 o 20.1% o he local bi d species pages (mean p opo ion o iews 40.0%, SD 8.24%; mean p opo ion o species 13.1%, SD 5.09%). This pa e n was also e iden when conside ing he o al bi d Wikipedia pages in a lan- guage (i.e., bo h local and global). Ac oss languages, he 20 species wi h he highes eBi d equency accoun ed o 3.16 o 19.6% o he o al Wikipedia page iews o bi d species, while consis ing o only 0.20 o 4.20% o he o al bi d species pages (mean p opo ion o iews 13.36%, SD 4.66%; mean p opo ion o species 1.29%, SD 1.14%; Appendix S4). FIGURE 1 Bi d species ha occu in he egion esponsible o he majo i y o a Wikipedia language edi ion’s page iews (“local” species) a ac mo e page iews han bi d species ha do no occu in he egion (“global”species). Poin s indica e ou lie s occu ing > 1.5x he in e qua ile ange beyond he median. S a is ical signi icance o he di e ence be ween means calcula ed using a Wilcoxon ank-sum es wi h p < 0.01; wo language edi ions whe e di e ence be ween means was no s a is ically signi ican a e ma ked wi h an as e isk (Malay and Hindi) MITTERMEIER ET AL.5o 11 FIGURE 2 eBi d obse a ion equency co ela es posi i ely wi h Wikipedia page iews o local bi d species ac oss mul iple Wikipedia language edi ions. In a linea model wi h eBi d obse a ion equency (logi ans o med) as a p edic o o page iews (log ans o med), obse a ion equency p edic ed be ween 49% and 6.9% o he a iance in page iews ( op h ee ows show 9 language edi ions wi h he highes adj. R2 in he linea model; bo om ow shows 3 languages wi h he lowes adj. R2 in he linea model; see Table 1 o ull esul s) 6o 11 MITTERMEIER ET AL. 3.4 |Body mass as a p edic o o Wikipedia page iews Fo speciesinou da ase o whichwehadbodymassda a, we es ed he ela ionship be ween body mass (as a p edic- o ) and Wikipedia page iews (as a esponse) using a linea eg ession model. The numbe o species pe language o which we had body mass da a a ied om 99 o 9,403 (mean 2,993, SD 2,875; 74,830 pages o al). Body mass showed a sig- ni ican posi i e co ela ion wi h Wikipedia page iews in 21 o 25 languages (p< .01; Table 2). In languages whe e he ela ionship was signi ican , body mass desc ibed be ween 2.1 and 24.5% o he a iance in page iews (p< .01, adj. R 2 =.02–.25, mean 0.11, SD 0.08). The in e ac ion be ween local–global and body mass was signi ican in 12 o he 25 languages (p< .01). In ins ances whe e he ela ionship was signi ican , body mass had a s onge posi i e ela ion- ship wi h page iews o global species han o local ones in all bu one language (local mean coe icien 0.18, SD 0.11, global mean coe icien 0.34, SD 0.05; Appendix S5). 3.5 |eBi d equency e sus body mass as p edic o s o Wikipedia page iews o local species Fo all species o which we had bo h body mass and eBi d equency da a (i.e., local species wi h body mass da a; 2,563 species wi h 8,014 pages), we i ed a linea eg ession model ha included bo h eBi d equency and body mass as p edic o s o Wikipedia page iews. This join model was signi ican in all 25 languages (p<.01) and explained be ween 10.5 and 54.9% o he a iance in TABLE 1 Model esul s o a linea model wi h eBi d obse a ion equency (logi ans o med) as a p edic o o page iews (log ans o med) o pages o local bi d species in 25 Wikipedia language edi ions Language Es ima e (β)SE p- alue Model adj. R 2 Ge man 0.50 0.03 7.16E−51 .49 F ench 0.42 0.03 9.58E−40 .35 Du ch 0.42 0.03 1.61E−40 .44 Russian 0.50 0.05 3.57E−24 .20 I alian 0.40 0.04 5.06E−21 .25 Polish 0.53 0.04 6.82E−28 .37 Japanese 0.49 0.03 2.02E−39 .35 Chinese 0.23 0.02 1.83E−19 .16 Po uguese 0.38 0.02 1.71E−53 .19 Se bian 0.29 0.06 1.62E−06 .14 Ca alan 0.42 0.03 9.62E−38 .40 No wegian 0.43 0.04 5.53E−28 .34 Indonesian 0.35 0.04 5.34E−18 .14 Finnish 0.41 0.03 7.01E−35 .43 Ko ean 0.19 0.05 7.67E−04 .07 Hunga ian 0.45 0.04 1.89E−20 .28 Czech 0.48 0.04 1.51E−28 .40 Basque 0.24 0.02 8.19E−20 .25 Malay 0.19 0.03 2.68E−08 .07 Danish 0.50 0.04 2.55E−29 .38 Heb ew 0.35 0.05 1.26E−12 .16 G eek 0.26 0.06 8.94E−06 .11 Thai 0.18 0.04 2.57E−05 .10 Hindi 0.23 0.06 5.80E−04 .13 Tamil 0.24 0.03 8.68E−12 .16 TABLE 2 Model esul s o a linea model wi h body mass (log ans o med) as a p edic o o page iews (log ans o med) o pages o local and global bi d species in 25 Wikipedia language edi ions Language Es ima e (β)SE p- alue Model adj. R 2 Ge man 0.36 0.01 5.1E−167 .17 F ench 0.39 0.01 .00 .20 Du ch 0.42 0.01 .00 .25 Russian 0.28 0.01 5.2E−89 .12 I alian 0.32 0.01 2.8E–104 .12 Polish 0.26 0.02 1.4E–63 .10 Japanese 0.18 0.02 4.2E–16 .04 Chinese 0.36 0.01 9.2E–130 .21 Po uguese 0.43 0.01 1.9E–289 .23 Se bian 1.0E-03 0.05 0.99 .00 Ca alan 0.13 0.01 3.80E–32 .03 No wegian 0.34 0.02 4.00E–62 .13 Indonesian −0.05 0.03 0.06 .00 Finnish 0.39 0.01 1.2E–291 .20 Ko ean 0.13 0.03 2.2E–05 .04 Hunga ian 0.41 0.01 1.5E–296 .21 Czech 0.17 0.03 9.6E–12 .04 Basque 0.07 0.01 4.5E−53 .03 Malay 0.09 0.03 2.3E−04 .02 Danish 0.13 0.03 8.9E−08 .03 Heb ew 0.12 0.02 1.1E−07 .02 G eek 0.00 0.04 0.94 .00 Thai 0.11 0.04 0.01 .02 Hindi 0.03 0.10 0.77 −.01 Tamil 0.18 0.03 4.5E−09 .07 MITTERMEIER ET AL.7o 11 Wikipedia page iews o bi ds ac oss languages (adj. R 2 = .10–.55, mean 0.33, SD 0.13). We used pa i ion o a iance using pa ial linea eg ession o assess he ela- i e con ibu ions o body mass and eBi d equency as explana o y a iables. Fo all languages excep one (Po uguese), eBi d equency explained mo e o he a i- ance in page iews han body mass (adj. R 2 equency j mass 0.07–0.52, mean 0.28, SD 0.13; adj. R 2 mass j equency −0.01–0.26, mean 0.08, SD 0.06; Table 3). O en he di e ence be ween he wo was subs an ial; in 14 languages eBi d equency explained o e h ee imes mo e a iance han body mass. 4|DISCUSSION We ou lined h ee hypo heses o assessing he ela i e impo ance o a physical ai (body size) e sus he po en ial o encoun e a species in he wild in de e mining public in e es in bi ds. Fo all h ee hypo h- eses, ou esul s s ongly suppo ed he impo ance o encoun e equency o e body size in de e mining public in e es online. Fi s , we obse ed a clea geog aphical pa e n in he dis ibu ion o Wikipedia page iews o bi ds, wi h local species a ac ing mo e in e es han pages o global species ac oss languages (Figu e 1). Sec- ond, while bo h body size and eBi d equency (Figu e 2; Tables 1 and 2) co ela ed posi i ely wi h inc eased page iews; eBi d equency explained mo e o he a i- ance in page iews ac oss languages (mean adj. R 2 eBi d equency 0.25, SD 0.13; mean adj. R 2 body size 0.11, SD 0.08). Thi d, when eBi d equency and body size we e compa ed di ec ly in a combined model, he o me explained signi ican ly mo e a iance in page iews in 24 o 25 languages in ou da a se (mean adj. R 2 e- quency jmass 0.28, SD 0.13; mean adj. R 2 mass j e- quency mean 0.08, SD 0.06; Table 3). In se e al language edi ions, he di e ence be ween eBi d equency and TABLE 3 Model adjus ed R 2 esul s o a linea model wi h bo h body mass and eBi d equency as p edic o s o page iews o pages o local bi d species in 25 Wikipedia language edi ions Language Model adj. R 2 F equency jmass Mass j equency Di e ence Ge man .55 0.52 0.06 0.46 Du ch .46 0.44 0.02 0.42 Czech .45 0.45 0.05 0.39 Ca alan .43 0.42 0.04 0.39 Polish .41 0.4 0.05 0.35 Finnish .51 0.42 0.08 0.34 Japanese .38 0.36 0.03 0.33 Danish .47 0.39 0.1 0.29 F ench .47 0.39 0.12 0.28 No wegian .39 0.33 0.05 0.28 Hunga ian .32 0.29 0.05 0.24 Basque .29 0.27 0.05 0.22 I alian .36 0.3 0.11 0.19 Heb ew .22 0.2 0.06 0.13 Hindi .12 0.12 −0.01 0.13 Indonesian .13 0.13 0.0 0.13 Russian .32 0.23 0.12 0.11 G eek .18 0.15 0.08 0.07 Se bian .24 0.17 0.11 0.06 Thai .25 0.2 0.14 0.06 Chinese .33 0.21 0.17 0.04 Tamil .33 0.22 0.17 0.04 Malay .13 0.09 0.06 0.04 Ko ean .11 0.07 0.04 0.03 Po uguese .44 0.18 0.26 −0.08 No e: Adjus ed R 2 o F equency jMass and Mass jF equency calcula ed using a ia ion pa i ioning (Oksanen e al., 2017). 8o 11 MITTERMEIER ET AL. body size as p edic o s o Wikipedia page iews in his combined model was subs an ial: in Ge man Wikipedia eBi d equency explained 52% o he a iance in Wikipedia page iews o local species when used as he sole p edic o in he combined linea model, while mass explained only 6% o he a iance. Fi ing he es ablished wisdom in conse a ion (e.g., Be i e al., 2020) ou esul s ound ha body size co ela ed posi i ely wi h online in e es . No ably, some o he mos - iewed pages in se e al languages we e a ely encoun e ed, global species. In a s iking example, he Dodo (Raphus cuculla us), a ela i ely la ge bodied, ex inc species, ecei ed he mos page iews o any bi d page in bo h F ench and Po uguese Wikipedias. Thus, indi ec ep esen a ions such as appea ances in media and popula cul u e clea ly d i e in e es in some species and can e en de e mine he mos iewed species pages o e all. Howe e , when assessed ac oss la ge numbe s o species, ou esul s clea ly showed ha body size was seconda y o he po en ial o di ec wild encoun e s in p edic ing Wikipedia page iews o bi ds. While high public in e es in locally common species has been shown in p e ious s udies using online da a (e.g., Co eia e al., 2016; Zmiho ski e al., 2013), we demons a ed ha his pa e n is p esen ac oss a wide ange o cul u al and geog aphic con ex s. The posi i e co ela ion be ween wild encoun e a es and online in e es could p o e ele an o conse a ion policy in wo ways. Fi s , om a me hodological s and- poin i demons a es he impo ance o aking encoun e equency in o accoun when measu ing public in e es in species. Second, i highligh s he impo ance o local and equen ly encoun e ed species in a ac ing people's a en ion o he na u al wo ld. Few i any o he 20 mos equen ly obse ed bi ds in he egions in ou da a se would quali y as “cha isma ic mega auna”unde mos c i e ia, and ye hey accoun ed o be ween 10 and 20% o he o al bi d page iews in mos languages. As a esul o he in e es hey a ac , hese commonly obse ed spe- cies could ac as en y poin s o people's in e ac ions wi h biodi e si y. Conse a ion ini ia i es ha imp o e oppo uni ies o people o in e ac wi h common, local species (such as he de elopmen o public pa ks and g e- enspaces) could help inc ease public suppo o conse a ion. The e a e se e al ca ea s o conside when in e - p e ing ou esul s. Ou me hod o ma ching Wikipedia languages o egions p o ided only ough geog aphic es- olu ion. Fo each language, a pe cen age o page iews came om ou side o he associa ed egion. Fu he mo e, species ha a e equen ly encoun e ed in one pa o a egion may be absen om ano he , pa icula ly in la ge egions such as B azil. Using cul u omic esou ces wi h mo e ine-scale geog aphic esolu ion could be an app oach o in es iga ing hese pa e ns a ine scales (e.g., Co eia e al., 2016). eBi d da a also ha e impo an biases (Sulli an e al., 2009). eBi d use s may be mo e likely o isi ce ain loca ions, epo some species o e o he s, and he co e age and ypes o use s may di e be ween egions. I is also impo an o conside he ways in which people use Wikipedia as opposed o o he online esou ces (Co eia e al., 2021). Wikipedia page iews e lec people's a en ion and hei sea ches o addi ional knowledge, bu no necessa ily hei p e e - ences. High in e es in a species could equally esul om people liking a species as i could om people conside - ing i is a pes and wan ing o emo e i . Thus, addi ional con ex is equi ed unde s and he d i e s behind high page iews o species. Finally, i is possible ha in e ac- ions wi h wild animals a e mo e impo an o bi ds han o o he axonomic g oups. Bi ds a e mo e easily obse ed and iden i ied in he wild han many o he o ganisms and gene a e unique o ms o human-na u e in e ac ion h ough ac i i ies such as bi dwa ching and bi d- eeding (Cocke , Tipling, Elphick, & Fanshawe, 2013). I is possible ha obse a ion equency may ha e a s onge posi i e co ela ion wi h online in e es o bi ds han i does o o he g oups o o gan- isms. Fu u e s udies may be able o add ess hese ca ea s and expand upon ou esul s o in es iga e he mecha- nisms unde lying he high online in e es in local bi d species. Ou esul s highligh ed he no el insigh s ha a e possible using he la ge analy ical scales enabled by con- se a ion cul u omics me hods. The ela ionship be ween sigh ing equency and inc eased public in e es may be obscu ed when public in e es in species is assessed using small o un ep esen a i e samples. In smalle samples, ai s o ex eme ou lie s (such as he Dodo) may ou - weigh b oadscale pa e ns in he da a. Thus, ou indings highligh ed he alue o la ge-scale analyses ac oss many species and o e b oad cul u al and geog aphic con ex s. Access o la ge digi al sou ces such as Wikipedia, oge he wi h powe ul new analy ical ools hold much p omise o u he no el esea ch insigh s using conse - a ion cul u omics (Co eia e al., 2021). Fu u e s udies can build on ou esul s by using mo e ocused s udies o in es iga e he causal ela ionships be ween public in e es and people's wild encoun e s wi h species. I he e is a causal ela ionship be ween wild encoun e s wi h species and inc eased in e es , as he co ela ions we iden i ied sugges , his ela ionship may hin a an upcoming challenge o conse a ion: popula ions o many species a e declining a ala ming a es esul ing in ewe oppo uni ies o people o encoun e species in he wild (Di zo e al., 2014; Inge MITTERMEIER ET AL.9o 11