Proxy variables of the closeness between humans and wildlife associated with public interest in bird species in Japan

Human–nature interactions are gaining increasing attention, as evidence accumulates on the health and well-being benefits of interacting with nature. Since public interest in wildlife affects support for biodiversity protection, it is important to elucidate and quantify the relevant factors in conservation efforts. However, the factors that affect public interest are highly abstract proxies for the closeness between humans and species. Therefore, more detailed variables that represent familiarity with humans (e.g., habitat type) and their relationship with public interest need to be identified. In the present study, we examined the factors influencing public interest in 391 bird species in Japan using Wikipedia pageviews as a proxy. Daily view data from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2021 were obtained to explore statistical models explaining Wikipedia pageviews for birds using a generalized linear model and the corrected Akaike information criterion. We used habitat type, nesting place, body size, food use, and conservation status as independent variables. In this study, the Ministry of the Environment Red List was used as a conservation status data source, and other independent variables were obtained from the JAVIAN Database. Our results revealed that species that are ecologically and culturally close to humans attract high public interest. Furthermore, species related to an urban habitat type and food use were particularly associated with high public interest. The results showed that people were highly interested in birds that were physically and culturally close to humans. Although cities are historically novel environments, a variety of species have successfully colonized the urban environment, and cities have already been key interaction sites between people and wildlife. Therefore, planning for a highly biodiverse city owns the potential to increase public interest in these species and generate broad public support for conservation.