Associate Professor University of North Georgia Oakwood, Georgia
Public understanding, appreciation, and motivation are crucial to arthropod conservation and management. Inclusion of children is important to conservation, as children will be future policymakers and stakeholders in conservation. Entomologists must reach children across all demographics, especially those belonging to underserved communities, in order to conserve arthropod diversity. In late summer 2019, we led arthropod-collecting workshops with three groups of underserved children in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area. Children were given collecting supplies and encouraged to return insects to us. The most common arthropod collected by children was Polistes, while Sentinel traps most commonly collected Aedes mosquitoes and Tipulidae. Children were given surveys before the workshops started and again during a second visit. We found that the younger children and those with language barriers had more hesitancy and phobias compared to older children, and were less likely to change views after the workshop. All children were more likely to consider insects beneficial and show interest in careers in biology. Our research suggest that small investments of time can make a difference for children in underserved communities, with potential future arthropod conservation and management benefits. Future longitudinal research can determine whether work with underserved children has long-term effects.
