Limited public engagement with plant invasions in national parks on Twitter/X

Abstract

Protected areas (PAs) are key for conserving biodiversity and can act as partial barriers against the regional spread of alien species. Yet, the number of invasive species and the magnitude of their impact on PAs are increasing globally, creating an urgent need to establish effective management actions. Increased public interest in biological invasions in PAs may lead to increased support for their management. To assess recent public interest, we extracted and analysed data from Twitter/X, which was one of the most popular microblogging social media platforms during the study period. Firstly, we extracted all tweets posted between 2010 and 2020 containing the scientific name of any plant species recorded as naturalised anywhere in the world, or the term ‘invasive species’, together with the name of any national park globally and the term ‘national park’. This approach allowed us to capture potential mentions of species across their native and non-native ranges. Mentions of species in their native ranges were identified and flagged in the dataset. Secondly, using Kruger National Park (i.e. one of the oldest and most widely known protected areas in the world) as a study case, we extracted all tweets posted in 2010–2020 containing the term ‘Kruger’ together with: (1) the scientific name of any of the 146 taxa recorded in the recently updated naturalised alien flora of the park, (2) the genus name of some of the most well-known naturalised plant species in the park, some of which also function as common names, and (3) the term ‘invasive species’. We found a very limited number of tweets. These results suggest that public engagement with the topic of invasive plant species in national parks on social media was limited during the study period. Conservation implications: Public awareness campaigns are needed to support successful management of plant invasions in protected areas globally.