Declining bird populations are associated with loss of species identification skills in students

Biodiversity, including bird diversity, is essential for ecosystem stability. However, recent declines in bird populations threaten the balance, additionally reducing opportunities for people to encounter birds in their daily lives and potentially diminishing species identification skills. We here investigate the relationship between bird population trends, and habitats, and students’ bird species identification skills in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, comparing data from 2005 with 2022/2023. Our results suggest that declining populations of bird species are linked to statistically significant reductions in students’ identification skills (Cohen’s d = -0.421, SE = 0.196, p = 0.032). Today, students aged 8 to 21 years are on average 12.2% less familiar with declining bird species than students in 2005. In contrast, stable or increasing bird populations are not related to changes in identification skills. This may be due to reduced direct exposure to nature, a phenomenon known as the extinction of experience. Farmland birds, among the different habitat types, experienced the greatest decline in familiarity (Cohen’s d = -0.254, SE = 0.086, p = 0.003), perhaps mirroring their negative population trends. Our study introduces important ecological factors such as population decline as a previously overlooked but influential driver of species knowledge loss, in contrast to previous research focusing primarily on social variables (education, demography). These results highlight how both population decline, potentially combined with a diminished nature exposure, may contribute to a loss of species identification skills. They underscore the importance of integrating ecological considerations into biodiversity education and conservation efforts.