Choosing images to create awareness of soil biodiversity: lessons from emotions aroused by photographs of Collembola

Soil contains a high level of biodiversity, estimated at around 60 % of known terrestrial life. Yet life in the soil is largely unknown by non-specialists: a case in point are springtails (Collembola), millimetric hexapods whose abundance can be tens of thousands of individuals per square meter. This lack of knowledge can compromise soil conservation, despite this being increasingly urgent due to the detrimental impact of human activities. Since an emotional response – for example, to charismatic species – is known to be valuable for species conservation, this study aimed to evaluate the emotional perceptions (positive or negative, and low or strong intensity) of young adults when shown photographs of Collembola. Indeed, Collembola seemed a good candidate for a perception study regarding soil fauna as they are very common in most soils at all latitudes and altitudes. The results show that the morphology of the individuals presented was decisive, in particular a visible eye patch (the presence was perceived as positive, while absence was perceived as negative) and body shape (spherical was perceived as positive, while elongated was perceived as negative). The color of the taxon and the number of individuals in the photograph could also modulate the perception of the viewers: blue and green were perceived as positive, while more than two individuals in the photograph provoked negative emotions. The artistic choices made in the photographs, such as background color, also had a significant influence on emotions. These results are of interest for education and outreach efforts on soil biodiversity; this pilot study with young adults and Collembola could help inform future communication campaigns for soil conservation.