Covid-related surge in global wild bird feeding: Implications for biodiversity and human-nature interaction

RESEARCH ARTICLE Covid-related surge in global wild bird feeding: Implications for biodiversity and human-nature interaction Jacqueline DoremusID1☯*, Liqing Li2☯, Darryl Jones3 1 Economics Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, United States of America, 2 Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University College Station, College Station, Texas, United States of America, 3 Centre for Planetary Health & Food Security and School of Environment & Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia ☯ These authors contributed equally to this work. * jdoremus@calpoly.edu Abstract The global extent of supplementary bird feeding is unknown but has consequences for bird conservation and human well-being. Using a measure of search intensity for words related to bird feeding from Google, we document a surge of interest in bird feeding that occurred around the world after Covid-19 led to lockdowns where people stayed home: 115 countries saw an increase in bird feeding search interest. We test whether the existence of interest in bird feeding is associated with greater species richness of bird species, our proxy for biodi- versity, and find the relationship is highly significant. Covid-19 lockdowns may have persis- tent influences on global bird populations and humans’ connection to nature. I. Introduction The practice of feeding wild birds is one of the most popular nature-based pastimes in many parts of the world [1], and public interest in birds is keen [2]. As well as being an enormous

international industry worth more than US$4 billion annually, it is also a significant way for people to experience a connection with nature [3, 4]. As urbanization accelerates worldwide, with over 50% expected to be living in large cities by 2050, the ability of residents to have at least some level of interaction with natural features becomes critically important. The health and well-being benefits to humans associated with a wide range of nature-related activities are becoming increasingly clear [5, 6]. The feeding of wild birds is especially significant in this context, as it is simple, relatively inexpensive, and can be undertaken in almost any setting, regardless of the level of development [7, 8]. Successfully feeding birds is possible in a high-rise apartment balcony as well as in a large, vegetated garden [9]. Furthermore, growing evidence shows that people engaging in bird feeding are more likely to have pro-environmental values and support conservation initiatives [7]. For these and other reasons, many organizations are exploring ways to enable and encourage opportunities for bird feeding [1, 10, 11]. The advent of Covid-19 has had unprecedented impacts on human activities and, subse- quently, on wildlife as well, especially in urban areas [12, 13]. Numerous studies have already PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287116 August 2, 2023 1 / 15 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Doremus J, Li L, Jones D (2023) Covid- related surge in global wild bird feeding:

Implications for biodiversity and human-nature interaction. PLoS ONE 18(8): e0287116. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287116 Editor: Vitor Hugo Rodrigues Paiva, MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, PORTUGAL Received: February 2, 2022 Accepted: May 30, 2023 Published: August 2, 2023 Copyright: © 2023 Doremus et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting information files. Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.