BMF Collaborative Project 1: Urban residents’ biodiversity connections and belief in biodiversity loss
AISDL
August 4, 2022
Highlight:
1. Project Description
1.1. Background
Despite the vital role of biosphere diversity in the Earth system, the biodiversity loss rate is occurring at an unprecedented rate. Around 1 million species are threatened with extinction, according to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services [1]. Moreover, the global number of mammals, birds, fishes, and plants also dreadfully dropped by 68% from 1970 to 2016 [2]. Besides land conversion for agricultural use, infrastructure development, urbanization, invasive species, pollution, and climate change, the rising demand for wildlife products due to consumption in urban areas is also the main cause of biodiversity loss. Belief plays a crucial role in humans’ thinking processes and behaviors, so understanding the predictors of urban residents’ belief in biodiversity loss might improve the effectiveness and efficiency of reducing the wildlife consumption demands.
1.2. Project Aims: According to the mindsponge mechanism [3], a person’s beliefs are core values that constitute the mindset (a set of core values). For information to be absorbed into the mindset, it needs to satisfy two conditions:
Based on these two conditions, the current study has two objectives:
1.3. Methods and Materials: The research project will employ the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics on a dataset of 535 urban residents (from 35 cities across Vietnam) to accomplish the research objectives presented above [4,5]. The bayesvl R package will be employed for statistical analyses [6,7]. For more information on BMF analytics, portal users can refer to the following book [8].
1.4. Main Findings
Figure 1 presents the mindsponge-based constructed model’s coefficient distributions on an interval plot.
Figure 1: The constructed model’s coefficient distributions
The results can be interpreted as follows:
Figure 2: Belief in biodiversity loss according to A) the diversity of in-house pets, B) the diversity of in-house plants
2. Collaboration Details
2.1. Current Collaboration Stage: Registration stage
2.2. Registration Period: August 4, 2022 – August 11, 2022
2.3. Registration Guidelines
Portal users should follow these steps for registering to participate in this research project:
2.4. Number of Participants: This project has five participants. The registered participants will be selected based on the ‘first come-first serve’ rule. Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and those from low-resource countries will be prioritized in specific cases.
2.5. AISDL Mentor
The first author (project leader)
The research project strictly adheres to scientific integrity standards, including authorship rights and obligations. We look forward to working with volunteers on this research project. If the portal users have any further inquiries, please get in touch with the AISDL in charge of the project.
Reference
[1] Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. (2019). Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’ Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’. UN Environment Programme. https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/natures-dangerous-decline-unprecedented-species-extinction-rates
[2] World Wildlife Fund. (2020). Living Planet Report 2020 - Bending the curve of biodiversity loss. Gland, Switzerland. Available at: https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-us/
[3] Vuong QH, Napier NK. (2015). Acculturation and global mindsponge: An emerging market perspective. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 49, 354–367. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0147176715000826
[4] Nguyen MH, La VP, Le TT, Vuong QH. (2022). Bayesian Mindsponge Framework analytics: a novel methodological approach for social sciences and humanities. In: QH Vuong, MH Nguyen, VP La. (Eds.) The mindsponge and BMF analytics for innovative thinking in social sciences and humanities (pp. 87-116). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter. (In progress)
[5] Nguyen MH. (2021). Multifaceted interactions between urban humans and biodiversity-related concepts: A developing-country data set. Data Intelligence, 3(4), 578–605. https://direct.mit.edu/dint/article/3/4/578/107428/
[6] Vuong QH, et al. (2020). Bayesian analysis for social data: A step-by-step protocol and interpretation. MethodsX, 7, 100924. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215016120301448
[7] La VP, Vuong QH. (2019). bayesvl: Visually Learning the Graphical Structure of Bayesian Networks and Performing MCMC with ‘Stan’. The Comprehensive R Archive Network. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/bayesvl/index.html
[8] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH, La VP. (2022). The mindsponge and BMF analytics for innovative thinking in social sciences and humanities. De Gruyter. (In progress)
August 4, 2022
Highlight:
- The AISDL team invites portal users to participate in a research project exploring the relationships between biodiversity connections and belief in biodiversity loss among urban residents.
- The research project will have five authors.
- The registration period opens from August 3 to 10, 2022, and will close sooner if the maximum number of participants is reached.
1. Project Description
1.1. Background
Despite the vital role of biosphere diversity in the Earth system, the biodiversity loss rate is occurring at an unprecedented rate. Around 1 million species are threatened with extinction, according to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services [1]. Moreover, the global number of mammals, birds, fishes, and plants also dreadfully dropped by 68% from 1970 to 2016 [2]. Besides land conversion for agricultural use, infrastructure development, urbanization, invasive species, pollution, and climate change, the rising demand for wildlife products due to consumption in urban areas is also the main cause of biodiversity loss. Belief plays a crucial role in humans’ thinking processes and behaviors, so understanding the predictors of urban residents’ belief in biodiversity loss might improve the effectiveness and efficiency of reducing the wildlife consumption demands.
1.2. Project Aims: According to the mindsponge mechanism [3], a person’s beliefs are core values that constitute the mindset (a set of core values). For information to be absorbed into the mindset, it needs to satisfy two conditions:
- First, the information needs to be available and accessible by the person to be absorbed and processed.
- Second, the information needs to be perceived as beneficial based on the person’s value system shaped by the mindset.
Based on these two conditions, the current study has two objectives:
- To examine whether urban residents’ connections to the diversity of in-house animals and plants are associated with their belief in biodiversity loss.
- To examine whether the associations between urban residents’ connections to in-house biodiversity are moderated by their feeling of comfortability when being in the house.
1.3. Methods and Materials: The research project will employ the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics on a dataset of 535 urban residents (from 35 cities across Vietnam) to accomplish the research objectives presented above [4,5]. The bayesvl R package will be employed for statistical analyses [6,7]. For more information on BMF analytics, portal users can refer to the following book [8].
1.4. Main Findings
Figure 1 presents the mindsponge-based constructed model’s coefficient distributions on an interval plot.
Figure 1: The constructed model’s coefficient distributions
The results can be interpreted as follows:
- When urban residents feel uncomfortable at home, a higher level of pet diversity in the house is associated with a weaker belief in biodiversity loss. In contrast, if urban residents feel comfortable at home, a higher level of pet diversity in the house is associated with a stronger belief in biodiversity loss (see Figure 2A).
- A higher level of plant diversity in the house is associated with a stronger belief in biodiversity loss when urban residents feel uncomfortable at home. Meanwhile, when urban residents feel comfortable at home, a higher level of plant diversity in the house is associated with a stronger belief in biodiversity loss. Still, the association is negligible (see Figure 2B).
Figure 2: Belief in biodiversity loss according to A) the diversity of in-house pets, B) the diversity of in-house plants
2. Collaboration Details
2.1. Current Collaboration Stage: Registration stage
2.2. Registration Period: August 4, 2022 – August 11, 2022
2.3. Registration Guidelines
Portal users should follow these steps for registering to participate in this research project:
- Create an account on the website (preferably using an institution email).
- Read carefully and select the author order that you want to become. Each project consists of a certain number of authors, and each author order in the manuscript corresponds to specific tasks of which the participant will be in charge.
- Comment your desired author order and your current affiliation in the collaborative project post.
- Patiently wait for the formal agreement on the project from the AISDL mentor.
2.4. Number of Participants: This project has five participants. The registered participants will be selected based on the ‘first come-first serve’ rule. Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and those from low-resource countries will be prioritized in specific cases.
2.5. AISDL Mentor
- Name: Minh-Hoang Nguyen
- Affiliation: Centre for Interdisciplinary Social Research, Phenikaa University, Vietnam
- Contacting email: aisdl_team@mindsponge.info
The first author (project leader)
- Name:
- Affiliation:
- Roles: responsible for finalizing the project (mandatory), being responsive throughout the project (mandatory), conceptualizing, organizing the manuscript, assigning tasks, keeping track, supporting and guiding other participants, and editing the manuscript.
- Name:
- Affiliation:
- Registering/invited time:
- Roles: conducting a literature review, discussing results, writing the manuscript (Introduction and Discussion), and revising the manuscript during the peer-review process.
- Name:
- Affiliation:
- Registering/invited time:
- Roles: describing methods and materials, writing the manuscript (Methods and Materials), and revising the manuscript during the peer-review process.
- Name:
- Affiliation:
- Registering/invited time:
- Roles: conducting a literature review, writing the manuscript (Introduction), and revising the manuscript during the peer-review process.
- Name:
- Affiliation:
- Registering/invited time:
- Roles: being responsive throughout the project (mandatory), validating the manuscript, discussing results, writing the manuscript (Results and Discussion), submitting the manuscript, revising the manuscript during the peer-review process, and responding to reviewers’ comments.
The research project strictly adheres to scientific integrity standards, including authorship rights and obligations. We look forward to working with volunteers on this research project. If the portal users have any further inquiries, please get in touch with the AISDL in charge of the project.
Reference
[1] Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. (2019). Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’ Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’. UN Environment Programme. https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/natures-dangerous-decline-unprecedented-species-extinction-rates
[2] World Wildlife Fund. (2020). Living Planet Report 2020 - Bending the curve of biodiversity loss. Gland, Switzerland. Available at: https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-us/
[3] Vuong QH, Napier NK. (2015). Acculturation and global mindsponge: An emerging market perspective. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 49, 354–367. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0147176715000826
[4] Nguyen MH, La VP, Le TT, Vuong QH. (2022). Bayesian Mindsponge Framework analytics: a novel methodological approach for social sciences and humanities. In: QH Vuong, MH Nguyen, VP La. (Eds.) The mindsponge and BMF analytics for innovative thinking in social sciences and humanities (pp. 87-116). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter. (In progress)
[5] Nguyen MH. (2021). Multifaceted interactions between urban humans and biodiversity-related concepts: A developing-country data set. Data Intelligence, 3(4), 578–605. https://direct.mit.edu/dint/article/3/4/578/107428/
[6] Vuong QH, et al. (2020). Bayesian analysis for social data: A step-by-step protocol and interpretation. MethodsX, 7, 100924. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215016120301448
[7] La VP, Vuong QH. (2019). bayesvl: Visually Learning the Graphical Structure of Bayesian Networks and Performing MCMC with ‘Stan’. The Comprehensive R Archive Network. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/bayesvl/index.html
[8] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH, La VP. (2022). The mindsponge and BMF analytics for innovative thinking in social sciences and humanities. De Gruyter. (In progress)