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The financial resources available for biodiversity conservation are relatively scarce considering the enormous need for action. To achieve maximum success and use funds in the most efficient way, priorisation is urgently needed. There exists a number of approaches to select the taxa to be protected with the flagship species concept being one of the most common. Conservation flagships possess characteristic traits such as aesthetic attractiveness rendering them popular and suitable to arouse sympathy as well as concern and thus win public support. Large mammals like elephants, lions, tigers, bears or birds serve as prominent examples. The flagship species approach in conservation science is highly discussed. While for instance its benefits to general involvement and its function as approved fundraising tool are widely acknowledged, it is also linked to a number of negative impacts. The most striking argument against the use of charismatic flagship species seems to be the associated strong bias in conservation attention. One-sided conservancy programmes, media coverage and marketing lead to these appealing taxa receiving much greater protection efforts, even if mammal and bird species can overall be considered less at risk compared to many aquatic, particularly freshwater organisms. In this way, human preference for certain species based on their likeability or attractiveness may ultimately shape the future fauna on earth. The thesis at hand highlights the bias in conservation attention, its origin, related problems as well as possible solutions. It aims to show opportunities to reduce distortion. For this purpose, using the example of the imperiled freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera, different proposals and drafts for a possible awareness and marketing campaign are developed.

Would you read this book if a computer wrote it? Would you even know? And why would it matter? Today's eerily impressive artificial intelligence writing tools present us with a crucial challenge: As writers, do we unthinkingly adopt AI's time-saving advantages or do we stop to weigh what we gain and lose when heeding its siren call? To understand how AI is redefining what it means to write and think, linguist and educator Naomi S. Baron leads us on a journey connecting the dots between human literacy and today's technology. From nineteenth-century lessons in composition, to mathematician Alan Turing's work creating a machine for deciphering war-time messages, to contemporary engines like ChatGPT, Baron gives readers a spirited overview of the emergence of both literacy and AI, and a glimpse of their possible future. As the technology becomes increasingly sophisticated and fluent, it's tempting to take the easy way out and let AI do the work for us. Baron cautions that such efficiency isn't always in our interest. As AI plies us with suggestions or full-blown text, we risk losing not just our technical skills but the power of writing as a springboard for personal reflection and unique expression. Funny, informed, and conversational, Who Wrote This? urges us as individuals and as communities to make conscious choices about the extent to which we collaborate with AI. The technology is here to stay. Baron shows us how to work with AI and how to spot where it risks diminishing the valuable cognitive and social benefits of being literate.

Would you read this book if a computer wrote it? Would you even know? And why would it matter? Today's eerily impressive artificial intelligence writing tools present us with a crucial challenge: As writers, do we unthinkingly adopt AI's time-saving advantages or do we stop to weigh what we gain and lose when heeding its siren call? To understand how AI is redefining what it means to write and think, linguist and educator Naomi S. Baron leads us on a journey connecting the dots between human literacy and today's technology. From nineteenth-century lessons in composition, to mathematician Alan Turing's work creating a machine for deciphering war-time messages, to contemporary engines like ChatGPT, Baron gives readers a spirited overview of the emergence of both literacy and AI, and a glimpse of their possible future. As the technology becomes increasingly sophisticated and fluent, it's tempting to take the easy way out and let AI do the work for us. Baron cautions that such efficiency isn't always in our interest. As AI plies us with suggestions or full-blown text, we risk losing not just our technical skills but the power of writing as a springboard for personal reflection and unique expression. Funny, informed, and conversational, Who Wrote This? urges us as individuals and as communities to make conscious choices about the extent to which we collaborate with AI. The technology is here to stay. Baron shows us how to work with AI and how to spot where it risks diminishing the valuable cognitive and social benefits of being literate.