Teacher training and Biology students’ perceptions on the introduction of alien species and seaports role

Abstract

Nowadays the introduction of alien species represents a major problem worldwide, being seaports and marinas recognized as important hotspots of marine and non-marine alien species. In order to assess university students’ previous knowledge about alien species related problems, a survey was carried out addressed to Education and Biology students in Asturias (northern Spain). Fifty-three species were cited as invasive by students, but each student recognised only a few species (range 0-9). Masters students knew more species than undergraduate of the sampled degrees, and Biology students named more alien species in total). Species that most frequently appeared in the mass-media were the most reported. Few marine alien species were recognized, and seaports were considered as the main introduction via. Finally, students’ preferences on ways to improve social knowledge on alien species and their perceptions of the relative importance in different formal educational stages are shown.