Perception about pollinating insects at Federal Rural University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Pollination is an essential ecosystem service, threatened by the decline of insect populations, the major pollinators. It is caused by factors such as habitat loss through urbanization. Another obstacle to be overcome is society perception, influenced by social and cultural constructions. Thus, diagnosis of public perception is necessary for developing awareness actions. The aim of this Project was to do a survey of the perception of the university community and visitors to the Botanical Garden of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (JB-UFRRJ) on pollinating insects. The survey was applied via Google Forms, divided in four sections: 1. Profile; 2. Contact with nature; 3 e 4. Pollination/Pollinators. 92 answers were obtained. Despite having found a certain contact with nature and knowledge about pollination, there were negative responses. Flies and wasps had negative feedback, whereas bees and butterflies had positive responses, reinforcing flies and wasps’ great rejection. Damages stood out among the given responses. This exposes the tendency of directing feelings of aversion to animals characterized as insects, especially to the non-charismatic ones. The data indicates the need of divulgation actions, involving multimedia tools (e.g.: photographs; social networks) and extension actions aiming to reverse this context.