README

This dataset accompanies the open-access paper “Who knows, who cares? Untangling ecological knowledge and nature connection among Amazonian colonist farmers. The data was collected in the form of questionnaires in 2016 among farmers living along the Transamazon Highway in the municipalities of Uruará, Medicilândia, Brasil Novo, and Altamira. It contains information on the farmers’ recognition of select species of local wild birds based on photos, sound recordings and sound-image matching, farmers psychological connection with nature, indicative of having a sense of care about the natural world, and a number of factors that could be influencing ecological knowledge and nature connection.

Full description of the variables and data processing used is included in the paper and the supplementary material. Here, we only provide a key to the included variables.
                       
Note that in the interest of preserving respondents’ anonymity, the dataset presented here compared to that used in the study was transformed as follows: data on education and distance from the main urban centre have been removed, age was grouped into age groups, and distance to nearest market town was converted from km to equidistant categories ‘near, ‘mid-range’ and ‘far’. If you need access to the full original dataset, please enter in contact with the corresponding author to discuss it.

[1] "Respondent_ID"                            
[2] "EK_nonforest_total"= respondents’ total score based on recognition of images, sounds, and sound-image matching for non-forest associated bird species.                     
[3] "EK_forest_total" = respondents’ total score based on recognition of images, sounds, and sound-image matching for forest associated bird species                         
[4] "Current_contact" = ordinal score based on current frequency of visits to natural areas                             
[5] "Childhood_contact" = ordinal score based on frequency of visits to natural areas during childhood                                             
[6] "Gender" = respondent’t gender   
[7] “agegroup” =  age group to which the respondent belongs, in years                                                        
[8] "Education_years"  = number of years the respondent spent in formal education               
[9] "Grew_up_in_Amazonia" = whether the respondent grew up somewhere in Amazonia or elsewhere                                   
[10] "Subsistence"  = Rank score of subsistence on forest foods, see supplementary info for details on how this was calculated                   
[11] "INS" = respondent’s score on the "Inclusion of Nature in Self”, measuring cognitive connection with nature                                     
[12] "LCNR_score"  = respondent’s score on the “Love and Care for Nature – Rural” scale,  measuring emotional connection with nature                        
[13] "LCNR_max_possible_score"   = maximum score that a respondent could obtain on the LCNR scale, taking into account that a few respondents missed an item or two on the scale               
[14] "Forest_cover_percent"   = per cent forest cover within 500  meters of the respondent’s household                
[16] "distance_to_closest_town_grouped" = groups of household distance from the nearest town/urban market, expressed as ‘near’, ‘mid-range’ and ‘far’

The remaining variables concern recognition of specific species, based on image, sound, and sound-image matching.  
The first 13 species are non-forest associated, the remaining 6 are forest-associated species. 
The vernacular names offered for the images and sounds were judged either as incorrect, correct at approximately family, genus, or species level (see manuscript for details).
[15] "Coragyps_atratus_image"                   
[16] "Columbina_passerina_image"                
[17] "Troglodytes_musculus_image"               
[18] "Crotophaga_ani_image"                     
[19] "Pitangus_sulphuratus_image"               
[20] "Passer_domesticus_image"                  
[21] "Volatinia_jacarina_image"                 
[22] "Sporophila_angolensis_image"              
[23] "Sturnella_militaris_image"                
[24] "Vanellus_chilensis_image"                 
[25] "Opisthocomus_hoazin_image"                
[26] "Eurypyga_helias_image"                    
[27] "Caracara plancus_image"                   
[28] "Cyphorinus_arada_image"                   
[29] "Odontophorus_gujanensis_image"            
[30] "Cyanoloxia_rothschildii_image"            
[31] "Pseudastur_albicolis_image"               
[32] "Lipaugus_vociferans_image"                
[33] "Pionus menstruus"                         
[34] "Cyanoloxia_rothschildii_image_sound_match"
[35] "Cyphorinus_arada_image_sound_match"       
[36] "Sporophila_angolensis_image_sound_match"  
[37] "Troglodytes_musculus_image_sound_match"   
[38] "Pitangus_sulphuratus_image_sound_match"   
[39] "Volatinia_jacarina_image_sound_match"     
[40] "Vanellus_chilensis_image_sound_match"     
[41] "Lipaugus_vociferans_image_sound_match"    
[42] "Cyanoloxia_rothschildii_sound"            
[43] "Cyphorinus_arada_sound" 
[44] "Sporophila_angolensis_sound"              
[45] "Troglodytes_musculus_sound"               
[46] "Pitangus_sulphuratus_sound"               
[47] "Volatinia_jacarina_sound"                 
[48] "Vanellus_chilensis_sound"                 
[49] "Lipaugus_vociferans_sound"