Paper short abstract:

This research explores how much the public in Colombia knows and uses plants and fungi, by using a mixed-methods approach. Our results suggest that people use, know and give more importance to plants than fungi and that patterns of knowledge homogenization are predominant in urban contexts.

Paper long abstract:

Biodiversity holds immense opportunities to contribute to sustainable and equitable development, especially in biodiversity rich, tropical nations. Yet, there is little known about how much the general public in these countries understand and use native plants and fungi. This research aims to bridge this gap by exploring how much the public knows and uses plants and fungi in the second most biodiverse country in the world, Colombia. A mixed-methods approach consisting of an online poll and semi-structured interviews was used to contextualize responses. We found that people use, know and give more importance to plants in comparison to fungi. Respondents identified eight uses of plants, on average, out of 19 categories available in the survey. Use and knowledge of plants and fungi were found to vary significantly in relation to age and location of respondents. Our findings suggest that there is homogenization in terms of the knowledge about plants and uses in the urban population of Colombia, which can potentially lead to the loss of this knowledge.