March 12, 2025

A Stanford Medicine study co-authored by NST researchers identified a peptide that suppressed appetite and led to weight loss in mice and pigs without the side effects associated with Ozempic.

March 11, 2025

The award recognizes the plant biology professor’s groundbreaking discoveries of the immune system and disease resistance in plants.

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March 07, 2025

The second-year Master of Nutritional Sciences & Dietetics student spoke about her decision to change careers and her experience in the new graduate program.

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Annie the peregrine falcon (right) feeds her new chicks while Archie stands by. Photo courtesy of Cal Falcons.

A world-famous pygmy hippopotamus. An escaped Eurasian eagle-owl. A larger-than-life infant king penguin. These animals captured the hearts and minds of millions in 2024 and became animal celebrities. But when you look beyond their status as a viral phenomenon, flagship species such as these sometimes play an important role in conservation efforts.

Many people show compassion for the challenges these flagship species face, but as the number of endangered species continues to rise, conservationists may find it difficult to motivate people to support the thousands of species also needing attention. 

To better understand what motivates the public to donate towards conservation efforts for endangered species, undergraduate Alexandra Boren and Environmental Science, Policy, and Management professor Alejandra Echeverri examined the unique case of Annie, one of UC Berkeley’s celebrity peregrine falcons, using concepts from the fields of social psychology and conservation marketing. Published today in Frontiers in Conservation Science, their study offers new insight into the impact of celebrity animals and the consequences of what is known as psychic numbing in endangered species conservation. 

According to Echeverri, psychic numbing refers to the desensitization of the human brain when exposed to large-scale suffering. “The concept has been explored in relation to human suffering, and flagship charismatic animal species are recognized as key tools in conservation marketing,” added Boren, a fourth-year environmental sciences student and the study’s lead author. “However, there is a gap in understanding how these two concepts can be combined to encourage public donations to support endangered species.”

Annie's Absence

In late February, Cal Falcons reported that Annie and her latest mate, Archie, hadn’t been seen on campus in nearly two months. February typically is when Annie engages in pair bonding with her mate and readying their gravel nest box perched on top of UC Berkeley’s 307-foot-tall Campanile. Cal Falcons reports that across the Bay Area, 40% of peregrine territories are currently unoccupied, and the ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza is believed to be a cause. No evidence of a sick or dying falcon has been found on the bell tower, and the falcons could successfully nest as late as May and raise chicks. Read more about their disappearance at Berkeley News, and stay up to date with new developments at the Cal Falcons website.

From the near-extinction of a species to the stardom of a local individual

Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) populations experienced drastic declines across North America during the 20th century, with the bioaccumulation of the insecticide DDT heavily contributing to the severe population loss. The peregrine falcon was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969, and again under the Endangered Species Act in 1973. Extensive reintroduction efforts, complemented by the banning of DDT, allowed the declassification of the peregrine falcon as an endangered species in 1999. 

In December 2016, nearly two decades after the species was delisted, two peregrine falcons—later named Annie and Grinnell—were observed setting up a nest in the UC Berkeley Campanile. While their arrival was celebrated by students and ornithologists alike, interest in the falcons began to reach new heights in January 2019, when the newly founded organization Cal Falcons kicked off their social media presence and their webcam project that provides livestream viewing of the nests at the Campanile.

Boren said the idea of using Annie as a research topic emerged after reaching out to Echeverri last January to discuss opportunities in her lab. “Annie has become an integral part of the Berkeley community, and students and faculty are vested in the well-being of Annie and her family,” she explained. “We thought ‘Annie the celebrity Peregrine Falcon’ would be the perfect case study to evaluate the impact of celebrity animals and psychic numbing in conservation marketing.”

Messaging matters

The authors also evaluated the qualitative impact of conservation messaging with celebrity animals. They included a word association task at the beginning and end of each survey, prompting respondents to offer words they associate with endangered species. The researchers then classified the words according to sentiment (positive, negative, neutral) and according to category (animal, emotion, human, population size, policy, science). They found that the messaging condition significantly impacts the types of words that participants associate with endangered species. 

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The Cal Falcons “hatch day party” celebrating the arrival of Annie’s 2024 chicks. Photo courtesy of Cal Falcons.

Participants who read Annie’s story were more likely to use positive, emotionally charged words like “Protect,” “Save,” and “Conservation,” whereas those who read the statistical information about peregrine falcon populations were more likely to use neutral words such as “Rare,” “Human,” and “Climate.” “This suggests that celebrity animal stories may have the power to deepen people’s emotional connection to conservation,” said Boren, who noted that the increase in neutral words “reinforces the concept that statistics may lack the appeal necessary to sway our emotions and inspire action.” 

Their results reveal a deeper understanding of the role of messaging in endangered species conservation and its power in shaping public attitudes. Echeverri said the discrepancies between the quantitative donation impact and the qualitative word association impact of the messaging conditions “highlight the attitude-intention-behavior gap, where positive attitudes towards endangered species conservation do not necessarily translate into behavioral intentions or donation behavior.”

The authors discuss several directions of future research that could stem from this study, such as assessing if there is a varying presence of psychic numbing across different species and if negatively framed messages about individual animals are more effective at increasing donation amounts. “The field of conservation psychology is still nascent”, said Boren, “and our findings highlight the need for further research to better understand the psychological mechanisms underlying conservation-related decisions.”

Read the full study at Frontiers in Conservation Science.

Congratulations to Assistant Teaching Professor Michal Shuldman, who has been named a recipient of the 2025 Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs!

Check out this video highlight of Professor Aaron Streets’ research, by the Pew Charitable Trust.

March 05, 2025

Kristin Dobbin, a Cooperative Extension professor in ESPM, led the first-of-its-kind survey of water systems across California.

March 04, 2025

The campuswide ‘ottoy initiative will integrate native plants and Ohlone cultural education at the Oxford Tract, and add native gardens to the Russell Research Station.

March 03, 2025

Ecosystem Management and Forestry alum Vishal Subramanyan, '24, and collaborator Prakrit Jain spoke to Berkeley News about capturing photos and video of the Mount Lyell shrew. 

Professor of Integrative Biology, Noah Whiteman, was awarded the 2025 Genetics Society of America Medal. This award acknowledges Whiteman's outstanding contributions to the field of genetics. Read more about the Genetics Society of America Award recipients and Whiteman's research here. 

February 27, 2025

Rachel Carlson, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, spoke to NPR affiliate North State Public Radio about her career in marine science and research at the Bodega Marine Laboratory run by UC Davis.

February 26, 2025

March 12 and 13, The Honorable Jane Lubchenco, Former Deputy Director for Climate and Environment at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will deliver two lectures: one on science in the White House and another on a new narrative for the ocean.

Congratulations to Xavier Darzacq on his promotion to MCB Professor of Molecular Therapeutics!

The Darzacq Lab studies transcription regulation during cellular differentiation. Read more about the Darzacq lab and their research.  

February 25, 2025

Wealth, pollution, and population density are strong predictors of how coyotes move around Los Angeles, according to a new study led by UC Berkeley researchers.

February 24, 2025

Experts from UC Berkeley and California Sea Grant have uncovered a new link between species diversity and resilience in coho salmon.

Co-founded by BioE alumnus Karsten Temme, Pivot is bringing cleaner nitrogen to American farmland.

Research led by Professor Patrick Hsu has produced Evo 2, the largest AI model in biology to date, which can accurately predict the effects of all types of genetic mutations.

The Department of Molecular & Cell Biology will be hosting a symposium to honor of the life and contributions of Professor Bruce N. Ames on March 23, 2025 from 9 am - 7 pm in 245 Li Ka Shing. The symposium entitled "A Passionate Curiosity— Enzymes, Gene Regulation, Mutagenesis, Carcinogenesis and Micronutrients" features a series of talks by esteemed colleagues of Ames and a reception to follow.

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology, James Nuñez, was named one of the 2025 Sloan Research Fellows. Nuñez was one of six early career researchers at UC Berkeley to receive the award, which honors "exceptional researchers at U.S. and Canadian educational institutions whose creativity, innovation and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders." Read more about the 2025 Sloan Fellows at UC Berkeley and the Alfred P.