The spread of invasive alien species (IAS) has become an increasingly important global issue. The success of alien control management depends on the level of public acceptance, therefore it is good to know about awareness and attitudes towards IAS among general public. The aim of our study was to explore the attitude of the upper secondary school students towards IAS. An anonymous online survey was conducted. A total of 401 students of the upper secondary schools from Novo mesto participated in the survey. 297 students of general education programs and 104 students of secondary vocation schools were included. The students responded to the questionnaire, which included questions about the level of knowledge about IAS, students' attitude and their ability to correctly name and indentify native species and IAS. Although students distinguish terms biodiversity, non - native species and IAS their understanding of the term biodiversity is poor. Less than half of the participants correctly understand its meaning. No significant differences were noted between the attitude towards the IAS among students of different educational programmes. Students are aware of negative impact of the IAS on the biodiversity, human health and economy. They support control management and eradication of IAS. Nevertheless they would not engage in similar actions themselves. Although they recognize, that their knowledge of the IAS is poor, they do not show an interest in improving it. In our study the knowledge of the IAS significantly differ between students from different educational programmes. Students of general education programs were more successful than students from vocation schools in naming and defining species as native/IAS. Students’ ability to correctly name native/IAS in general is weak. Results show that students are better acquainted with the animal species than with the plants. To determine the general knowledge and attitude of adolescents toward IAS we should extend our research and include other upper secondary schools in Slovenia.
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