Evaluating connection to nature and the relationship with conservation behaviour in children

‘Connection to nature’ is a multidimensional trait thought to be important for developing positive conservation behaviours, and strengthening people’s connection to nature has become the focus for many conservation activities. A connection to nature may be developed through repeated engagement with nature, and experiences during childhood are thought to be particularly significant. However, many children today are considered to have a low connection to nature, presenting a critical challenge for the future of nature conservation. Several instruments have been developed for measuring connection to nature. These instruments are important for establishing current levels and thresholds of connection and evaluating efforts to improve connection, yet the way the instruments and the derived scores relate to the term ‘connection’ frequently used in conservation discourse has, so far, been overlooked. In this study, we interrogate Cheng et al.’s (2012) Connection to Nature Index (CNI) and develop a refined “gradient of connection” based on the instrument structure, proposing boundaries of low (below 4.06), mild (between 4.06 and 4.56) and strong (over 4.56) connection that are relevant for conservation activities. Furthermore, we show how the suggested boundaries relate to self-reported conservation behaviours with a high probability of performing behaviours (>70%) only reached at strong levels of connection. Our data show that, in agreement with current perceptions, the population of UK children surveyed have a low connection to nature and are unlikely to be performing many conservation behaviours. This demonstrates how the index can be used to measure and evaluate connection in populations in a way that will enhance future conservation efforts.n/

Mainstreaming social sciences expertise in UK environment policy and practice organisations: retrospect and prospect

Building upon the concept of mainstreaming social sciences within conservation, we consider their mainstreaming, and so integration, within UK environment policy and practice (EPP) organisations. The paper responds to increasing calls to recognise the essential role of social sciences in addressing global environmental crises across policy, practice and research. An actor-oriented approach was deployed, producing empirical information from a multi-stage, co-designed, collaborative study involving 19 social scientists from a range of EPP organisations, to understand how they experience the mainstreaming of social sciences. The findings contribute to debates about the politics of knowledge in organisational domains other than those focused on research, specifically EPP organisations. Evidence was found of recent positive changes in how social sciences are perceived, resourced and utilised within EPP, as well as examples of positive impact. However, although EPP organisations are recognising the opportunities that social sciences expertise brings, in practice social sciences still face barriers to effective integration. Many of the challenges faced by the social sciences within academic multi-discipline research (e.g., late, narrow, or selective enrolment) were also experienced in EPP organisations, along with some unique challenges. Informed by the findings, the paper proposes a set of integration indicators designed to assess organisational progress toward addressing the observed challenges. It is recommended that these indicators are employed at a strategic level by EPP organisations seeking to better integrate social sciences expertise into their work

Consequences Matter : Compassion in Conservation Means Caring for Individuals, Populations and Species

Funding This research received no external funding. Acknowledgments The manuscript benefitted from significant input from Dan Brockington, J.B. Callicott, Peter Coals, Tim Hodgetts, David Macdonald and Jeremy Wilson. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The influence of forage and parasites on the migration of the Dolphin-Union caribou herd

This thesis investigated whether the change in migration pattern was linked to forage availability and considered two mechanisms by which the forage resource on Victoria Island may have been compromised. Examination of remote-sensed NDVI, an index of the biomass of vegetation in an area, at a landscape scale demonstrated that the mainland provides caribou with higher vegetation quantity. Other factors may also influence the ranging behaviour of individuals, for example the range shift also led to changes in diet, and thus quality of forage. At the time of the wintering range shift, the populations of both caribou and the sympatric Arctic ruminant, muskox (Ovibos moschatus), were found to be increasing on Victoria Island. Availability of forage was therefore potentially decreasing, in particular due to the muskox who are resident on the south of the Island throughout the year. The impact of grazing on vegetation in different seasons was examined by carrying out an enclosure grazing experiment. Summer grazing by muskox significantly reduced vegetation biomass in areas likely to be used by caribou during the winter. Therefore the availability of wintering forage may have been reduced by increase in temporally separated forage competition, possibly stimulating the range shift. In addition to forage availability being directly impacted by grazing, the resource can also be indirectly affected by parasites. Food-borne parasites, such as gastrointestinal nematodes, may reduce nutrient assimilation, whilst other more active parasites, such as oestrid flies, may reduce feeding time and energy storage through harassing their hosts. The potential for increasing parasite burdens decreases the benefits of foraging in a particular area. High burdens of both these parasite groups were related to poor condition, as indicated by weight and reproductive state, in the Dolphin-Union caribou.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Data from: Predicting global population connectivity and targeting conservation action for snow leopard across its range

Movements of individuals within and among populations help to maintain genetic variability and population viability. Therefore, understanding landscape connectivity is vital for effective species conservation. The snow leopard is endemic to mountainous areas of Central Asia and occurs within 12 countries. We assess potential connectivity across the species’ range to highlight corridors for dispersal and genetic flow between populations, prioritizing research and conservation action for this wide-ranging, endangered top-predator. We used resistant kernel modeling to assess snow leopard population connectivity across its global range. We developed an expert-based resistance surface that predicted cost of movement as functions of topographical complexity and land cover. The distribution of individuals was simulated as a uniform density of points throughout the currently accepted global range. We modeled population connectivity from these source points across the resistance surface using three different dispersal scenarios that likely bracket the lifetime movements of individual snow leopard: 100km, 500km and 1000km. The resistant kernel models produced predictive surfaces of dispersal frequency across the snow leopard range for each distance scenario. We evaluated the pattern of connectivity in each of these scenarios and identified potentially important movement corridors and areas where connectivity might be impeded. The models predicted two regional populations, in the north and south of the species range respectively, and revealed a number of potentially important connecting areas. Discrepancies between model outputs and observations highlight unsurveyed areas of connected habitat that urgently require surveying to improve understanding of the global distribution and ecology of snow leopard, and target land management actions to prevent population isolation. The connectivity maps provide a strong basis for directed research and conservation action, and usefully direct the attention of policy makers

Patterns of Snow Leopard Site Use in an Increasingly Human-Dominated Landscape.

Human population growth and concomitant increases in demand for natural resources pose threats to many wildlife populations. The landscapes used by the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and their prey is increasingly subject to major changes in land use. We aimed to assess the influence of 1) key human activities, as indicated by the presence of mining and livestock herding, and 2) the presence of a key prey species, the blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), on probability of snow leopard site use across the landscape. In Gansu Province, China, we conducted sign surveys in 49 grid cells, each of 16 km2 in size, within a larger area of 3392 km2. We analysed the data using likelihood-based habitat occupancy models that explicitly account for imperfect detection and spatial auto-correlation between survey transect segments. The model-averaged estimate of snow leopard occupancy was high [0.75 (SE 0.10)], but only marginally higher than the naïve estimate (0.67). Snow leopard segment-level probability of detection, given occupancy on a 500 m spatial replicate, was also high [0.68 (SE 0.08)]. Prey presence was the main determinant of snow leopard site use, while human disturbances, in the form of mining and herding, had low predictive power. These findings suggest that snow leopards continue to use areas very close to such disturbances, as long as there is sufficient prey. Improved knowledge about the effect of human activity on large carnivores, which require large areas and intact prey populations, is urgently needed for conservation planning at the local and global levels. We highlight a number of methodological considerations that should guide the design of such research

resistance landscape for snow leopard

Floating point raster resistance landscape model for snow leopard range in Central Asi