The Dirt on Worms: Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors Concerning Invasive Earthworms in the Town of Webb, NY

The invasion of exotic earthworms in previously earthworm-free areas eliminates the forest litter layer, alters the carbon and nitrogen cycles and reduces native plant cover. Humans are the principal agents of invasive earthworm dispersal, spreading worms both inadvertently through the horticulture industry, logging and road travel, and voluntarily through composting and the disposal of earthworm bait on land. This is the first study to focus on the human dimensions of earthworm invasion. Using a knowledge-attitudes- behavior (KAB) framework, this study explores the correlates of voluntary earthworm dispersal in the Town of Webb, NY, and attempts to determine which groups of people are spreading earthworms and through bait use and composting and how environmental knowledge and attitudes contribute to this behavior

Who Masks? Correlates of Individual Location-Masking Behavior in an Online Survey (Short Paper)

Geomasking traditionally refers to a set of techniques employed by a data steward to protect the privacy of data subjects by altering geographic coordinates. Data subjects themselves may make efforts to obfuscate their location data and protect their geoprivacy. Among these individual-level strategies are providing incorrect address data, limiting the precision of address data, or map-based location masking. This study examines the prevalence of these three location-masking behaviors in an online survey of California residents, finding that such behavior takes place across social groups. There are no significant differences across income level, education, ethnicity, sex, and urban locations. Instead, the primary differences are linked to intervening variables of knowledge and attitudes about location privacy