Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Environmental Studies
Transformation and endurance of Indigenous hunting: Kadazandusun-Murut bearded pig hunting practices amidst oil palm expansion and urbanization in Sabah, Malaysia
Published: 2020-10-01
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Social and Behavioral Sciences
**This article has now been published in the journal People and Nature. The final, peer-reviewed version of the article can be found at: https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10250** [...]
A fine balance: specialized questioning techniques and their use in conservation
Published: 2020-10-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Life Sciences, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Conservationists measuring noncompliance with rules about the exploitation of natural resources often need to ask sensitive questions. However, respondents can introduce bias through distorting their answers to direct questions, due to social norms and/or the risk of legal sanctions. Specialized Questioning Techniques (SQTs) are often a more suitable approach to counteracting respondent bias, as [...]
GoogleTrends reflects the abundance of the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus): a call for the web-based surveillance of invasive alien vector species
Published: 2020-09-23
Subjects: Entomology, Environmental Studies, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is becoming widespread in Europe, where it can transmit some major arboviruses, including Chikungunya and Dengue. While surveillance initiatives are being implemented and harmonized between states, the spread of A.albopictus is outrunning them and cost-effective surveillance tools are needed. In this study, we tested whether on-line searches on Google [...]
Shifting to broad patterns of interests in conservation culturomics with Bayesian dynamic factor analysis
Published: 2020-09-16
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Biological invasions are a major driver of global change and the target of many public policies. However, we still do not know whether they attract the interest of laypeople and motivate them to know more about this topic. We modeled the temporal evolution of on-line searches about general terms regarding invasive alien species in Italy, on Wikipedia and Google. Wikipedia pages about biological [...]
Blacklists do not necessarily make people curious about invasive alien species. A case study with Bayesian structural time series and Wikipedia searches about invasive mammals in Italy
Published: 2020-09-16
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Blacklists of invasive alien species are a popular tool to manage and prevent biological invasions. Furthermore, by providing accessible examples of invasive alien species and by having a certain media resonance, they can in principle raise the awareness and make laypeople curious towards this topic. However, no study ever tested for this side-effect of blacklists. We tested if the implementation [...]
Beekeeping in, of, or for the city? A socioecological perspective on urban apiculture
Published: 2020-08-31
Subjects: Agriculture, Entomology, Environmental Studies, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Urban Studies and Planning
The term “urban beekeeping” has come to connote a host meanings --- sociopolitical, commercial, ecological, personal --- beyond the mere description of where bees and beekeepers happen to coincide. Yet these meanings are seldom articulated explicitly and seldom brought into critical engagement with the relevant fields of urban ecology and political ecology. Beginning with a brief account of the [...]