Beasts or beauties? Laypersons’ perception of invasive alien plant species in Switzerland and attitudes towards their management

Abstract

This study investigated laypersons' perception of invasive alien plant species (IAPS) and attitudes towards their management with the help of a written questionnaire in the cities of Zurich, Geneva, and Lugano, Switzerland. Survey participants (n = 720) judged attractiveness from certain species on visual contact (eight IAPS were shown as photographs). Trachycarpus fortunei and Ludwigia grandiflora were liked most, while Ambrosia artemisiifolia was clearly disliked most. With the exception of Trachycarpus fortunei, all plant species were perceived as rather ordinary, familiar and native to Switzerland, and feelings of ordinariness, familiarity and nativeness were positively correlated. Few participants could correctly identify the species depicted. Knowledge of an IAPS (ability to identify it) and desire to have it around were negatively correlated. Participants agreed most with the eradication of IAPS that cause serious costs and problems. However, people were rather unwilling to remove Buddleja davidii, Solidago canadensis, and Trachycarpus fortunei which are already widely established ornamentals in settlement areas or gardens. Overall, willingness to remove an IAPS and to report it to the authorities decreased with increasing desirability (and thus beauty) of a species.

High Biodiversity of Green Infrastructure Does Not Contribute to Recreational Ecosystem Services

“…This is true for both indigenous vegetation and invasive species [65]. Our research shows that the perception of the quality of green areas by those using them is much simplified ( Table 2).…”

“…And this may be an effect of the research areas used in other studies exhibiting greater heterogeneity than the relatively homogeneous components of the Vistula lakes, which were all formed by the same change in management of the river. Making information on green areas fully accessible to the public could change the perception and ecological awareness of green infrastructure users [65,78]. In the long term, the promotion of and education about green areas to residents, can form the basis for an increase in their use, with associated benefits for the health and well-being of the individual city dwellers.…”

“…The explanation for the lower interest by the visitors should rather be sought in the monotony of views regarded as lacking in diversity [42], rather than through lower diversity or the presence of invasive species. Invasive species may be perceived by the public in a neutral or even positive way [65], and it must be accepted that people may not know that a plant is invasive and may judge it on aesthetic rather than biological grounds [66].…”

High Biodiversity of Green Infrastructure Does Not Contribute to Recreational Ecosystem Services

“…The explanation for the lower interest by the visitors should rather be sought in the monotony of views regarded as lacking in diversity [42]), rather than through lower diversity or the presence of invasive species. Invasive species may be perceived by the public in a neutral or even positive way [65]), and it must be accepted that people may not know that a plant is invasive and may judge it on aesthetic rather than biological grounds.66]. Psychological studies highlight that direct contact with nature is crucial for human wellbeing and psycho-physical development in a long term perspective.…”

Seven years of NeoBiota – the times, were they a changin’?

“…The Global Biodiversity Information Facility GBIF (http://gbif.org) is a great source of information. Unfortunately, it does have many biases in occurrence records as well as taxa (Beck et al 2014, Meyer et al 2015, 2016. Similarly, MaxEnt (Elith et al 2011) is an extremely powerful tool for distributional analyses, if properly used (Merow et al 2013, Kramer-Schadt et al 2013).…”