How do biodiversity and conservation values relate to landscape preferences? A case study from the Swiss Alps

Abstract

The importance of the values underlying different concepts of biodiversity conservation and landscape planning is increasingly recognised, and yet these value judgements of the public and of experts are still poorly understood. Although landscape and conservation management are closely interrelated and measures in one field are likely to have effects on the other, the relationship between biodiversity and conservation values on the one hand, and landscape preferences on the other hand, has been hardly explored so far. This study represents a first attempt to empirically examine this relationship from an integrated perspective, considering philosophical, ecological and economic aspects and using items focused on biodiversity. We used a quantitative survey of the general Swiss population with visualisations of potential landscape developments in the Swiss Alps and items related to biodiversity-and conservation-values. Our research shows that respondents who prefer reforested landscapes tend to be more concerned about the conservation of species, landscapes, and natural processes than people preferring cultural landscapes. Respondents who prefer cultural landscapes are more oriented towards utilitarian values and are overrepresented in mountain areas as compared to the lowlands, thus in areas that are more likely to become the target of conservation measures. Our findings have practical implications for conservation in Switzerland and other mountainous areas, particularly in times of agricultural decline and land abandonment and their associated changes in landscape and biodiversity.

Can We Model the Scenic Beauty of an Alpine Landscape?

“…There are different techniques for visualizing landscape scenarios, for example on-site visits, photographs, digital image editing and virtual landscape simulators [40]. For our study, we used digital image editing to generate natural-looking and photo-realistic images [19,41]. The technique allows changing only one variable in the picture, while the others are controlled or remain constant [40].…”

“…Bourassa [18] relates landscape aesthetics to the cultural, biological and personal dimensions. Based on the biological dimension and cultural/social behavior, diverse studies have analyzed landscape appreciation [8,19]. The biological dimension includes evolutionary principles, describing landscape composition and scenic beauty through visual concepts or attributes [9,[19][20][21].…”

“…The biological dimension includes evolutionary principles, describing landscape composition and scenic beauty through visual concepts or attributes [9,[19][20][21]. With regard to Alpine landscapes, several authors discussed attributes like naturalness, wilderness, and diversity and studied the consequences of land-use processes of intensification, abandonment, and reforestation [4,9,19,22]. Tveit et al [20] define naturalness as the closeness to a preconceived natural state.…”

Trophy Hunting: The Tuli Safari Circle in Zimbabwe

“…These cultural remnants are considered worthy of conserving even though they are not strictly part of the natural ecosystem. As observed by Soliva and Hunziker (2007), heritage conservation acknowledges the historical milieu of the landscape. Therefore within the THSB an incentive for heritage orientated conservation exists due to the presence of these historical sites.…”

Public preferences for ecosystem-enhancing elements in agricultural landscapes in the Swiss lowlands

“…Photo-realistic-simulated colour images provide natural-looking images (Soliva and Hunziker 2009) and have been found to provide valid and satisfactory representations of landscapes (Daniel and Meitner 2001). The 16 landscapes were divided into eight pairs of photographs in a fractional factorial design and presented to the respondents.…”