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Abstract

Private property is increasingly important for nature conservation, and exurbia
an increasingly prominent form of private land use. There have been very few studies of
the attitudes of exurban landowners to nature, all of which indicate a high degree of
biophilia, and no studies of the effect of variation in the attitudes and actions of these
landowners on wild mammal assemblages on their properties. A questionnaire survey of
landowners was combined with spotlight observations of fauna on their properties to test
the attitudes of the landowners to nature and the null hypothesis that syndromes of landowner
attitudes to nature, and actions in relation to nature, have no effect on wild mammals
at the property scale. All respondents were positive about native wild animals and trees.
Four groups of landowners (biophiles, autocrats, idealists and utilitarians) derived by a
classification of ordination scores based on attitude and action question responses, were
different in their attitudes towards native wild mammals, exotic wild mammals and trees.
However, their properties did not differ in the presence or frequency of any native wild
mammal species. There were statistical relationships between the presence/absence of
native wild animal species and indices related to intervention, fondness of trees, aversion to
trees, fondness of native animals, and fondness of exotic animals. However, with the
possible exception of the tendency of the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)
to be absent from properties owned by the people who least liked wild animals, the
association of native animals with attitude or action indices appeared to be coincidental. It
therefore seems that programs directed towards influencing the attitudes of landowners to
wildlife may be ineffective in conserving wildlife in exurbia.

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Daniels, GD and Kirkpatrick, JB
Journal or Publication Title:	Biodiversity and Conservation
ISSN:	0960-3115
DOI / ID Number:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0139-4
Additional Information:	The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.com
Item Statistics:	View statistics for this item

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