TY - JOUR
T1 - Factors influencing support for bat management and conservation in the wildland-urban interface
AU - Petriello, Michael A.
AU - Edgeley, Catrin M.
AU - Chambers, Carol L
AU - Lee, Martha E
N1 - Funding Information:
We are indebted to the residents of Kachina Village for their contributions to this study. This work would not have been possible without the financial support listed below. We are also grateful to the reviewers and editors for providing constructive feedback on our manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about bats often underlie social support for bat management and intentions to conserve bats. Effective bat conservation and management hinges on understanding these drivers across contexts. Lands classified as wildland-urban interface (WUI) are rapidly expanding in the USA, increasing the likelihood of human-bat interactions from management practices and encroachment on forested landscapes. We surveyed 410 households in one Arizona WUI community to assess residents’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and emotions toward bats, and differences among these variables associated with demographic traits, past encounters with bats, support for bat management, and willingness to place artificial bat roosts on their properties. Greater knowledge and positive attitudes, beliefs, and emotions positively predicted willingness to place roosts 59% to 85% of the time, varying across demographic groups; they did not predict support for bat management. Our findings demonstrated that contexts and demographic traits are important considerations for bat conservation and management.
AB - Knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about bats often underlie social support for bat management and intentions to conserve bats. Effective bat conservation and management hinges on understanding these drivers across contexts. Lands classified as wildland-urban interface (WUI) are rapidly expanding in the USA, increasing the likelihood of human-bat interactions from management practices and encroachment on forested landscapes. We surveyed 410 households in one Arizona WUI community to assess residents’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and emotions toward bats, and differences among these variables associated with demographic traits, past encounters with bats, support for bat management, and willingness to place artificial bat roosts on their properties. Greater knowledge and positive attitudes, beliefs, and emotions positively predicted willingness to place roosts 59% to 85% of the time, varying across demographic groups; they did not predict support for bat management. Our findings demonstrated that contexts and demographic traits are important considerations for bat conservation and management.
KW - Artificial roosts
KW - bats
KW - beliefs
KW - Chiroptera
KW - human-wildlife interactions
KW - public attitudes
KW - wildland-urban interface
KW - wildlife management
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U2 - 10.1080/10871209.2021.2018630
DO - 10.1080/10871209.2021.2018630
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85121793682
JO - Human Dimensions of Wildlife
JF - Human Dimensions of Wildlife
SN - 1087-1209
ER -