Collective factors drive individual invasive species control behaviors: evidence from private lands in Montana, USA
Invasive terrestrial plants globally threaten agricultural and natural systems. Prolific dispersal mechanisms enable "weeds" to colonize across ownership boundaries, constituting a collective action problem where effective control requires contributions from multiple actors. Researchers ha...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Resilience Alliance
2019-07-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol24/iss2/art32/ |
| _version_ | 1828146720669696000 |
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| author | Alice A. Lubeck Alexander L. Metcalf Crystal L. Beckman Laurie Yung Justin W. Angle |
| author_facet | Alice A. Lubeck Alexander L. Metcalf Crystal L. Beckman Laurie Yung Justin W. Angle |
| author_sort | Alice A. Lubeck |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Invasive terrestrial plants globally threaten agricultural and natural systems. Prolific dispersal mechanisms enable "weeds" to colonize across ownership boundaries, constituting a collective action problem where effective control requires contributions from multiple actors. Researchers have long recognized the cross-boundary nature of weed control, yet most studies have focused on whether actor-specific characteristics, such as sociodemographics and cognition, influenced individual weed control behaviors. More recent work has begun to explore the drivers of communal control efforts, i.e., cooperatives, group actions. Few studies have empirically investigated how the collective aspects of weed invasions influence individual control behaviors. Here we provide quantitative evidence of a relationship between collective aspects of the weed control problem and landowners' willingness to engage in individual weed control efforts. In a mail-back survey of Montana landowners (n = 1327) we found collective factors, such as injunctive norms and the belief that weeds are a cross-boundary problem, were significantly correlated with willingness to engage in three different weed control behaviors. Each behavior was correlated with a unique suite of collective factors suggesting that successful interventions must be behavior-specific. These results add to a growing body of evidence that the collective nature of invasive species control is critical for understanding human behavioral responses. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T20:51:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4ba383a5dc884f55b9ecb8b17b4f2264 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1708-3087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T20:51:52Z |
| publishDate | 2019-07-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-4ba383a5dc884f55b9ecb8b17b4f22642022-12-22T04:03:50ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872019-07-012423210.5751/ES-10897-24023210897Collective factors drive individual invasive species control behaviors: evidence from private lands in Montana, USAAlice A. Lubeck0Alexander L. Metcalf1Crystal L. Beckman2Laurie Yung3Justin W. Angle4Human Dimensions Lab, W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, University of MontanaHuman Dimensions Lab, W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, University of MontanaMontana Department of Natural Resources and ConservationW.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, University of MontanaSchool of Business Administration, University of MontanaInvasive terrestrial plants globally threaten agricultural and natural systems. Prolific dispersal mechanisms enable "weeds" to colonize across ownership boundaries, constituting a collective action problem where effective control requires contributions from multiple actors. Researchers have long recognized the cross-boundary nature of weed control, yet most studies have focused on whether actor-specific characteristics, such as sociodemographics and cognition, influenced individual weed control behaviors. More recent work has begun to explore the drivers of communal control efforts, i.e., cooperatives, group actions. Few studies have empirically investigated how the collective aspects of weed invasions influence individual control behaviors. Here we provide quantitative evidence of a relationship between collective aspects of the weed control problem and landowners' willingness to engage in individual weed control efforts. In a mail-back survey of Montana landowners (n = 1327) we found collective factors, such as injunctive norms and the belief that weeds are a cross-boundary problem, were significantly correlated with willingness to engage in three different weed control behaviors. Each behavior was correlated with a unique suite of collective factors suggesting that successful interventions must be behavior-specific. These results add to a growing body of evidence that the collective nature of invasive species control is critical for understanding human behavioral responses.http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol24/iss2/art32/collective actionconservationmontanaprivate landsweed control |
| spellingShingle | Alice A. Lubeck Alexander L. Metcalf Crystal L. Beckman Laurie Yung Justin W. Angle Collective factors drive individual invasive species control behaviors: evidence from private lands in Montana, USA Ecology and Society collective action conservation montana private lands weed control |
| title | Collective factors drive individual invasive species control behaviors: evidence from private lands in Montana, USA |
| title_full | Collective factors drive individual invasive species control behaviors: evidence from private lands in Montana, USA |
| title_fullStr | Collective factors drive individual invasive species control behaviors: evidence from private lands in Montana, USA |
| title_full_unstemmed | Collective factors drive individual invasive species control behaviors: evidence from private lands in Montana, USA |
| title_short | Collective factors drive individual invasive species control behaviors: evidence from private lands in Montana, USA |
| title_sort | collective factors drive individual invasive species control behaviors evidence from private lands in montana usa |
| topic | collective action conservation montana private lands weed control |
| url | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol24/iss2/art32/ |
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