What people think about Ecological restoration and Related Topics: At a first look

Abstract

This study repersents a first step in gaining awareness of what people think about ecological and related concepts. Forty-one undergraduate nonscience majors at a liberal arts college in chicago were asked to define, explain, or illustrate the follong four terms: "forest preserves," "natural area," "ecological restoration," and "biodiversity." Analysis involved repeated reading of responses and identification of common themes. Forest preserves held a variety of meaning for people whiel natural areas often were equated with bature inits most pristine form. The term ecological restoration often translated to fixing the mistakes of man, usually by planting trees. Biodiversity was an unfamiliar tern for most respondents. Overall, trees appeared to be an important icon for forest preserves, natural areas, and ecological restoration. This is important information especially when restoration eforts involve removal of trees. Rarely did respondants associate ecological restoration with replacement of one type of community (e.g., forest) with another (e.g., savanna). Learning how people percieve restoration and related concepts may be a good first step in involving a larger population in restoration efforts.

Citation

Barro, Susan C.; Bopp, Nadine A. 1999. What people think about Ecological restoration and Related Topics: At a first look. Fifteenth North American Prairie Conference: proceedings. p. 1-7. (1999)