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Projecting biodiversity benefits of conservation behavior-change programs
Matthew J Selinske1, Sarah A Bekessy1, William L Geary2,3
1ICON Science Research Group, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Behavior change programs can benefit biodiversity, with greater impact seen as more people adopt wildlife gardening and cat containment. Combining these efforts offers the most cost-effective conservation outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Conservation Science
- Behavioral Ecology
- Environmental Management
Background:
- Human behavior is a primary driver of biodiversity loss.
- The effectiveness of conservation behavior-change programs in benefiting biodiversity remains uncertain.
- Quantifying biodiversity benefits and cost-effectiveness is crucial for program validation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To adapt a structured decision-making tool for prioritizing behavior changes impacting biodiversity.
- To assess the biodiversity benefits and cost-effectiveness of wildlife gardening and cat containment programs.
- To evaluate the influence of varying uptake levels on conservation outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Adapted a structured decision-making prioritization tool.
- Examined hypothetical behavior-change programs: wildlife gardening and cat containment.
- Elicited expert estimates on species persistence probabilities under different behavior-change scenarios.
Main Results:
- Experts projected positive biodiversity benefits from behavior-change programs, increasing with uptake.
- Indirect behaviors were predicted to contribute to biodiversity benefits, though with expert disagreement on magnitude.
- Combined wildlife gardening and cat containment scenarios yielded the greatest species benefits and cost-effectiveness.
Conclusions:
- Behavior-change programs can demonstrably benefit biodiversity.
- Prioritization tools can guide the development and implementation of effective conservation behavior strategies.
- The adapted method is applicable across different contexts and scales for conservation planning.
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