Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Mark Goddard
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
Residential landscapes with private gardens are major land covers in cities and their sustainable management is paramount for achieving a resilient urban future. Here we focus on the value of residential ecosystems for biodiversity conservation and explore the social and ecological factors that influence wildlife-friendly garden management. Using a stratified sampling design across the UK city of Leeds, this interdisciplinary study develops and applies a mixed method approach, including questionnaires, interviews and ecological surveys across multiple spatial scales. We quantify wildlife-friendly gardening using two measures: (i) the number of wildlife-friendly features within gardens (the wildlife resources index, WRI); and (ii) the frequency of winter bird feeding. Wildlife-friendly gardening is influenced by a combination of garden characteristics and management intensity, householder demographics, wider environmental activity and landscape context. Residents reveal a range of motivations for wildlife-friendly gardening, notably personal well-being and a moral responsibility to nature. Respondents expressed a duty to maintain neighbourhood standards, revealing that social norms are a considerable barrier to uptake of wildlife-friendly activities, but also provide an opportunity where neighbour mimicry results in diffusion of wildlife-friendly practices. Community-driven initiatives that engage, educate and empower residents are better placed to encourage wildlife-friendly gardening than top-down financial incentives.
Author(s): Goddard MA, Dougill AJ, Benton TG
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Ecological Economics
Year: 2013
Volume: 86
Pages: 258-273
Print publication date: 01/02/2013
Online publication date: 06/09/2012
Acceptance date: 18/07/2012
ISSN (print): 0921-8009
ISSN (electronic): 1873-6106
Publisher: Elsevier
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800912002819
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.07.016
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
