Invasive species are one of many important environmental issues facing Canadians today. A great deal of research has explored both the scientific and social aspects of invasive species. However, the cumulative research has not yet thoroughly explored people’s thoughts and feelings about, or perceptions of, invasive species and the influence these may have on management of, or policy decisions regarding, invasive species. This thesis research project was designed to assess the attitudes and perceptions that high school students have towards invasive species and to determine to what extent learning about invasive species alters their connection with nature. The study group was comprised of students from four Grade 11 Environmental Science classes from three high schools within the city of Guelph, Ontario. The students received regular classroom instruction from their teachers covering the course content, including invasive species. Students also made weekly visits to a local nature centre, providing them with hands-on learning experiences related to the course content. Students responded to an 80-question survey that assessed their knowledge of local invasive species and attitudes towards them as well as students’ connection to nature. Their connection to nature was assessed using a modified version of the Connectedness to Nature Scale (Mayer & Frantz, 2004). The surveys were administered by the classroom teachers in October, 2010, prior to the presentation of instructional material covering invasive species and then again in December, 2010 when the presentation of instructional material concerning invasive species was complete. The results showed that the students’ knowledge of invasive species upon entering the course was quite low and each of the classes witnessed a significant increase in knowledge. The survey results did not reveal any change to the students’ connection to nature; however, they did reveal three underlying themes in students’ attitudes towards invasive species: a concern about invasive species as a threat or problem; feelings of acceptance towards invasive species; and feelings of anxiety about invasive species. These attitudes remained relatively unchanged after the course.

Invasive species are one of many important environmental issues facing Canadians today. A great deal of research has explored both the scientific and social aspects of invasive species. However, the cumulative research has not yet thoroughly explored people’s thoughts and feelings about, or perceptions of, invasive species and the influence these may have on management of, or policy decisions regarding, invasive species. This thesis research project was designed to assess the attitudes and perceptions that high school students have towards invasive species and to determine to what extent learning about invasive species alters their connection with nature. The study group was comprised of students from four Grade 11 Environmental Science classes from three high schools within the city of Guelph, Ontario. The students received regular classroom instruction from their teachers covering the course content, including invasive species. Students also made weekly visits to a local nature centre, providing them with hands-on learning experiences related to the course content. Students responded to an 80-question survey that assessed their knowledge of local invasive species and attitudes towards them as well as students’ connection to nature. Their connection to nature was assessed using a modified version of the Connectedness to Nature Scale (Mayer & Frantz, 2004). The surveys were administered by the classroom teachers in October, 2010, prior to the presentation of instructional material covering invasive species and then again in December, 2010 when the presentation of instructional material concerning invasive species was complete. The results showed that the students’ knowledge of invasive species upon entering the course was quite low and each of the classes witnessed a significant increase in knowledge. The survey results did not reveal any change to the students’ connection to nature; however, they did reveal three underlying themes in students’ attitudes towards invasive species: a concern about invasive species as a threat or problem; feelings of acceptance towards invasive species; and feelings of anxiety about invasive species. These attitudes remained relatively unchanged after the course.

Strong sustainability requires enhanced knowledge and understanding of complex social-ecological interactions, but it also implies a ‘novel’ conceptualization of the relationship between humans and nature, one in which individuals perceive themselves as embedded members of the Biosphere. The aim of this Licentiate thesis is to investigate the validity of a strategy that is centered on designing the urban green infrastructure to nurture such human-nature relationship in children’s attitudes. The research is framed by spatial cognition, conservation psychology, and social-ecological sustainability and it focuses on the validity of this strategy. Hence, the Licentiate analyzes how reoccurring experiences of nature that are situated in the everyday habitat (i.e. nature routines) affect personal human-nature attitudes and how these can be implemented as leverage points to change social-ecological systems using sustainable urbanism. Paper 1 tests the assumed link between the nature routines in Stockholm and preschool children’s development of cognitive and emotional affinity to nature. The results show that nature-rich routines over a period of four years are significantly correlated with the strength of preschooler’s affinity with nature. Paper 2 uses a mixed methods approach to evaluate changes in Connection To Nature (CTN) in 10 years olds who partake in a project of nature conservation. The results of Paper 2 show that there is an evaluative gap between theory and practice in connecting children with nature that impedes the evaluation of how children’s CTN changes over short periods of time and that impedes the creation of an evaluative framework for nature experiences. Paper 3 considers these empirical results in theorizing an approach to sustainable urban design based on social-ecological sustainability that includes CTN. In order to overcome existing limitations Paper 3 presents the concept of cognitive affordances as a theoretical tool to embed cognitive and emotional attitudes towards nature into the design of urban spaces. All combined these papers provide valid evidence that nature routines in cities, especially for children, can be a significant leverage point to enable future sustainable civilizations.

As community gardens (CGs) become increasingly popular, it is timely to investigate whether they further sustainability goals. Underpinning my research were questions like why people get involved in CGs, what benefits they derive, what they learn from gardening, and how governance facilitates that learning. Through interviews with gardeners, my data show that key benefits of gardening included building community, environmental protection, improved health, and resisting the industrialization of food. CG membership also facilitated learning in all three domains of Transformative Learning: communicative, instrumental, and transformation. Learning outcomes included gardening skills, improved insight into self and others, and increased prevalence of pro-environmental perspectives. The primary source of learning was interaction with other gardeners. CG involvement may contribute to sustainability by providing an environment which allows people to connect with nature, learn from others (if governance, garden organization, and social capital are strong), and choose more pro-environmental behaviours. / May 2016

The human population is rapidly urbanizing, creating dramatic changes in local land use and land cover, unprecedented species loss, and a society increasingly disconnected from nature. Nature, specifically biodiversity, has been shown to provide benefits and enhance well-being to humans. Living in an environment with reduced opportunity to interact with or experience biodiversity has increasingly been recognized as both a public health and environmental issue, whereby separation from nature can negatively impact human well-being and how humans value nature, diminishing interest in and understanding of nature and its conservation. Because urban living reduces contact with nature, it is imperative to understand how urban residents perceive and benefit from urban nature to better manage urban biodiversity to both support human well-being and conservation efforts. This study examines how urbanites perceive and benefit from two types of urban nature, trees and birds, by combining surveys of local residents with tree and bird data collected in two Midwestern agricultural cities, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa from neighborhoods of varying urban intensity. A residential survey was distributed to these neighborhoods during the summer of 2018 to assess resident perceptions of neighborhood biodiversity and its benefits. In general, residents were not able to assess relative levels of biodiversity compared to other neighborhoods, except in the case of high tree species richness. There was a strong relationship between perceived biodiversity and actual biodiversity, as well as reported knowledge of a given taxon, but only residential perceptions of biodiversity, not actual biodiversity, were strongly related to reported benefits. Respondent perceptions of the influence of trees on their well-being exhibited strong relationships with a person’s connection to trees. Reported influence of birds on well-being was strongly related to a person’s connection to trees, connection to birds, and landscaping practices to support wild species in their yards. Actual bird species richness was significantly negatively related to perceived influence of birds on well-being. Perceived nuisances associated with trees were significantly negatively related to perceived tree species richness, while a person’s connection to trees was strongly positively related to tree nuisances. These results indicate that reported perceptions of the benefits from biodiversity are most heavily influenced by resident perceptions of biodiversity itself and orientation toward nature. This finding also implies that residents benefit from the presence of biodiversity, but that perceived benefits are only related to respondent perceptions of biodiversity, not to actual biodiversity. Further research is necessary to understand why and how this paradox occurs, yet this study provides reason to support efforts to increase knowledge of species as well as provide biodiverse environments that create opportunities for interaction with urban nature. Providing both would strengthen urban resident well-being and support biodiversity and conservation initiatives within cities.

No description available.

Strong sustainability requires enhanced knowledge and understanding of complex social-ecological interactions, but it also implies a ‘novel’ conceptualization of the relationship between humans and nature, one in which individuals perceive themselves as embedded members of the Biosphere. The aim of this Licentiate thesis is to investigate the validity of a strategy that is centered on designing the urban green infrastructure to nurture such human-nature relationship in children’s attitudes. The research is framed by spatial cognition, conservation psychology, and social-ecological sustainability and it focuses on the validity of this strategy. Hence, the Licentiate analyzes how reoccurring experiences of nature that are situated in the everyday habitat (i.e. nature routines) affect personal human-nature attitudes and how these can be implemented as leverage points to change social-ecological systems using sustainable urbanism. Paper 1 tests the assumed link between the nature routines in Stockholm and preschool children’s development of cognitive and emotional affinity to nature. The results show that nature-rich routines over a period of four years are significantly correlated with the strength of preschooler’s affinity with nature. Paper 2 uses a mixed methods approach to evaluate changes in Connection To Nature (CTN) in 10 years olds who partake in a project of nature conservation. The results of Paper 2 show that there is an evaluative gap between theory and practice in connecting children with nature that impedes the evaluation of how children’s CTN changes over short periods of time and that impedes the creation of an evaluative framework for nature experiences. Paper 3 considers these empirical results in theorizing an approach to sustainable urban design based on social-ecological sustainability that includes CTN. In order to overcome existing limitations Paper 3 presents the concept of cognitive affordances as a theoretical tool to embed cognitive and emotional attitudes towards nature into the design of urban spaces. All combined these papers provide valid evidence that nature routines in cities, especially for children, can be a significant leverage point to enable future sustainable civilizations.

No description available.

Over the last century anadromous alewife (Alosa psuedoharengus) and blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis), collectively called river herring, suffered drastic declines throughout their range from Newfoundland (Canada) to North Carolina (USA). A 2011 petition to include river herring in the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was rejected, partly due to inadequate information towards identifying coast-wide population status. Additionally, knowledge gaps were identified with basic ecology of the river herring life cycle in freshwater, including species reproductive strategies. In Chapter 2, I investigated how body size, spawning arrival time, and sex influence river herring reproductive success. I collaborated with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries to introduce adult river herring (421, 266, and 410 individuals in 2013, 2014, and 2015, respectively) into Pentucket Pond (Massachusetts, USA), which historically had river herring but is currently inaccessible to upstream migrants. Using fin clips from stocked adult fish and juveniles collected in the lake each summer, I genotyped individuals and constructed pedigrees with 15 microsatellites. River herring had small (mean =1.1) families and spawned multiple times with multiple mates from May to June. Females were more successful than males. Earlier arrival and larger body size were independent indicators of reproductive success. These results provide critical river herring life history information for the freshwater component of population models that will inform management of this at-risk species. Presently, most river herring populations are monitored using data from citizen counts of spawning adults entering freshwater. Involving citizen watershed groups in data collection and may provide ancillary benefits beyond collection of population-level count data. In Chapter 3, I used pre-and post-surveys to assess how involvement in one citizen monitoring program influenced participants’ environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Participants began the program with high scores for broader scientific and pro-environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behaviors. After the program, participants reported increased connection to nature, citizen science involvement, river herring knowledge, and engagement in outdoor recreation. For participants, engagement with nature was the most important program benefit. These results provide an additional case study to the citizen science literature and demonstrate that citizen science programs can help participants connect with the environment.

No description available.