Abstract
Interactions between people and ecological systems, through leisure or tourism activities, form a complex socio-ecological spatial network. The analysis of the benefits people derive from their interactions with nature—also referred to as cultural ecosystem services (CES)—enables a better understanding of these socio-ecological systems. In the age of information, the increasing availability of large social media databases enables a better understanding of complex socio-ecological interactions at an unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. Within this context, we model and analyze these interactions based on information extracted from geotagged photographs embedded into a multiscale socio-ecological network. We apply this approach to 16 case study sites in Europe using a social media database (Flickr) containing more than 150,000 validated and classified photographs. After evaluating the representativeness of the network, we investigate the impact of visitors’ origin on the distribution of socio-ecological interactions at different scales. First at a global scale, we develop a spatial measure of attractiveness and use this to identify four groups of sites. Then, at a local scale, we explore how the distance traveled by the users to reach a site affects the way they interact with this site in space and time. The approach developed here, integrating social media data into a network-based framework, offers a new way of visualizing and modeling interactions between humans and landscapes. Results provide valuable insights for understanding relationships between social demands for CES and the places of their realization, thus allowing for the development of more efficient conservation and planning strategies.
Highlights
As visitors’ priorities and consumption patterns evolve, people are travelling more frequently, further away from home, and in greater numbers [1]
Models of spatial relations between cultural ecosystem services (CES) realization areas and beneficiaries based on empirical data are needed to disentangle interdependencies between social and ecological systems at a high spatio-temporal resolution
Based on more than 150, 000 photos taken in 16 study sites across Europe, this study examines the potential of the digital traces that we leave while visiting natural sites to efficiently represent socio-ecological interactions at different scales
Summary
As visitors’ priorities and consumption patterns evolve, people are travelling more frequently, further away from home, and in greater numbers [1]. People interact with the destination sites, affecting landscapes, societies and quality of life. These recent changing mobility patterns open up new challenges in understanding threats and constraints to the environment. Socio-ecological interactions generate, in turn, cultural ecosystem services (CES) and relational values, linking people and ecosystems via tangible and intangible relationships [4]. To gain an understanding of visitor patterns and how humans interact with their environment, it is essential to undertake a holistic approach to socio-ecological systems, by focusing on the different components of the system and the way they interact with each other. Models of spatial relations between CES realization areas and beneficiaries based on empirical data are needed to disentangle interdependencies between social and ecological systems at a high spatio-temporal resolution
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