Abstract
We conducted a systematic literature review of the current state of research on the social perceptions of invasive species, aiming to provide guidance towards transdisciplinary research and participatory decision making. In order to detect patterns regarding publication trends and factors determining social perceptions of invasive species, we applied qualitative content as well as quantitative data analysis. By applying content analysis, we identified five main categories of influence on the perception of invasive species: ecological conditions, social conditions, values and beliefs, impacts, and benefits. The disciplinary focus of the research was predominantly interdisciplinary, followed by a social sciences approach. Our review revealed a disproportionate use of quantitative methods in research on social perceptions of invasive species, yet quantitative methods were less likely to identify benefits as factors determining the perception of invasive species. However, without the understanding of perceived benefits, researchers and managers lack the socio-cultural context these species are embedded in. Our review also revealed the geographical, methodological and taxonomic bias of research on perceptions of invasive species. The majority of studies focused on the local public, whereas fewer than half of the studies focused on decision-makers. Furthermore, our results showed differences in the social perceptions of invasive species among different stakeholder groups. Consensus over the definition and terminology of invasive species was lacking whereas differences in terminology were clearly value-laden. In order to foster sustainable management of invasive species, research on social perceptions should focus on a transdisciplinary and transparent discourse about the inherent values of invasion science.
Highlights
Ecological research has been investigating the phenomenon of invasive alien species increasingly since the midst of the 20th century
While in the 1990s and early 2000s, publications analyzing the social perception of invasive species were scarce, with one publication in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2005 respectively, there has been an acceleration of publications since 2010
Despite the entanglement of humans and invasive species and the essential role of perception in the management of invasive species, our study shows that research on social perceptions of invasive species is still in its infancy
Summary
Ecological research has been investigating the phenomenon of invasive alien species increasingly since the midst of the 20th century. While decision-makers and scientists may hold more extreme views in relation to species’ nativeness and abundance (Fischer et al 2014), rural communities in South Africa, for example, perceived higher densities of an invasive cactus species as positive This was on account of the usage of its fruits that provide notable socio-economic value (Shackleton et al 2007). The public may refuse to engage in, and even oppose, management measures concerning invasive species if their perspectives are ignored or misunderstood (Simberloff 2011; Woodford et al 2016) To this end, Rotherham and Lambert (2011) show that county bird recorders in the UK withhold the location details of invasive ruddy duck breeding and wintering sites to save them from culling. The examples imply that the integration and understanding of social and cultural perspectives in research on invasive species, and the consideration of biological invasions as socialecological phenomena, is crucial for their sustainable, i.e. both ecologically and socially successful, management (Kueffer 2013)
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