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Landscape perceptions and social representations of Fallopia spp. in France

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Abstract

Choices have to be made to manage invasive species because eradication often is not possible. Both ecological and social factors have to be considered to improve the efficiency of management plans. We conducted a social study on Fallopia spp., a major invasive plant taxon in Europe, including (1) a survey on the perception of a landscape containing Fallopia spp. using a photoquestionnaire and (2) an analysis of the social representations of Fallopia spp. of managers and users in one highly invaded area and one less invaded area. The respondents to the photoquestionnaire survey appreciated the esthetics of the landscapes less when tall Fallopia spp. were present. Few people were able to identify and name the plant, and this knowledge negatively affected the appreciation of the photos containing Fallopia spp. The central core of the social representation of Fallopia spp. was composed of the invasive status of the plant, its density, and its ecological impacts. The peripheral elements of the representation depended on the people surveyed. The users highlighted the natural aspect whereas the managers identified the need for control. In the invaded area, the managers qualified the species as “unmanageable,” whereas the species was qualified as “foreign” in the less invaded area. Those results provide insights that have to be included when objectives of management plans of these species are selected.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank J. Valy for the survey on landscape perception, E. Wiederkehr and L. Vaudor for their help in data processing and statistical analysis of the photoquestionnaire data, D. Lassarre for her involvement at the beginning of the project, and A. Chesterman for his proofreading.

Funding

This research was financially supported by the regional water agency (in partnership with the LTER-ZABR) and the IngECOTech program (INEE-CNRS).

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Author notes

  1. S. Rouifed

    Present address: ISARA, 23 Rue Jean Baldassini, F-69364, Lyon, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS, ENTPE, UMR5023 LEHNA, Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, F-69622, Villeurbanne, France

    S. Rouifed & F. Piola

  2. CNRS, UMR 5600 EVS, ENS de Lyon, Université de Lyon, F-69007, Lyon, France

    M. Cottet, Y-F Le Lay & A. Rivière-Honegger

  3. CHROME - EA 7352, Unîmes, Université de Nîmes, Nîmes, France

    M. de Battista & P. Rateau

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  1. S. Rouifed
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Correspondence to S. Rouifed.

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Communicated by: Matthias Waltert

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Rouifed, S., Cottet, M., de Battista, M. et al. Landscape perceptions and social representations of Fallopia spp. in France. Sci Nat 105, 67 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-018-1592-7

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