title: Public perception as a barrier to introducing wood in rivers for restoration purposes.
abstract: Reintroduction of wood in rivers for restoration purposes is now recognized in a positive way by scientists. Nevertheless, the perception of wood in riverscapes is strongly affected by the socio-cultural environment. This cultural influence might explain why wood reintroduction is accepted and promoted in some regions of the world but not in others, despite the demonstrated ecological benefits. From an extensive student perception survey, we show that most of the groups from nine countries in the world considered riverscapes with wood to be less aesthetic, more dangerous, and needing more improvement than riverscapes without wood. By contrast, this way of thinking was not observed in Germany, Sweden, and Oregon (USA), where the first instances of wood reintroduction occurred.
authors.affiliation: CNRS-UMR 5600, Environnement, Ville, Société, 18 rue Chevreul, Lyon Cedex 07 69 362, France. piegay@uni-lyon1.fr
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Piégay
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Gregory
authors.forename: Valery
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bondarev
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dahlstrom
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Elosegi
authors.forename: Stanley V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Gregory
authors.forename: Veena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mutz
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rinaldi
authors.forename: Bartlomiej
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wyzga
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zawiejska
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D004954:Esthetics; D038622:Internationality; D011639:Public Opinion; D045483:Rivers; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014934:Wood