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Poster.-- 6th European Congress of Conservation Biology, Prague, August 22–26, 2022, Red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) are distributed throughout Europe, and populations densities have increased over the last years. Lethal control is sometimes used to reduce their numbers, and their negative overabundance impacts on ecosystems. Understanding how society perceive this species, its impacts and its management is important because a potential opposition to control its population, may have negative implications for ecological conservation. To assess such societal perception on deer and their socioecological context, we surveyed 2,400 people from six European countries: Spain, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and Sweden. Across Europe, almost everybody knew this species (>99%), mainly because they have seen it in the wild, in books, or on television. Although some differences existed among countries, Europeans generally attributed positive ecosystem services to the red deer, being the most frequently selected ones cultural (by 43%), regulation (35%) and provision (22%) services. Almost 90% of the interviewees liked red deer, 47% would like to see an increase in deer populations, and 49% were worried by the impact of human activities on this species. This study reveals a high appreciation of red deer by European society, and suggests that deer populations control may face social opposition

Estudios recientes sugieren que las poblaciones de meloncillo (Herpestes ichneumon) podrían haberse expandido en la Península Ibérica. Al mismo tiempo, las quejas del sector cinegético han aumentado por el supuesto impacto de este depredador sobre las especies de caza menor, demandando en ocasiones que se autorice el control de sus poblaciones. Sin embargo, no se conoce la percepción del meloncillo que tiene la sociedad del mundo rural ni sus preferencias en torno a la gestión de esta especie. Para estudiar estos aspectos en Castilla-La Mancha distribuimos un cuestionario online a través de un panel de consumidores del medio rural de esta Comunidad Autónoma (n=452) que contempló cuotas de género y edad. Nuestros resultados mostraron un bajo conocimiento del meloncillo entre los participantes; más del 70% no conocía la especie o no estaba seguro de conocerla y menos del 6% consiguieron nombrarla correctamente. La mayoría de los participantes no asociaron al meloncillo con impactos (positivos o negativos) sobre los ecosistemas o actividades humanas. No obstante, algo más de la mitad estaba de acuerdo con que el meloncillo mantiene el equilibrio de las especies presa y un 45% con que su presencia ayuda a la conservación de la biodiversidad. Cerca del 25% respondieron que no sabían si debería hacerse algo para favorecer o evitar la expansión del meloncillo y el 36% opinaron que no se debería intervenir. En esta misma línea, en el cuestionario se incluyó un experimento de elección de escenarios de gestión y los resultados indicaron que los participantes no estarían dispuestos a pagar para favorecer o evitar la expansión del meloncillo, pero sí para que se permitiese una expansión natural de la especie. Esto se podría explicar porque la evolución de la especie no es preocupante en la actualidad para la sociedad rural manchega y/o por su desconocimiento de este mesocarnívoro.

Preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity brings multiple health, societal and economic benefits, including life-supporting services. Biodiversity indicators are important in framing the benefits of conservation and management programs and monitoring progress toward their outcomes. Biodiversity indicators therefore provide useful tools for policymakers in helping to communicate the benefits of conservation to society but also in garnering public support for conservation. This research aimed to help improve our understanding of the role of biodiversity indicators in the way that they influence preferences towards conservation programs. A discrete choice experiment was used to estimate relative societal preferences towards multilevel dimensions of biodiversity in relation to the conservation of pine forests in the Spanish Iberian Peninsula. Results show that (i) the level of biodiversity indicator (within species, between species and within ecosystems) matters, (ii) indicators related to the biodiversity within ecosystems are valued the most, and (iii) the use of several biodiversity indicators together is generally better at delivering benefits to society, but the value of these is reduced where there is redundancy between them. Overall, the most preferred indicators were the area of land covered by the conservation project, the status of keystone ecosystem components, and the number of native species. Some indicators such as invasive alien species and genetic diversity are least preferred and may be less helpful to how conservation efforts are perceived by the citizens. By careful consideration of which biodiversity indicators to use, policymakers and conservation managers can maximize societal acceptability of public investments in conservation efforts.