Data from: Combining human acceptance and habitat suitability in a unified socio-ecological suitability model: a case study of the wolf in Switzerland

Habitat suitability models (HSMs) are commonly used in conservation practise to assess the potential of an area to be occupied and colonised. A major limitation of these models, however, is the omission of spatially explicit understanding of human acceptance towards the focal species. As wildlife is more and more subject to human-dominated landscapes, ignoring the sociological component will result in misrepresentation of the observed processes and inappropriate management.
We distributed 10 000 questionnaires across Switzerland and identified key socio-demographical factors correlated with human acceptance of the wolf. We then created a spatially explicit acceptance model based on geo-referenced socio-demographical, social and geographical information. Finally, we combined our acceptance model with a HSM to obtain a unified socio-ecological suitability model, which included human and ecological components.
We showed that the key factors associated with human acceptance were perception of how harmful the wolf is, interest in wolf-related issues, need for livestock protection, and fear of the wolf. Perceived harmfulness was in turn correlated with direct and indirect experience with the wolf, and level of education.
Our acceptance map predicted decreasing acceptance with increasing altitude of residency and proximity to locations of confirmed wolf presence. This resulted in the overall opposition to the wolf for the Alpine region, albeit substantial regional differences.
We found little spatial overlap (6% of Switzerland) between areas where the wolf was accepted and areas of suitable habitat. These areas of socio-ecological suitability were concentrated in the Jura Mountains and in the eastern and southern Alps, and were absent in the western and central Alps. Particularly in the Jura region, which is yet to be colonised, management of human acceptance will be a crucial conservation target.
Synthesis and applications. We developed an integrative, socio-ecological approach that allowed us to accurately reproduce recent wolf recolonisation. We anticipate our framework to be a powerful tool to reliably evaluate overall suitable habitats and predict short to medium-term range expansion for species whose distribution is also dependent on human attitudes. Because our approach is sensitive to both the ecological and human component, it is ideally suited to identify key regions where proactive and targeted socio-ecological management plans are needed.

生境适宜性模型（Habitat suitability models, HSMs）是保护实践中常用的工具，用于评估某一区域被目标物种占据并成功拓殖的潜力。然而，这类模型的一大局限在于，未能对人类针对目标物种的接受度形成空间显性的认知。随着野生生物日益频繁地出没于人类主导的景观中，忽略社会学维度的考量将导致对观测过程的误判，以及管理措施的失当。
我们在瑞士境内发放了10000份问卷，甄别出与人类对灰狼接受度相关的关键社会人口学因素。随后，我们基于地理参考的社会人口学、社会学及地理学信息，构建了空间显性的人类接受度模型。最终，我们将该接受度模型与HSM相结合，得到了兼具人类与生态维度的统一社会生态适宜性模型。
研究表明，与人类接受度相关的关键因素包括：对灰狼危害性的感知、对灰狼相关议题的关注度、对牲畜保护的需求，以及对灰狼的恐惧。而感知到的危害性又与人类与灰狼的直接、间接接触经历，以及受教育程度相关。
我们的接受度分布图预测，人类对灰狼的接受度会随居住地海拔升高、与已确认灰狼出没地点的距离缩短而降低。这使得阿尔卑斯地区整体呈现出反对灰狼的态度，尽管区域间存在显著差异。
我们发现，在瑞士境内，人类接受灰狼的区域与具备适宜生境的区域仅存在极少的空间重叠（占比6%）。这类社会生态适宜区域集中分布于汝拉山脉以及阿尔卑斯山脉的东部与南部，而阿尔卑斯山脉西部与中部则不存在此类区域。尤其是在尚未被灰狼拓殖的汝拉地区，对人类接受度的管理将成为至关重要的保护目标。
综合与应用。我们开发了一套整合式的社会生态学研究方法，能够准确复现近期灰狼的重新拓殖过程。我们预计，该研究框架可作为一款强大工具，可靠评估物种的整体适宜生境，并预测那些分布同样依赖人类态度的物种的中短期分布范围扩张。由于我们的方法同时兼顾了生态与人文维度，因此非常适用于识别需要前瞻性、针对性社会生态管理计划的关键区域。