Peter A. Bowler

Psychological Restoration in Nature as a Positive Motivation for Ecological Behavior

Shifting the focus from fear, guilt, and indignation related to deteriorating environmental quality, the authors hypothesized that people who see greater potential for restorative experiences in natural environments also do more to protect them by behaving ecologically, as with recycling or reduced driving. University students (N = 488) rated a familiar freshwater marsh in terms of being away, fascination, coherence, and compatibility, qualities of restorative person-environment transactions described in attention restoration theory. They also reported on their performance of various ecological behaviors. The authors tested a structural equation model with data from a randomly drawn subset of participants and then confirmed it with the data from a second subset. For the combined subsets, perceptions of the restorative qualities predicted 23% of the variance in general ecological behavior. As the only direct predictor, fascination mediated the influences of coherence, being away, and compatibility.

Ecological Behavior, Environmental Attitude, and Feelings of Responsibility for the Environment

Given their definition of subjective norms, rational-choice theories must be located within the realm of social conventionality. However, subjective norms can be grounded in moral as well as conventional considerations. Not surprisingly, then, rational-choice theories insufficiently explain behaviors that are at least partially moral, such as ecological behavior. The present paper establishes an expanded rational-choice model of environmental attitude that extends into the moral domain by using feelings of personal obligation toward the environment (i. e., feelings of responsibility) as an additional predictor of intentions to behave ecologically. Findings from two studies are presented. In Study 1 a sample of Swiss adults (N = 436) was used to test the proposed model. Study 2 replicates the findings of Study 1 with a sample of California college students (N = 488). Assessments were carried out in a structural equation modeling framework. Environmental knowledge, environmental values, and responsibility f...

Coastal sage scrub restoration. I. The challenge of mitigation

Coastal sage scrub, a drought-deciduous Mediterranean shrubland characterized by soft-leaved, shallow-rooted subshrubs, usually 0.5-2 m tall and with a relatively open canopy, once covered some 10,000 km2 in California (Westman, 1981a; 1981b; 1983; and O’Leary, 1989), but is now considered an endangered plant community (Westman, 1987). Nearly a decade ago it was estimated that as much as 85-90 percent (Westman, 1981) had already been eliminated as a result of urban development and agriculture (O’Leary, 1989), and a significant, though unknown fraction of what remains is already doomed by development projects that have been approved but not yet completed. A recent environmental impact statement for a large freeway (Foothill Transportation Corridor DEIR) stated that 90% of the Diegan coastal sage scrub in San Diego County has been eliminated. The California Dept. of For-

FACTORS AFFECTING UNDERSTORY ESTABLISHMENT IN COASTAL SAGE SCRUB RESTORATION

ABSTRACT Coastal sage scrub (CSS) is a target for restoration because it provides habitat for numerous special-status species and it has been impacted by urbanization, agriculture and invasion by non-native species. Many restoration designs have neglected the herbaceous understory component of CSS, although it may comprise the majority of vascular plant species in a natural CSS stand. The omission of an understory may promote invasion by non-native plants and reduce overall success. This study investigated the role of native seed addition, non-native species removal, gaps in the shrub canopy, and soil moisture, upon establishment of a native understory. Native biomass increased significantly with seed addition, and the abundance of experimentally seeded native species was positively correlated with soil moisture. Natives were not affected by competition with non-natives or the presence of gaps. Although all seeded native species germinated, only two of seven established successfully, perhaps due to very low rainfall. Non-native species were negatively affected by the addition of native seeds and had greater growth in gaps. We conclude that planting shrubs in a dense configuration to reduce gap size may reduce non-native species abundance in the understory while having little effect on the native understory. Seeding may be all that is required to establish a native understory, and may also be an effective method of suppressing non-native species.