Ashley A Dayer
Biographic Data
| ID | 5588290 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ashley A Dayer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ashley A |
| FAMILY NAME | Dayer |
| SIGNATURE | DAYER A A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Virginia Tech |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8105-0776 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Landowners and Conservation
Coastal Farmers' and Agricultural Landowners' Perceptions of Marsh Migration and Emerging Socio‐Ecological Vulnerabilities Related to Sea‐Level Rise
Sea‐level rise (SLR) has the potential to profoundly impact coastal ecosystems and human communities. SLR will cause marshes to erode on their seaward edge, but marsh migration onto uplands may allow for their persistence and continued provision of ecosystem services. Low elevation agricultural land may be well‐suited for marsh migration; however, SLR and associated marsh migration on agricultural land could negatively impact farmers and landowne…
How expectations of reciprocity impact donation and volunteer behavior to Nongame Wildlife Programs
Our research examines motivations behind support for wildlife conservation efforts, primarily through volunteering and donations. Using the Minnesota Nongame Wildlife Program as a case study, we focus on nature-based support motivations. Using novel applications of two theoretical frameworks, we surveyed 763 respondents and found significant links between motivations and volunteer and donor behaviors. Biodiversity and ecological reciprocity were …
Birds are not the only ones impacted by guidance to cease bird feeding
Humans have a particularly strong connection with birds, driving the enormous popularity of residential bird feeding in much of the world. We conducted a web search to document US state wildlife management agency responses to two recent avian disease outbreaks, finding that 23 agencies made recommendations to cease feeding wild birds in 2021–2022. The psychological benefits of bird feeding for humans are well‐documented but often overlooked in ma…
Social support and identity promote diverse participation in wildlife viewing
Wildlife viewing is growing in popularity, especially among Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC), whose participation has increased dramatically in the last 20 years. We used a nationwide sample of wildlife viewers to examine how identity as a wildlife viewer, the importance of wildlife viewing to one's life, ethnoracial identity and social support influenced the degree of participation in wildlife viewing. We examined data as part of a…
Accessible birding in the United States
While approximately one-quarter of the U.S. population has a disability, many people with disabilities remain excluded from equitable participation in birding. In this study, we compared the constraints and facilitators of birders with and without disabilities from a nationwide survey of U.S. wildlife viewers. Next, we analyzed open-ended responses in a survey of birders with disabilities to characterize constraints and facilitators using models …
The effect of engagement in private lands research on landowner conservation knowledge, attitudes, awareness, and behavioral intentions
Landowners and scientists often interact during conservation research projects on private lands, creating the opportunity for impactful outreach efforts. However, this potential has received little attention in the literature. This is particularly true for situations where landowners interact with researchers, but do not actively participate in data collection (a "traditional research" model that contrasts to participatory science projects). In t…
A culturally responsive evaluation framework and its application in environmental education
Managers and shorebird biologists' perceptions of enforcement and voluntary compliance techniques to increase compliance with dog regulations on beaches
Disturbance to shorebirds by domestic dogs can cause direct and indirect bird mortality. Dog regulations to minimize disturbance are only effective if people comply with them. Non‐compliance is a universal problem in biodiversity conservation, with an associated body of applicable social science from the field of conservation criminology. We apply the lens of this literature to better understand non‐compliance with dog regulations on beaches alon…
Tapping birdwatchers to promote bird‐friendly coffee consumption and conserve birds
Though coffee was traditionally grown as an understory crop beneath mature trees (i.e. ‘shade‐grown’ coffee), most farms have been converted to full‐sun monocultures over time, which fail to support ecosystem services or biodiversity. The conversion from shade‐ to sun‐grown coffee has prompted the development of environmentally focused certifications, such as Smithsonian Bird Friendly ® coffee, as one market‐based strategy to incentivize sustaina…
Understanding attitudes and norms of dog walkers to reduce disturbances to shorebirds
Dog walking can disturb shorebirds. To inform disturbance reduction campaigns, we conducted a survey of dog walkers in Maine, New York, and South Carolina to understand beach recreationists’ attitudes about the benefits and constraints of voluntarily leashing dogs on beaches and their social and personal norms related to leashing. Common perceived constraints to leashing included perceptions about reducing socialization for dogs, reducing exercis…
A Web-Based Approach to Stakeholder Analysis for Identifying and Understanding Broader Constituencies in Wildlife Conservation
Shifting social and ecological contexts for conservation in North America have highlighted that wildlife agencies must engage with broad constituencies to achieve their missions. Responding to limitations in practitioner capacity to find, understand, and plan for engagement with a broader array of stakeholders, we developed a web-based method for stakeholder analysis and used it to identify and describe the activities of 214 organizations, includ…
Human dimensions in undergraduate fisheries and wildlife degree programs in United States Universities
Training undergraduate fisheries and wildlife students in human dimensions (HD) can prepare them to be part of interdisciplinary teams and apply human dimensions in their careers. We assessed the state of undergraduate HD coursework in the United States for the first time since 2001. The previous survey-based study found approximately 40% of responding universities with fisheries and wildlife degrees offered a stand-alone HD course. We analyzed d…
Testing a continuous measure of recreation specialization among birdwatchers
Recreation specialization is a framework that can be used to explain the variation among outdoor recreationists’ preferences, attitudes, and behaviors. Recreation specialization has been operationalized using several approaches, including summative indices, cluster analysis, and self-classification categorical measures. Although these approaches measure the multiple dimensions of the framework, they may not reflect the relative contribution of th…
Observations at backyard bird feeders influence the emotions and actions of people that feed birds
Backyard bird feeding is one of the most common ways people engage with wildlife in many parts of the world. Given its scale, it can have profound consequences for the ecology of feeder birds and their behaviour. While previous work has primarily explored socio‐demographic factors associated with bird feeding, how observations of nature at backyard feeders (e.g. changes in feeder bird abundance, interaction with natural enemies and weather) influ…
Rural-urban differences in hunting and birdwatching attitudes and participation intent
Outdoor recreation facilitates important connections to nature and wildlife, but it is perceived differently across population segments. As such, we expected that socio-demographic characteristics of individuals would influence intention to participate in outdoor recreation. We solicited 5,000 U.S. residents (n = 1,030, 23% response rate) to describe their perceptions of hunting and birdwatching. The influence of current and childhood community s…
The role of social norms in conservation outreach
Self-reported behaviors often serve as dependent variables in surveys associated with outreach campaigns. Social desirability bias (i.e., reporting what is perceived as socially acceptable) and cei
Engaging Landowners in the Conservation Conversation through Landowner-Listening Workshops
Participatory approaches to natural resource research have become increasingly popular, ensuring local knowledge is incorporated into conservation decisions while also benefitting community members. Understanding if and how different methods achieve participatory research goals is important and lacking. In this study, we investigated how one approach, landowner-listening workshops, performed across six criteria for participatory research. We cond…
Application of a Stated Choice Approach to Assessing Public Preferences for Wildlife Conservation Funding
Limited funds for wildlife conservation require difficult choices about allocation of resources. One consideration is public preferences. While traditional attitudinal approaches can provide information about preferences for conservation efforts aimed at individual species, stated choice models offer a more suitable approach for exploring the complexity of public support across multiple species, through an examination of individuals’ choices in t…
Are wildlife recreationists conservationists? Linking hunting, birdwatching, and pro‐environmental behavior
There is a widely held assumption that outdoor experiences are a key precursor to pro-environmental behavior (PEB). We tested the hypothesis that wildlife recreationists are more likely than non-recreationists to voluntarily engage in different types of PEB, grouped as conservation behaviors and environmental lifestyle behaviors. Via mail and web-based surveys of rural New York residents (n = 941), we compared the self-reported PEBs of 4 types of…
Developing Tools to Encourage Private Forest Landowners to Participate in Early Successional Forest Habitat Management
Wildlife organizations often engage landowners in habitat management. Landowner typology research can provide suggestions for how to work with diverse types of landowners. We explored how typologies can inform selection of tools to engage landowners in early successional habitat (ESH) management. Using a survey, effectiveness of three kinds of tools were assessed: (a) basic needs, (b) learning, and (c) social. Across all types and typologies, lea…
Comparative Analysis and Assessment of Forest Landowner Typologies
Landowner typologies help researchers and practitioners understand similarities and differences among landowners, allowing more targeted education and communications. These typologies have rarely been rigorously assessed before recommended for use. We assessed three typologies created with one data set using three methods: reliability through split halves, predictive validity using external variables, and application of quality typology criteria.…
Stories about Wildlife
The need for cross-cultural research to better understand the relationships between humans and wildlife was one of the driving factors in the instigation of the Wildlife Values Globally project. A fundamental challenge in fulfilling this need is developing appropriate methods that can elicit thoughts about wildlife from people in a variety of cultures. As such, a key goal of this project was to develop a basic cross-cultural instrument that would…
Concepts for Exploring the Social Aspects of Human–Wildlife Conflict in a Global Context
This article develops an approach for exploring the social and cultural aspects of human–wildlife conflict in a global context. The proposed micro-macro level model integrates the cognitive hierarchy theory of human behavior and materialist theory of culture. This model guides research of human behavior in these situations and yields information that can aid conflict prevention and mitigation on the local level and offer suggestions for effective…
Comparative Analysis and Assessment of Forest Landowner Typologies
Landowner typologies help researchers and practitioners understand similarities and differences among landowners, allowing more targeted education and communications. These typologies have rarely been rigorously assessed before recommended for use. We assessed three typologies created with one data set using three methods: reliability through split halves, predictive validity using external variables, and application of quality typology criteria.…
A Web-Based Approach to Stakeholder Analysis for Identifying and Understanding Broader Constituencies in Wildlife Conservation
Shifting social and ecological contexts for conservation in North America have highlighted that wildlife agencies must engage with broad constituencies to achieve their missions. Responding to limitations in practitioner capacity to find, understand, and plan for engagement with a broader array of stakeholders, we developed a web-based method for stakeholder analysis and used it to identify and describe the activities of 214 organizations, includ…
Concepts for Exploring the Social Aspects of Human–Wildlife Conflict in a Global Context
This article develops an approach for exploring the social and cultural aspects of human–wildlife conflict in a global context. The proposed micro-macro level model integrates the cognitive hierarchy theory of human behavior and materialist theory of culture. This model guides research of human behavior in these situations and yields information that can aid conflict prevention and mitigation on the local level and offer suggestions for effective…
Stories about Wildlife
The need for cross-cultural research to better understand the relationships between humans and wildlife was one of the driving factors in the instigation of the Wildlife Values Globally project. A fundamental challenge in fulfilling this need is developing appropriate methods that can elicit thoughts about wildlife from people in a variety of cultures. As such, a key goal of this project was to develop a basic cross-cultural instrument that would…
Developing Tools to Encourage Private Forest Landowners to Participate in Early Successional Forest Habitat Management
Wildlife organizations often engage landowners in habitat management. Landowner typology research can provide suggestions for how to work with diverse types of landowners. We explored how typologies can inform selection of tools to engage landowners in early successional habitat (ESH) management. Using a survey, effectiveness of three kinds of tools were assessed: (a) basic needs, (b) learning, and (c) social. Across all types and typologies, lea…
Comparative Analysis and Assessment of Forest Landowner Typologies
Landowner typologies help researchers and practitioners understand similarities and differences among landowners, allowing more targeted education and communications. These typologies have rarely been rigorously assessed before recommended for use. We assessed three typologies created with one data set using three methods: reliability through split halves, predictive validity using external variables, and application of quality typology criteria.…
Are wildlife recreationists conservationists? Linking hunting, birdwatching, and pro‐environmental behavior
There is a widely held assumption that outdoor experiences are a key precursor to pro-environmental behavior (PEB). We tested the hypothesis that wildlife recreationists are more likely than non-recreationists to voluntarily engage in different types of PEB, grouped as conservation behaviors and environmental lifestyle behaviors. Via mail and web-based surveys of rural New York residents (n = 941), we compared the self-reported PEBs of 4 types of…
Application of a Stated Choice Approach to Assessing Public Preferences for Wildlife Conservation Funding
Limited funds for wildlife conservation require difficult choices about allocation of resources. One consideration is public preferences. While traditional attitudinal approaches can provide information about preferences for conservation efforts aimed at individual species, stated choice models offer a more suitable approach for exploring the complexity of public support across multiple species, through an examination of individuals’ choices in t…
Observations at backyard bird feeders influence the emotions and actions of people that feed birds
Backyard bird feeding is one of the most common ways people engage with wildlife in many parts of the world. Given its scale, it can have profound consequences for the ecology of feeder birds and their behaviour. While previous work has primarily explored socio‐demographic factors associated with bird feeding, how observations of nature at backyard feeders (e.g. changes in feeder bird abundance, interaction with natural enemies and weather) influ…
Rural-urban differences in hunting and birdwatching attitudes and participation intent
Outdoor recreation facilitates important connections to nature and wildlife, but it is perceived differently across population segments. As such, we expected that socio-demographic characteristics of individuals would influence intention to participate in outdoor recreation. We solicited 5,000 U.S. residents (n = 1,030, 23% response rate) to describe their perceptions of hunting and birdwatching. The influence of current and childhood community s…
The role of social norms in conservation outreach
Self-reported behaviors often serve as dependent variables in surveys associated with outreach campaigns. Social desirability bias (i.e., reporting what is perceived as socially acceptable) and cei
Engaging Landowners in the Conservation Conversation through Landowner-Listening Workshops
Participatory approaches to natural resource research have become increasingly popular, ensuring local knowledge is incorporated into conservation decisions while also benefitting community members. Understanding if and how different methods achieve participatory research goals is important and lacking. In this study, we investigated how one approach, landowner-listening workshops, performed across six criteria for participatory research. We cond…
Human dimensions in undergraduate fisheries and wildlife degree programs in United States Universities
Training undergraduate fisheries and wildlife students in human dimensions (HD) can prepare them to be part of interdisciplinary teams and apply human dimensions in their careers. We assessed the state of undergraduate HD coursework in the United States for the first time since 2001. The previous survey-based study found approximately 40% of responding universities with fisheries and wildlife degrees offered a stand-alone HD course. We analyzed d…
Testing a continuous measure of recreation specialization among birdwatchers
Recreation specialization is a framework that can be used to explain the variation among outdoor recreationists’ preferences, attitudes, and behaviors. Recreation specialization has been operationalized using several approaches, including summative indices, cluster analysis, and self-classification categorical measures. Although these approaches measure the multiple dimensions of the framework, they may not reflect the relative contribution of th…
Tapping birdwatchers to promote bird‐friendly coffee consumption and conserve birds
Though coffee was traditionally grown as an understory crop beneath mature trees (i.e. ‘shade‐grown’ coffee), most farms have been converted to full‐sun monocultures over time, which fail to support ecosystem services or biodiversity. The conversion from shade‐ to sun‐grown coffee has prompted the development of environmentally focused certifications, such as Smithsonian Bird Friendly ® coffee, as one market‐based strategy to incentivize sustaina…
Understanding attitudes and norms of dog walkers to reduce disturbances to shorebirds
Dog walking can disturb shorebirds. To inform disturbance reduction campaigns, we conducted a survey of dog walkers in Maine, New York, and South Carolina to understand beach recreationists’ attitudes about the benefits and constraints of voluntarily leashing dogs on beaches and their social and personal norms related to leashing. Common perceived constraints to leashing included perceptions about reducing socialization for dogs, reducing exercis…
A Web-Based Approach to Stakeholder Analysis for Identifying and Understanding Broader Constituencies in Wildlife Conservation
Shifting social and ecological contexts for conservation in North America have highlighted that wildlife agencies must engage with broad constituencies to achieve their missions. Responding to limitations in practitioner capacity to find, understand, and plan for engagement with a broader array of stakeholders, we developed a web-based method for stakeholder analysis and used it to identify and describe the activities of 214 organizations, includ…
A culturally responsive evaluation framework and its application in environmental education
Managers and shorebird biologists' perceptions of enforcement and voluntary compliance techniques to increase compliance with dog regulations on beaches
Disturbance to shorebirds by domestic dogs can cause direct and indirect bird mortality. Dog regulations to minimize disturbance are only effective if people comply with them. Non‐compliance is a universal problem in biodiversity conservation, with an associated body of applicable social science from the field of conservation criminology. We apply the lens of this literature to better understand non‐compliance with dog regulations on beaches alon…
Birds are not the only ones impacted by guidance to cease bird feeding
Humans have a particularly strong connection with birds, driving the enormous popularity of residential bird feeding in much of the world. We conducted a web search to document US state wildlife management agency responses to two recent avian disease outbreaks, finding that 23 agencies made recommendations to cease feeding wild birds in 2021–2022. The psychological benefits of bird feeding for humans are well‐documented but often overlooked in ma…
Social support and identity promote diverse participation in wildlife viewing
Wildlife viewing is growing in popularity, especially among Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC), whose participation has increased dramatically in the last 20 years. We used a nationwide sample of wildlife viewers to examine how identity as a wildlife viewer, the importance of wildlife viewing to one's life, ethnoracial identity and social support influenced the degree of participation in wildlife viewing. We examined data as part of a…
Accessible birding in the United States
While approximately one-quarter of the U.S. population has a disability, many people with disabilities remain excluded from equitable participation in birding. In this study, we compared the constraints and facilitators of birders with and without disabilities from a nationwide survey of U.S. wildlife viewers. Next, we analyzed open-ended responses in a survey of birders with disabilities to characterize constraints and facilitators using models …
The effect of engagement in private lands research on landowner conservation knowledge, attitudes, awareness, and behavioral intentions
Landowners and scientists often interact during conservation research projects on private lands, creating the opportunity for impactful outreach efforts. However, this potential has received little attention in the literature. This is particularly true for situations where landowners interact with researchers, but do not actively participate in data collection (a "traditional research" model that contrasts to participatory science projects). In t…
How expectations of reciprocity impact donation and volunteer behavior to Nongame Wildlife Programs
Our research examines motivations behind support for wildlife conservation efforts, primarily through volunteering and donations. Using the Minnesota Nongame Wildlife Program as a case study, we focus on nature-based support motivations. Using novel applications of two theoretical frameworks, we surveyed 763 respondents and found significant links between motivations and volunteer and donor behaviors. Biodiversity and ecological reciprocity were …
Landowners and Conservation
Coastal Farmers' and Agricultural Landowners' Perceptions of Marsh Migration and Emerging Socio‐Ecological Vulnerabilities Related to Sea‐Level Rise
Sea‐level rise (SLR) has the potential to profoundly impact coastal ecosystems and human communities. SLR will cause marshes to erode on their seaward edge, but marsh migration onto uplands may allow for their persistence and continued provision of ecosystem services. Low elevation agricultural land may be well‐suited for marsh migration; however, SLR and associated marsh migration on agricultural land could negatively impact farmers and landowne…
Geography (17 works) · Political science (14 works) · Ecology (13 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Wildlife (12 works) · Environmental resource management (11 works) · Business (9 works) · Public relations (9 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Animal and Plant Science Education (8 works)