Robyn S Wilson

Ohio State University, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Faculty Member

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Why Do we Conserve?: Identifying Mechanisms in Agricultural Conservation Practice Adoption Decisions

Society & Natural Resources

Using Watershed Models and Human Behavioral Analyses to identify Management Options to Reduce Lake Erie's Harmful Algal Blooms

The Firefighters Last Line of Defence Firewise Forever? Voluntary Community Participation and Retention in Firewise Programs Australian Response to the Black Saturday Fires: What Is and Isn't Changing?

The Dynamic Regional Food, Energy, Water Systems Framework for Investigating Effects of Deglobalization

Adaptation is context specific

Nature Climate Change

Accounting for behavioral responses to environmental cues in complex systems

Understanding individual decision making is critical to solving complex systems challenges. Altho... more Understanding individual decision making is critical to solving complex systems challenges. Although some may argue that the nuances at an individual level become less important as the system becomes more complex (i.e., individual differences are outweighed by social or political factors), there is also evidence that biases and challenges in decision making at the individual level may stymy well-intended environmental policies. Brunswik's Theory of Probabilistic Functionalism is one such lens that lends insight into the patterns of decision making at an individual level that may slow down the process of sustainable transitions at a societal level. Specifically, that choices are a function of environmental cues that only represent reality in a probabilistic sense (i.e., the cues are not deterministic). Improving the way in which individuals and groups process the variety of informational cues received in a complex systems contexts will be critical to achieving sustainability in t...

Fuel treatments in mixed-pine forests in the Great Lakes Region: A comprehensive guide to planning and implementation

See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.u... more See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/jfspresearch Part of the Forest Biology Commons, Forest Management Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Other Environmental Sciences Commons, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences Commons, Sustainability Commons, and the Wood Science and Pulp, Paper Technology Commons

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Assessing correlates of farmer behavior to prevent Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs): A multi-level analysis

Private land conservation decision-making: An integrative social science model

Journal of Environmental Management

A Public-Private Partnership to Locate Fields for Implementation and Monitoring of Best Management Practices to Treat Legacy Phosphorus

Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

Legacy nutrients stored in agricultural soils are a substantial component of riverine nutrient di... more Legacy nutrients stored in agricultural soils are a substantial component of riverine nutrient discharge contributing to the eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems. These nutrient loads can persist and delay water quality initiatives, for example, those of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement which seek to reduce phosphorus (P) loads entering the Western Lake Erie Basin. In this watershed, approximately 5% of fields have P concentrations 2.5-fold greater than the maximum agronomic recommendations for corn and soybeans. Fields with these elevated-P concentrations (>100 mg P kg−1 soil) act as a source of legacy-P and discharge greater P loads. Implementing best management practices to treat runoff from these fields is desirable but finding them has been a challenge as soil test data are proprietary information creating an asymmetric information barrier. To overcome this barrier, we formed a public-private partnership that included agricultural retailers who conduct soil testing fo...

Risk Perception Measure

PsycTESTS Dataset

Assessing the Accuracy of Farmers’ Nutrient Loss Risk Perceptions

Environmental Management

Use of nutrient management practices to reduce nutrient loss from agriculture and its associated ... more Use of nutrient management practices to reduce nutrient loss from agriculture and its associated water quality consequences, including hypoxia and eutrophication, is widely encouraged. However, little is known about which factors influence farmers’ risk perceptions associated with nutrient loss, and thus possibly influence their decisions to adopt such practices. To determine which factors were associated with relative “accuracy” of nutrient loss–associated risk perceptions, specific farm field management information was used as inputs to a Soil and Water Assessment Tool model of the study watershed to produce water quality outputs for each modeled farm field. This information was paired with farmers’ risk perceptions associated with nutrient loss on their farm to assess relative “accuracy” of each farmer’s perceptions compared to the rest of the farmers in the study. We then investigated characteristics of the farm and farmer that are associated with comparative “overprediction” and “underprediction” of risk, and found that characteristics of the individual (conservation identity, prior conservation practice adoption, efficacy beliefs, and perceived seriousness of the consequences of nutrient loss) are more important in determining whether farmers are likely to “overpredict” or “underpredict” risk than is the objective (modeled) vulnerability of their land to nutrient loss.

On Quantifying Water Quality Benefits of Healthy Soils

BioScience

Despite decades of research demonstrating links between many agricultural practices and water qua... more Despite decades of research demonstrating links between many agricultural practices and water quality, the ability to predict water quality on the basis of changes in soil health remains severely limited. By better understanding how soil health affects downstream water quality, researchers and policymakers could prioritize different conservation practices while exploring more innovative soil health management strategies. Focusing on the Great Lakes region, we describe the value and challenges of different approaches to linking soil health and water quality, specifically applying nitrogen and phosphorus mass balances and adapting simulation models to better incorporate changing soil health conditions. We identify critical research needs, including paying greater attention to a broad suite of conservation practices and to biological indicators of soil health. We also discuss key barriers to farmer adoption of conservation practices from field to national scales, highlighting that impr...

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From incremental to transformative adaptation in individual responses to climate-exacerbated hazards

Nature Climate Change

Building societal resilience to climate change depends on increased adaptation. In this Review of... more Building societal resilience to climate change depends on increased adaptation. In this Review of scholarship on behavioural adaptation, we find that most empirical studies focus on the affective and cognitive drivers of behaviours with largely private benefits. Few examine behaviours with collective benefits or explore the moderating role of social factors on affective and cognitive cues. We point to cultural evolution and complex adaptive systems as frameworks that can improve our understanding of behaviours that lead to greater societal resilience in the long term. Integrating such research traditions with the socio-psychological perspectives that dominate the literature will ensure that future studies better distinguish the drivers of incremental coping from transformative adaptation. Individual responses to climate hazards can contribute to long-term societal resilience. This Review finds that the literature emphasizes intrapersonal cognitive and affective drivers of adaptation behaviour rather than the interpersonal social factors that promote coordinated cooperative action.

Lake Erie, phosphorus, and microcystin: Is it really the farmer's fault?

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

The size of the harmful algal blooms in western Lake Erie is strongly correlated with agricultura... more The size of the harmful algal blooms in western Lake Erie is strongly correlated with agricultural phosphorus (P) loading from tributaries. Despite farmers' efforts to reduce sediment-bound P loadings and fertilize using current guidance, the media and public have singled them out as the culprit in Lake Erie re-eutrophication. In this paper, two farmer surveys were used to evaluate if farmers in the Lake Erie region follow P fertilizer recommendations, and we also review historic and current P management guidance provided by the scientific community and agricultural industry. The majority (56% to 80%) of farmers apply P fertilizers at or below the current fertility recommendations. Wholesale agronomic changes (e.g., no-tillage adoption, crop cultivar advances, and fertilizer application and formulation) have occurred since current fertilizer recommendations were developed. Although crop P uptake mechanisms have not changed, these agronomic changes have altered P cycling in soil and water. Based on these results, it is time that the scientific community and agricultural industry acknowledge that our current guidance may be contributing to eutrophication. We must ask whether or not we have (1) developed appropriate fertility guidance, (2) developed and recommended appropriate practices to protect water quality, (3) adequately considered "the law of unintended consequences" in conservation recommendations, and (4) focused too much on short-term economic outcomes while disregarding environmental quality. Improved understanding, reconsideration of traditional recommendations, and wider farmer adoption of the most effective practices are needed to develop a sustainable agricultural system in the Western Lake Erie Basin that produces needed commodities while preserving ecosystem integrity.

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Will Millennials save the world? The effect of age and generational differences on environmental concern

Journal of Environmental Management

Are younger people, defined by age, or younger generations, defined by cohort-level measures, mor... more Are younger people, defined by age, or younger generations, defined by cohort-level measures, more concerned about declines in environmental health when compared to their older counterparts within the United States? Related, are these same people more willing to support policy actions aimed at preventing future losses when compared to older adults? In spite of reporting by the U.S. popular press about the heightened environmental consciousness of Millennials, prior research offers conflicting answers. Scholarship focusing on age effects suggests that the answer to both questions is yes due to the dampening of environmental concern and action in older adults. More recent applied research on climate related risks and risk management options, by contrast, suggest that the answer to both questions is no, and that there is no difference in climate concern and risk mitigation between younger and older adults. In an attempt to disentangle these contradictory viewpoints, we undertook a study in which respondents in the United States characterized by age and generational cohort were presented with small and large hypothetical losses due to climate change. These same participants were then asked to indicate their support for future policy actions aimed at stemming these environmental losses. Overall, our data does not indicate that younger generations experience potential losses as more acute than older generations; neither age nor generational cohort correlated with the perceived severity of environmental losses nor support for future actions to prevent them. More robust predictors of both dependent variables were environmental value orientations (biospherism) and self-reported political orientation.

Developing a Broadly Applicable Measure of Risk Perception

Risk Analysis

Decades of research identify risk perception as a largely intuitive and affective construct, in c... more Decades of research identify risk perception as a largely intuitive and affective construct, in contrast to the more deliberative assessments of probability and consequences that form the foundation of risk assessment. However, a review of the literature reveals that many of the risk perception measures employed in survey research with human subjects are either generic in nature, not capturing any particular affective, probabilistic, or consequential dimension of risk; or focused solely on judgments of probability. The goal of this research was to assess a multidimensional measure of risk perception across multiple hazards to identify a measure that will be broadly useful for assessing perceived risk moving forward. Our results support the idea of risk perception being multidimensional, but largely a function of individual affective reactions to the hazard. We also find that our measure of risk perception holds across multiple types of hazards, ranging from those that are behavioral in nature (e.g., health and safety behaviors), to those that are technological (e.g., pollution), or natural (e.g., extreme weather). We suggest that a general, unidimensional measure of risk may accurately capture one's perception of the severity of the consequences, and the discrete emotions that are felt in response to those potential consequences. However, such a measure is not likely to capture the perceived probability of experiencing the outcomes, nor will it be as useful at understanding one's motivation to take mitigation action.

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Do people disagree with themselves? Exploring the internal consistency of complex, unfamiliar, and risky decisions

Journal of Risk Research

Abstract It is commonly accepted that people disagree with one another. In this article, we prese... more Abstract It is commonly accepted that people disagree with one another. In this article, we present results that suggest people may disagree with themselves. Using eight decision-making contexts ranging in familiarity, complexity, and risk, we show that a nationally representative sample (n = 1874) of respondents made choices that were inconsistent across two complimentary methods of eliciting preferences. We show that on average individuals demonstrate higher levels of internal consistency, or alignment between their choices and their stated values and concerns, when decisions are ‘easy’, or simple, familiar, and have little risk. However, this consistency declines when people are confronted with difficult choices involving unfamiliar, complex contexts involving high risk. Moreover, providing additional and salient contextual information about alternatives, such as brand names, model information, or the specific components of a risk mitigation strategy, results in significantly lower levels of consistency when compared to situations where this information is withheld. This finding suggests that people rely on simplifying heuristics when making easy decisions; however, this kind of information is less influential when choices are difficult. Importantly, we show that higher levels of education also have a significant and positive association with the consistency of people’s choices.

Support for the U.S. Endangered Species Act over time and space: Controversial species do not weaken public support for protective legislation

Conservation Letters

We used data from a 2014 survey (n = 1,287) of U.S. residents and recent polls to assess how publ... more We used data from a 2014 survey (n = 1,287) of U.S. residents and recent polls to assess how public support for the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) changed over time, and whether protecting controversial species affects support for the law. We assessed support for the ESA, trust in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and attitudes toward wolves across three regions with different experiences in conserving gray wolves through the ESA. We found: (a) ∼4 in 5 Americans support the ESA, whereas ∼1 in 10 oppose; (b) support for the ESA remained stable over the past two decades; (c) strong majorities (>68%) of individuals identifying with 8 special interest types support the ESA; and (d) no differences in support for the ESA, attitudes toward wolves, or trust in the FWS across regions. Results suggest that protecting specieseven controversial predators-does not weaken support for protective legislation.

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Endangered species recovery: A resource allocation problem

Science (New York, N.Y.), Oct 19, 2018

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Robyn S Wilson

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