Emerald ash borer (EAB), an invasive forest insect from Asia, has impacted vast areas in the United States and European Russia. To proactively understand the social impact of an EAB invasion in Europe and the USA, this study analyzed visitors’ preferences and preference heterogeneity for EAB-impacted forest scenarios in Vienna, Austria (n = 510) and Minneapolis, USA (n = 307). An image-based discrete choice experiment with latent-class analysis among on-site completed questionnaires in Vienna indicated four different visitor segments based on trade-offs among biophysical, social and viewscape elements. Within the forested environment, two segments placed greater importance on (bio)physical attributes and two on social aspects. Although all segments preferred a non-impacted ash forest, only one of the four identified the attribute describing EAB impacts and forest management as the most important attribute. Rather, visitor numbers and background viewscapes were more important than EAB impact and management to differentiate landscape preferences for three of the four segments. Differences in preferences were found between the Vienna and Minneapolis samples. Vienna respondents showed a higher preference for more natural conditions, disliked more the initial stage of EAB impact and placed more importance on background viewscapes and visitor numbers. Forest managers and greenspace planners need to consider the entirety of the forested condition, social and visual, for effective management and address that visitors differ in their preferences for all of these conditions.

中文翻译：

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翡翠bore虫感染地区的城市森林游客偏好差异

翡翠invasive虫（EAB）是一种来自亚洲的入侵性森林昆虫，已经侵袭了美国和俄罗斯的广大地区。要积极主动地了解欧洲和美国的入侵EAB的社会影响，这项研究分析了游客在奥地利维也纳（EAB-影响森林场景的喜好和偏好的异质性ñ  = 510）和明尼阿波利斯，美国（ñ = 307）。在维也纳现场完成的问卷调查中，基于图像的离散选择实验进行了潜在类别分析，根据生物物理，社会和景观要素之间的权衡，表明了四个不同的访问者细分。在森林环境中，有两个部分更加重视（生物）物理属性，另外两个则更加关注社会方面。尽管所有部分都希望使用不受影响的白蜡林，但只有四分之一的人将描述EAB影响和森林管理的属性确定为最重要的属性。相反，访问者人数和背景景观比EAB的影响和管理更重要，以区分四个部分中的三个的景观偏好。在维也纳样本和明尼阿波利斯样本之间发现了偏好差异。维也纳的受访者更偏爱自然条件，不喜欢EAB影响的初始阶段，并且更加重视背景景观和访客人数。森林管理者和绿地规划者需要考虑整个森林状况，包括社会和视觉状况，以便进行有效管理，并指出游客对所有这些状况的偏好都不相同。