Forest creation and restoration are embedded in global policy. Both result in landscape changes that have far-reaching socioeconomic consequences. However, there is limited evidence on public preferences for the biodiversity these forests contain. Here we used a choice experiment to explore the British public's willingness to pay (WTP) for different forest biodiversity attributes. We began with a multiple-step deliberative participatory process. This revealed that participants conceptualised forest biodiversity through visual, aural and olfactory senses. We subsequently developed and pre-tested sensory attributes based on colours, smells and sounds. Depending on the size of the proposed change, participants (N = 1711) were willing-to-pay for a greater variety of sensory attributes and for an indicator of improved ecological functioning (deadwood for decomposition). WTP for sensory attributes was influenced by participants' having related sensory impairments or visiting forests frequently. Our wider contribution highlights the importance of participatory methods to unearth novel and uncommon attributes that can then be used in stated preference studies. Ensuring that we evaluate stated preferences in a manner that reflects how the public conceives biodiversity is important if we are to improve the alignment between forest creation/restoration and public views, which could thus help bolster public support for the planning and implementation of landscape changes.

中文翻译：

---

说明对生物多样性的颜色、气味和声音的偏好


森林的创建和恢复已纳入全球政策。两者都会导致景观变化，从而产生深远的社会经济影响。然而，关于公众对这些森林所包含的生物多样性的偏好的证据有限。在这里，我们使用了选择实验来探索英国公众对不同森林生物多样性属性的支付意愿 （WTP）。我们从一个多步骤的审议参与过程开始。这表明参与者通过视觉、听觉和嗅觉来概念化森林生物多样性。随后，我们根据颜色、气味和声音开发并预先测试了感官属性。根据拟议变化的大小，参与者 （N = 1711） 愿意为更多种类的感官属性和改善生态功能的指标（分解的枯木）付费。感官属性的 WTP 受参与者有相关感觉障碍或频繁访问森林的影响。我们更广泛的贡献强调了参与式方法的重要性，以挖掘新颖和不常见的属性，然后可用于陈述偏好研究。如果我们要改善森林创造/恢复与公众观点之间的一致性，那么确保我们以反映公众如何看待生物多样性的方式评估所陈述的偏好非常重要，从而有助于加强公众对景观变化规划和实施的支持。