Use of consumer insights to inform behavior change interventions aimed at illegal pet turtle trade in China.

Illegal poaching and overexploitation for the international pet trade are among the greatest threats to freshwater turtles in Southeast Asia. Expanding consumer research in China is crucial to filling knowledge gaps about the scale and structure of illegal trade and developing audience-targeted and relevant interventions that may reduce demand for illegal turtles as pets. We applied mixed methods to provide a detailed understanding of the consumer side of the illegal pet turtle trade in China. We conducted 30 interviews with key stakeholders and online surveys (n = 2456) of turtle keepers via community forums. From these, we identified 3 core consumer groups based on their prior turtle-keeping experience, species exposure, and potential for future purchases. We conducted a thematic qualitative analysis of concepts related to the capability, opportunity, motivation, and behavior (COM-B) model to determine the factors influencing the illegal pet turtle trade and to identify barriers to illegal purchases. Specifically, we identified purchasers' capabilities, opportunities, and motivations in the context of legality, enforcement risk, captive breeding, and impacts on wild population. We developed consumer journey maps (i.e., visual representations of customer's experiences throughout their buying journey) for core consumer groups. These maps illustrate the sequential behaviors and processes that consumers undertake when purchasing turtles, from initial exposure to sourcing, keeping, and providing a new home. Key factors influencing illegal purchases included convenient purchase channels, misguided cognition and motivations for pet keeping, and weak law enforcement. Effective interventions included messages focusing on shifting cognition and beliefs, increasing legal risk perception, and emphasizing stringent law enforcement, primarily delivered through online channels. Our results underscore the necessity for adaptable, audience-tailored interventions to reduce consumer demand for illegal wildlife products. The mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data, provided a comprehensive understanding of the target behavior and can inform the development of effective intervention strategies.

Uso de las percepciones del consumidor para guiar las intervenciones de cambio conductual enfocadas en el mercado ilegal de tortugas en China Resumen La caza furtiva y la sobreexplotación por el comercio internacional de mascotas son algunas de las mayores amenazas para las tortugas de agua dulce del sudeste asiático. Es esencial conocer más sobre los consumidores en China para llenar los vacíos en el conocimiento sobre la escala y la estructura del comercio ilegal y desarrollar intervenciones pertinentes y dirigidas al público que puedan reducir la demanda de tortugas como mascotas ilegales. Aplicamos métodos mixtos para conocer en detalle la percepción del consumidor del comercio ilegal de tortugas como mascotas en China. Realizamos 30 entrevistas a actores clave y encuestas en línea (n=2456) a cuidadores de tortugas a través de foros comunitarios. A partir de ellas, identificamos tres grupos principales de consumidores en función de su experiencia previa en la cría de tortugas, su exposición a las especies y su potencial para futuras compras. Realizamos un análisis cualitativo temático de conceptos relacionados con el modelo de capacidad, oportunidad, motivación y comportamiento (COM­B) para determinar los factores que influyen en el comercio ilegal de tortugas e identificar las barreras para las compras ilegales. En concreto, identificamos las capacidades, oportunidades y motivaciones de los compradores en el contexto de la legalidad, el riesgo de aplicación de la ley, la cría en cautiverio y el impacto sobre la población silvestre. Elaboramos mapas de viaje del consumidor (representaciones visuales de las experiencias del cliente a lo largo de su compra) para los principales grupos de consumidores. Estos mapas ilustran los comportamientos y procesos secuenciales que llevan a cabo los consumidores cuando compran tortugas, desde la exposición inicial hasta la adquisición, el mantenimiento y la asignación de un nuevo hogar. Entre los factores clave que influyen en las compras ilegales se encuentran la conveniencia de los canales de compra, los conocimientos y motivaciones erróneos para mantener mascotas y la debilidad de la aplicación de la ley. Las intervenciones eficaces incluyeron mensajes centrados en cambiar los conocimientos y las creencias, aumentar la percepción del riesgo legal y hacer hincapié en la aplicación rigurosa de la ley, principalmente a través de canales virtuales. Nuestros resultados destacan la necesidad de intervenciones adaptables y adaptadas al público para reducir la demanda de productos ilegales de fauna silvestre por parte de los consumidores. El enfoque de métodos mixtos, que combina datos cuantitativos y cualitativos, proporcionó una comprensión exhaustiva del comportamiento objetivo y puede servir de base para el desarrollo de estrategias de intervención eficaces.

Climatic change in southern Kazakhstan since 1850 C.E. inferred from tree rings.

Although global warming is an indisputable fact, there is still uncertainty about how climate change will occur at regional levels. Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country in the world. To best manage this country's limited water resources, socio-economic development and environmental protection, a solid understanding of regional climate change impacts is needed. In this study, tree-ring width and δ13C chronologies were established based on 99 tree-ring samples of Schrenk spruce (Picea schrenkiana Fisch. et Mey.) collected in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Climate response analysis between the tree-ring chronologies and climate data indicates that summer mean temperature is the strongest climate signal recorded by tree-ring δ13C. We reconstructed temperature change in southern Kazakhstan since 1850 C.E. using the tree-ring δ13Ccorr chronology. The results show that the temperatures in southern Kazakhstan have risen at a rate of about 0.27 °C per decade over the past 166 years. However, the rate has increased by as much as 0.44 °C per decade over the past 30 years. Analyses of temperature and precipitation data show that the climate has alternated between warm-dry and cold-humid periods over the past 166 years. The extreme droughts of 1879, 1917 and 1945 were caused by the combination of continuously high temperatures and reduced precipitation.

Tree growth response of Fokienia hodginsii to recent climate warming and drought in southwest China.

To date, few attempts have been made to assess the influence of climate change on forest ecosystems and on the relationship between tree growth and climate in humid areas of low latitudes. In this paper, we studied the response of tree growth and forest ecosystem to climate change by using Fokienia hodginsii tree-ring cores from the northern Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, southwest of China. Tree growth correlates the highest (r = -0.64, p < 0.01) with mean temperature (July-September), but the coefficients were changing with time as revealed by a moving correlation analysis. Tree growth is significantly (p < 0.05) and positively correlated with January-April mean temperature from AD 1961-1987, while correlations with precipitation are insignificant. In contrast, from 1988 to 2014, tree growth correlated negatively with mean temperature of previous summer and positively with precipitation of previous August-September. This indicated that the limiting factors for tree growth have changed under different climate conditions. The meteorological data suggested that from 1961 to 1987 it was cold and wet in the study area and radial growth is limited by winter and spring temperatures. This restriction is weaker if the climate is appropriate in general. However, from 1988 to 2014, the combined effects of recent warming and decreasing precipitation have led to an increasing response of tree-ring width to drought. In addition, a large proportion of mature F. hodginsii mortality occurred from 2007 to 2013, which corresponds with a drastic reduction of radial growth (narrowest in recent 100 years). The recent drought, induced by decreasing precipitation and increasing temperature, may have passed the threshold which F. hodginsii could tolerate, causing tree growth reduction, tree growth-climate relationship change, as well as catastrophic tree mortality. All these changes may lead to further responses of the local ecosystem to climate change which should be highly regarded.