Introducing: Leanda Vedder, Master student

My name is Leanda Vedder and I study the Joint International Master in Sustainable Development at Utrecht University. I am originally from Austria and have a bachelor´s degree in environmental system sciences at the University of Graz, with specialization in economics. I am 24 years old and a wildlife enthusiast that loves to spend time outdoors. When looking for a master thesis topic, it was apparent to me that I wanted to find a topic I am passionate about and where I could spend time in nature while doing some fieldwork. At the same time, I am interested in the nexus between environmental change and human activity. That is the reason why in my Master’s thesis I explore perceptions of recreationists on their behaviour in human-wildlife interaction as part of the research project WildlifeNL.

My thesis research

My master thesis is about the behaviour of different recreationists in human-wildlife interactions with semi-wild horses and cattle. For this I use a mental model tool called M-Tool, with which participants create mind maps of the most important factors that can influence human behaviour. For their mind maps participants could choose between 16 different concepts that drive human behaviour; these concepts were derived from interviews with experts from wildlife management, research and municipalities. The mental models can be aggregated by recreation activities such as sports, walking, spending time in nature and spending time with pets. The advantage of mental models is, that it enables to not only visualize which factors are important to humans, but also how they interact with each other. This allows me to assess mental models among different recreating people and analyse the differences in these causal perceptions across them. The results will help to understand recreationists reasons for their behaviour and build the basis for recommendations for future wildlife management measures.

Fieldwork

I already finished my data collection at both living labs in Zuid-Kennemerland and Kempen~Broek. During this intense period in March and April, I was lucky to stay at field houses from PWN and Natuurmonumenten, where I was surrounded by these amazing natural areas. I spend the days outside exploring the beautiful areas to find the best places for recruiting participants. I experienced everything from snowfall to sunny spring days and got to enjoy the different characteristic landscapes in both locations. Many participants showed great interest in this study and were happy to share their experiences with wildlife with me or suggested places where they previously met the animals where I could collect more answers. The many fascinating conversations and different points of view were encouraging me every day to approach new participants.  

Sometimes it proved to be  challenging for participants to get used to the way the M-Tool worked, but I am glad that the participants were motivated and took the time to figure out how they could create their mental models. Many participants reported that they had just recently encountered the animals when they participated in this study.  I was lucky to encounter the large grazers such as the konik horses, the scottish highland cattle and the tauros cattle on many occasions  too. Currently I am working on the analysis of the data. I am curious for the preliminary results. I am excited to be part of this research project that aims to achieve a breakthrough in the way humans and wildlife share the Netherlands and I hope to contribute to the understanding of interactions between recreationists and wildlife.