Human Dimensions of Wildlife in Europe: The Italian Way

Abstract

In comparison to North America, human dimensions of wildlife (HDW) remains a relatively new field in Europe, especially in Italy. This article provides a European overview of HDW using Italy as a case study. Overall, 300 European HDW documents were retrieved, out of which 32 were found for Italy. Multiple languages and unpublished documents limited the findings at a European level. The case study highlights the constraints of conducting a review at a larger scale. A bibliometric analysis was used to investigate the trends, the main themes and actors playing a role in the Italian HDW up to and including 2009. The majority of Italian documents were gray literature, about general public attitudes toward large carnivores. Most of the results of the case study can be generalized to Europe. Although HDW is growing, the discipline still strives to be recognized academically and as a decision-making tool.

Keywords:

• academic discipline
• bibliometric analysis
• herbivores
• Italy
• large carnivores