Abstract
Nature contributes to our quality of life through a wide range of non-material Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP), including aesthetic enjoyment, restorative experiences and recreational opportunities. However, quantifying and managing the supply of non-material NCP requires a mechanistic understanding of how they are associated with the entities of nature that support them across different ecological contexts. We characterized such associations using network path theory, which allowed us to distinguish between specialized and generalized NCP. For this, we leveraged social media data from tourists to construct networks between perceived non-material NCP and associated entities of nature across six habitats on Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, and compared patterns at local (habitat networks) and regional (entire mountain network) scales. Our findings reveal that specialized NCP (e.g., learning) are more frequently linked to specific species or abiotic features, confined to certain habitats, whereas generalized NCP (e.g., recreation) are primarily associated with landscape and habitat features, occurring throughout all habitats. Some NCP (e.g., aesthetic experiences) were generalized at the regional scale, but relied on particular entities in certain habitats (i.e., specialized). With this analysis, we propose a new way to quantify non-material NCP and their relationships to nature, which can aid vulnerability assessments and long-term monitoring of non-material NCP, and inform decision-making.