Political action can reduce introductions of diseases caused by invasive forest pathogens (IPs) and public support is important for effective prevention. The public's awareness of IP problems and the acceptability of policies aiming to combat these pathogens were surveyed in nine European countries (N = 3469). Although awareness of specific diseases (e.g., ash dieback) varied, problem awareness and policy acceptability were similar across countries. The public was positive towards policies for informational measures and stricter standards for plant production, but less positive towards restricting public access to protected areas. Multilevel models, including individual and country level variables, revealed that media exposure was positively associated with awareness of IP problems, and strengthened the link between problem awareness and policy acceptability. Results suggest that learning about IPs through the media and recognizing the associated problems increase policy acceptability. Overall, the study elaborates on the anthropogenic dimension of diseases caused by IPs.

Biotic Stress Group AgroBioInstitute Agricultural Academy 8 Dragan Tzankov Blvd 1164 Sofia Bulgaria

Department of Botany Faculty of Forestry Süleyman Demirel University 32600 Isparta Turkey

Department of Crop and Forest Sciences ETSEA University of Lleida Av Alcalde Rovira Roure 191 25198 Lleida Spain

Department of Forest Entomology and Protection Faculty of Forestry Çankırı Karatekin University 18200 Çankırı Turkey

Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Box 7026 750 07 Uppsala Sweden

Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden

Department of Forest Protection Phytopathology Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests Natural Hazards and Landscape Seckendorff Gudent Weg 8 1131 Vienna Austria

Department of Forest Protection Phytopathology Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests Natural Hazards and Landscape Vienna Austria

Department of Geography and Economic History Umeå University 901 87 Umeå Sweden

Department of Psychology Umeå University Umeå Sweden

Laboratory of Molecular Biotechnology and Phytopathology Centre for Mediterranean Bioresources and Food University of Algarve Algarve Portugal

Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research PO Box 115 1431 Ås Norway

Phytophthora Research Centre Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology Mendel University in Brno Zemědělská 3 613 00 Brno Czech Republic

UMR1202 BIOGECO INRA University Bordeaux 33610 Cestas France

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