Is a picture worth a thousand species? Evaluating human perception of biodiversity intactness using images of cumulative effects

► People accurately rank landscapes disturbed by human relative to undisturbed reference states. ► Absolute intactness scores from field data deviate from human perceived intactness. ► Landscapes with little human disturbance are perceived to have lower intactness than what is observed. ► Landscapes with no forest are perceived to be more impacted than they are based on intactness scores. ► Biocentric individuals and non-hunters view landscapes as generally being less intact.