Exploring connections among nature, biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human health and well-being: Opportunities to enhance health and biodiversity conservation ☆

By P. Sandifer, A. Sutton‐Grier, Bethney P. Ward. 2015

1,020 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract We are at a key juncture in history where biodiversity loss is occurring daily and accelerating in the face of population growth, climate change, and rampant development. Simultaneously, we are just beginning to appreciate the wealth of human health benefits that stem from experiencing nature and biodiversity. Here we assessed the state of knowledge on relationships between human health and nature and biodiversity, and prepared a comprehensive listing of reported health effects. We found strong evidence linking biodiversity with production of ecosystem services and between nature exposure and human health, but many of these studies were limited in rigor and often only correlative. Much less information is available to link biodiversity and health. However, some robust studies indicate that exposure to microbial biodiversity can improve health, specifically in reducing certain allergic and respiratory diseases. Overall, much more research is needed on mechanisms of causation. Also needed are a re-envisioning of land-use planning that places human well-being at the center and a new coalition of ecologists, health and social scientists and planners to conduct research and develop policies that promote human interaction with nature and biodiversity. Improvements in these areas should enhance human health and ecosystem, community, as well as human resilience.

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Speech and Hearing

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/14b1f90fe1bdae7e9f6fcb54585b47dea152cb40

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In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

In Speech and Hearing

Citations in the corpus

Climate change effects on biodiversity, ecosystems, ecosystem services, and natural resource management in the United States. (2020, background): “There is growing evidence that human health benefits from exposure to natural ecosystems (Donatuto et al., 2014; Sandifer et al., 2015); conversely, climate-driven extremes such as increased temperatures and storms can decrease mental and physical health (Bell et al., 2016; Obradovich et al., 2018).”
Nature Contact and Human Health: A Research Agenda (2017, background): “…integrate human health into ecosystem services analyses (Bayles et al. 2016; Breslow et al. 2016; Ford et al. 2015; Lindgren and Elmqvist 2017; Salmond et al. 2016; Sandifer et al. 2015; Willis and Petrokofsky 2017) and even to propose quantitative metrics (Jackson et al. 2013; Smith et al. 2013).”
Mental Health Benefits of Long-Term Exposure to Residential Green and Blue Spaces: A Systematic Review (2015, background): “In this sense, there are number of studies that evaluate exposure to green spaces using the perception of the study participants [51,54–56].”
Important Plant Areas: revised selection criteria for a global approach to plant conservation (2017, background): “ecological communities, habitats and species diversity (Xu et al. 2009; Sunderland 2011; Peh et al. 2013; Fisher et al. 2014; Harrison et al. 2014; Sandifer et al. 2015).”
Before and after a natural disaster : disruption in emotion component of place-identity and wellbeing (2018, neutral): “In agreement with: (a) previous findings on the positive relationships between nature and wellbeing (Abraham et al., 2010; Bowler et al., 2010; Bratman et al., 2015; Hartig et al., 2011; Sandifer et al., 2015); (b) a positive link between place-identity and wellbeing (Knez & Eliasson, 2017; Knez, 20”
A systematic map of research exploring the effect of greenspace on mental health (2020, background): “Such evidence not only helps mitigates the current mental health crisis, but also presents one of the many arguments for biodiversity conservation (Sandifer et al., 2015; Wood et al., 2018) and supports the improvement, integration and expansion of greenspace in urban environments (Dean et al.,…”
The Wellbeing Benefits Associated with Perceived and Measured Biodiversity in Australian Urban Green Spaces (2019, background): “, the influence of biodiversity on the development of normal immune responses [6]).”