There is increasing interest in the potential role of the natural environment in human health and well-being. However, the evidence-base for specific and direct health or well-being benefits of ...activity within natural compared to more synthetic environments has not been systematically assessed.
We conducted a systematic review to collate and synthesise the findings of studies that compare measurements of health or well-being in natural and synthetic environments. Effect sizes of the differences between environments were calculated and meta-analysis used to synthesise data from studies measuring similar outcomes.
Twenty-five studies met the review inclusion criteria. Most of these studies were crossover or controlled trials that investigated the effects of short-term exposure to each environment during a walk or run. This included 'natural' environments, such as public parks and green university campuses, and synthetic environments, such as indoor and outdoor built environments. The most common outcome measures were scores of different self-reported emotions. Based on these data, a meta-analysis provided some evidence of a positive benefit of a walk or run in a natural environment in comparison to a synthetic environment. There was also some support for greater attention after exposure to a natural environment but not after adjusting effect sizes for pretest differences. Meta-analysis of data on blood pressure and cortisol concentrations found less evidence of a consistent difference between environments across studies.
Overall, the studies are suggestive that natural environments may have direct and positive impacts on well-being, but support the need for investment in further research on this question to understand the general significance for public health.
Recent case studies showing substantial declines of insect abundances have raised alarm, but how widespread such patterns are remains unclear. We compiled data from 166 long-term surveys of insect ...assemblages across 1676 sites to investigate trends in insect abundances over time. Overall, we found considerable variation in trends even among adjacent sites but an average decline of terrestrial insect abundance by ~9% per decade and an increase of freshwater insect abundance by ~11% per decade. Both patterns were largely driven by strong trends in North America and some European regions. We found some associations with potential drivers (e.g., land-use drivers), and trends in protected areas tended to be weaker. Our findings provide a more nuanced view of spatiotemporal patterns of insect abundance trends than previously suggested.
Evidence of declines in insect populations has recently received considerable scientific and societal attention. However, the lack of long‐term insect monitoring makes it difficult to assess whether ...declines are geographically widespread. By contrast, bird populations are well monitored and often used as indicators of environmental change. We compared the population trends of European insectivorous birds with those of other birds to assess whether patterns in bird population trends were consistent with declines of insects. We further examined whether declines were evident for insectivores with different habitats, foraging strata, and other ecological preferences. Bird population trends were estimated for Europe (1990–2015) and Denmark (1990–2016). On average, insectivores declined over the study period (13% across Europe and 28% in Denmark), whereas omnivores had stable populations. Seedeaters also declined (28% across Europe; 34% in Denmark), but this assessment was based on fewer species than for other groups. The effects of insectivory were stronger for farmland species (especially grassland species), for ground feeders, and for cold‐adapted species. Insectivory was associated with long‐distance migration, which was also linked to population declines. However, many insectivores had stable populations, especially habitat generalists. Our findings suggest that the decline of insectivores is primarily associated with agricultural intensification and loss of grassland habitat. The loss of both seed and insect specialists indicates an overall trend toward bird communities dominated by diet generalists.
Declinaciones a Largo Plazo de Poblaciones de Aves Insectívoras en Europa y las Causas Probables
Resumen
La evidencia de las declinaciones poblacionales de insectos ha recibido recientemente una atención considerable por parte de la comunidad científica y la sociedad. Sin embargo, la falta de un monitoreo prolongado de los insectos complica valorar si estas declinaciones tienen una distribución extensa geográficamente. Como contraste, las poblaciones de aves tienen un monitoreo constante y con frecuencia se usan como indicadores del cambio climático. Comparamos las tendencias poblacionales de las aves insectívoras de Europa con las de otras aves para valorar si los patrones en las tendencias poblacionales de aves son consistentes con las declinaciones de insectos. Además examinamos si las declinaciones eran evidentes para aves insectívoras con diferentes hábitats, estratos de alimentación, y otras preferencias ecológicas. Las tendencias poblacionales de las aves se estimaron para Europa (1990 – 2015) y para Dinamarca (1990 – 2016). En promedio, las aves insectívoras declinaron a lo largo del periodo de estudio (13% en Europa y 28% en Dinamarca) mientras que las aves omnívoras tuvieron poblaciones estables. Las poblaciones de aves que se alimentan de semillas también declinaron (28% en Europa; 34% en Dinamarca), pero esta valoración se basó en menos especies que para los otros grupos. Los efectos de la insectivoría fueron más evidentes para las especies de tierras agrícolas (especialmente las especies de pastizales), para las especies que se alimentan sobre el suelo y para las especies adaptadas al frío. La insectivoría estuvo asociada con la migración de larga distancia, la cual también estuvo ligada a las declinaciones poblacionales. Sin embargo, muchas aves insectívoras tuvieron poblaciones estables, especialmente aquellas generalistas de hábitat. Nuestros hallazgos sugieren que la declinación de las aves insectívoras está asociada principalmente con la intensificación agrícola y la pérdida de pastizales. La pérdida de aves cuya alimentación es especialista en insectos o en semillas indica una tendencia general hacia comunidades de aves dominadas por aquellas con dietas generalistas.
Article impact statement: Insectivorous bird populations have declined across Europe, whereas omnivorous birds have not.
Human activities are fundamentally altering biodiversity. Projections of declines at the global scale are contrasted by highly variable trends at local scales, suggesting that biodiversity change may ...be spatially structured. Here, we examined spatial variation in species richness and composition change using more than 50,000 biodiversity time series from 239 studies and found clear geographic variation in biodiversity change. Rapid compositional change is prevalent, with marine biomes exceeding and terrestrial biomes trailing the overall trend. Assemblage richness is not changing on average, although locations exhibiting increasing and decreasing trends of up to about 20% per year were found in some marine studies. At local scales, widespread compositional reorganization is most often decoupled from richness change, and biodiversity change is strongest and most variable in the oceans.
Growing urbanisation is a threat to both mental health and biodiversity. Street trees are an important biodiversity component of urban greenspace, but little is known about their effects on mental ...health. Here, we analysed the association of street tree density and species richness with antidepressant prescribing for 9751 inhabitants of Leipzig, Germany. We examined spatial scale effects of street trees at different distances around participant's homes, using Euclidean buffers of 100, 300, 500, and 1000 m. Employing generalised additive models, we found a lower rate of antidepressant prescriptions for people living within 100 m of higher density of street trees-although this relationship was marginally significant (p = 0.057) when confounding factors were considered. Density of street trees at further spatial distances, and species richness of street trees at any distance, were not associated with antidepressant prescriptions. However, for individuals with low socio-economic status, high density of street trees at 100 m around the home significantly reduced the probability of being prescribed antidepressants. The study suggests that unintentional daily contact to nature through street trees close to the home may reduce the risk of depression, especially for individuals in deprived groups. This has important implications for urban planning and nature-based health interventions in cities.
‘Urban greening’ has been proposed as one approach to mitigate the human health consequences of increased temperatures resulting from climate change. We used systematic review methodology to evaluate ...available evidence on whether greening interventions, such as tree planting or the creation of parks or green roofs, affect the air temperature of an urban area. Most studies investigated the air temperature within parks and beneath trees and are broadly supportive that green sites can be cooler than non-green sites. Meta-analysis was used to synthesize data on the cooling effect of parks and results show that, on average, a park was 0.94
°C cooler in the day. Studies on multiple parks suggest that larger parks and those with trees could be cooler during the day. However, evidence for the cooling effect of green space is mostly based on observational studies of small numbers of green sites. The impact of specific greening interventions on the wider urban area, and whether the effects are due to greening alone, has yet to be demonstrated. The current evidence base does not allow specific recommendations to be made on how best to incorporate greening into an urban area. Further empirical research is necessary in order to efficiently guide the design and planning of urban green space, and specifically to investigate the importance of the abundance, distribution and type of greening. Any urban greening programme implemented would need to be appropriately designed and monitored to continue to evaluate benefit to human health through reducing temperature.
Aim
Anthropogenic changes such as land use and climate change affect species' geographic ranges, causing range shifts, contractions, or expansions. However, data on range dynamics are insufficient, ...heterogeneous, and spatially and temporally biased in most regions. Integrated species distribution models (IDMs) offer a solution as they can complement good quality presence‐absence data with opportunistically collected presence‐only data, simultaneously accounting for heterogeneous sampling effort. However, these methods have seen limited use in the estimation of temporal change of geographic ranges and are not yet widespread as they have a steep learning curve. Here we present a generalisable model and case example.
Location
Neotropics ‐ Latin America.
Taxon
Herpailurus yagouaroundi.
Methods
Using data on presence‐absence and presence‐only on the jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi), we modelled the species distribution at two time periods (2000–2013 and 2014–2021) using a Bayesian model based on Poisson point process in JAGS. Our model integrates the different data types while accounting for varying sampling effort and spatial effect. We predicted the species range at the two time periods and quantified their changes.
Results
Between the two time periods, the jaguarundi has contracted its southern and northern range limits towards the equator but expanded its area of distribution over the entire species' range. Also, our results show that modelled geographic range, of either time period, is not entirely consistent with the current expert range map from IUCN.
Main Conclusions
Our modelling approach provides a working example with the potential to address data gaps and biases in other taxa and regions. Given the increasing number of incidental data being generated by community‐derived initiatives in Latin America, IDMs can become a valuable source for species distribution modelling in the region. This is the first application of the IDM approach with temporal dimension and over the entire species' geographic range.
o
Objetivo
Los cambios antropogénicos, como el cambio en el uso del suelo y el cambio climático, afectan el área de distribución geográfica de las especies, provocando desplazamientos, contracciones o expansiones. Sin embargo, los datos sobre la dinámica en los rangos de distribución son insuficientes, heterogéneos y sesgados espacial y temporalmente en la mayoría de las regiones. Los modelos integrados de distribución de especies se presentan como una solución, ya que pueden integrar datos de presencia‐ausencia de buena calidad con datos de presencia recogidos de forma oportunista, teniendo en cuenta al mismo tiempo la heterogeneidad en el esfuerzo de muestreo. Sin embargo, estos métodos han tenido un uso limitado en la estimación del cambio temporal de las áreas de distribución geográfica y aún no están muy extendidos, ya que tienen una curva de aprendizaje pronunciada. Aquí presentamos un modelo generalizable y un caso de ejemplo.
Taxon
Herpailurus yagouaroundi.
Métodos
Usando datos de presencia‐ausencia y de sólo presencia para el yaguarundí (Herpailurus yagouaroundi), modelamos la distribución de la especie en dos periodos de tiempo (2000–2013 y 2014–2021) utilizando un modelo Bayesiano basado en procesos de Poisson en JAGS. Nuestro modelo integra los diferentes tipos de datos al tiempo que tiene en cuenta la variación en el esfuerzo de muestreo y el efecto espacial. Predecimos el área de distribución de las especies en los dos periodos de tiempo y cuantificamos sus cambios.
Resultados
Entre los dos periodos de tiempo, el yaguarundí ha contraído sus límites de distribución sur y norte hacia el ecuador, pero ha ampliado su rango en toda el área de distribución de la especie. Asimismo, nuestros resultados muestran que el área de distribución geográfica modelada, para cualquiera de los dos periodos temporales, no es totalmente equivalente con el mapa de área de distribución actual elaborado por expertos de la UICN.
Conclusiones Principales
Nuestro enfoque de modelado proporciona un ejemplo con el potencial de abordar vacíos de datos y sesgos en otros taxones y regiones. Dado el creciente número de datos incidentales generados por iniciativas comunitarias en América Latina, los modelos integrados de distribución pueden convertirse en una valiosa fuente para la modelización de la distribución de especies en la región. Esta es la primera aplicación del enfoque con dimensión temporal y sobre todo el rango geográfico de la especie.
Abundance can be used to describe how a population changes across space and time, but it can be measured in different ways, with consequences for the interpretation and communication of ...spatiotemporal patterns.There are many reasons why absolute abundance can benefit biodiversity research, including monitoring, conservation, and ecology.Protocols to measure absolute and relative abundance can differ in data collection and/or analysis, with the key difference being if, and to what extent, the probability of detection is accounted for.As we attempt to ‘bend the curve’ of biodiversity loss in the Anthropocene, it is important to continuously (re)consider how biodiversity is measured.
Measuring and tracking biodiversity from local to global scales is challenging due to its multifaceted nature and the range of metrics used to describe spatial and temporal patterns. Abundance can be used to describe how a population changes across space and time, but it can be measured in different ways, with consequences for the interpretation and communication of spatiotemporal patterns. We differentiate between relative and absolute abundance, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each for biodiversity monitoring, conservation, and ecological research. We highlight when absolute abundance can be advantageous and should be prioritized in biodiversity monitoring and research, and conclude by providing avenues for future research directions to better assess the necessity of absolute abundance in biodiversity monitoring.
Measuring and tracking biodiversity from local to global scales is challenging due to its multifaceted nature and the range of metrics used to describe spatial and temporal patterns. Abundance can be used to describe how a population changes across space and time, but it can be measured in different ways, with consequences for the interpretation and communication of spatiotemporal patterns. We differentiate between relative and absolute abundance, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each for biodiversity monitoring, conservation, and ecological research. We highlight when absolute abundance can be advantageous and should be prioritized in biodiversity monitoring and research, and conclude by providing avenues for future research directions to better assess the necessity of absolute abundance in biodiversity monitoring.
Based on plant occurrence data covering all parts of Germany, we investigated changes in the distribution of 2136 plant species between 1960 and 2017. We analyzed 29 million occurrence records over ...an area of ~350,000 km2 on a 5 × 5 km grid using temporal and spatiotemporal models and accounting for sampling bias. Since the 1960s, more than 70% of investigated plant species showed declines in nationwide occurrence. Archaeophytes (species introduced before 1492) most strongly declined but also native plant species experienced severe declines. In contrast, neophytes (species introduced after 1492) increased in their nationwide occurrence but not homogeneously throughout the country. Our analysis suggests that the strongest declines in native species already happened in the 1960s–1980s, a time frame in which often few data exist. Increases in neophytic species were strongest in the 1990s and 2010s. Overall, the increase in neophytes did not compensate for the loss of other species, resulting in a decrease in mean grid cell species richness of −1.9% per decade. The decline in plant biodiversity is a widespread phenomenon occurring in different habitats and geographic regions. It is likely that this decline has major repercussions on ecosystem functioning and overall biodiversity, potentially with cascading effects across trophic levels. The approach used in this study is transferable to other large‐scale trend analyses using heterogeneous occurrence data.
We analyzed changes in the nationwide occurrence probabilities of 2136 vascular plant species in Germany between 1960 and 2017 on a 5 × 5 km grid cell resolution (e.g., Anagallis tenella L. top, Senecio inaequidens DC. Gray bottom). More than 70% of the investigated species showed declines in their occurrence. This led to a mean net decrease in plant species richness of approx. −2% per grid cell and decade.
Knowledge of the ecological and evolutionary causes of dispersal can be crucial in understanding the behaviour of spatially structured populations, and predicting how species respond to environmental ...change. Despite the focus of much theoretical research, simplistic assumptions regarding the dispersal process are still made. Dispersal is usually regarded as an unconditional process although in many cases fitness gains of dispersal are dependent on environmental factors and individual state. Condition-dependent dispersal strategies will often be superior to unconditional, fixed strategies. In addition, dispersal is often collapsed into a single parameter, despite it being a process composed of three interdependent stages: emigration, inter-patch movement and immigration, each of which may display different condition dependencies. Empirical studies have investigated correlates of these stages, emigration in particular, providing evidence for the prevalence of conditional dispersal strategies. Ill-defined use of the term ‘dispersal’, for movement across many different spatial scales, further hinders making general conclusions and relating movement correlates to consequences at the population level. Logistical difficulties preclude a detailed study of dispersal for many species, however incorporating unrealistic dispersal assumptions in spatial population models may yield inaccurate and costly predictions. Further studies are necessary to explore the importance of incorporating specific condition-dependent dispersal strategies for evolutionary and population dynamic predictions.
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