Relating biodiversity with health disparities of human population: An ecological study across the United States
Understanding biodiversity's contributions to human health is the first step toward fostering synergies between biodiversity conservation and health promotion - two major targets of UN's Sustainable Development Goals. The One Health approach acknowledges the health of people and biodiversi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-06-01
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| Series: | One Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235277142300068X |
| _version_ | 1797805859297820672 |
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| author | Ying Chen Peng Zhao Qiaochu Xu Bingjie Qu Dan Li Sarah Clement Li Li |
| author_facet | Ying Chen Peng Zhao Qiaochu Xu Bingjie Qu Dan Li Sarah Clement Li Li |
| author_sort | Ying Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Understanding biodiversity's contributions to human health is the first step toward fostering synergies between biodiversity conservation and health promotion - two major targets of UN's Sustainable Development Goals. The One Health approach acknowledges the health of people and biodiversity are interconnected and facing common threats. In this study, we aimed to unveil the geographical association between avian biodiversity and population health across the US. In this ecological study, we combined citizen science bird data from eBird, population health data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and county-level statistics of population characteristics, including socio-economics, healthcare service etc. Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed between bird biodiversity (measured by rarefied species richness of birds), key indicators of general public health (e.g., cause-specific mortality rate), and socio-economic health determinants of 2751 US counties. We found that a higher number of bird species was significantly associated with longer life expectancy after confounding adjustment (regression coefficient (95% CIs), 0·005 (0·003, 0·008)). Bird species richness calculated using the rarefied method consistently accounted for variance in age-specific mortality risks in both very young and old age groups (R2 from 2% to 4%). Rarefied species richness of birds was negatively correlated with the majority of cause-specific deaths (12 out of 21 mutually exclusive causes of death), indicating a general synergy effect between biodiversity and human health. The associations with the top causes of deaths were regarded as highly significant, with considerable effect sizes, for example, for cardiovascular diseases (regression coefficient (95% CIs), −0·242 (−0·311, −0·174)). Our findings show human health is inseparable from the health of the shared environment and the well-being of all species. Bird species richness offers a valuable means to understand large-scale relationships between human health and the health of the environment. To enable equitable sharing of biodiversity's benefits to human health, more efforts should be made to understand two-way socio-ecological mechanism underlying human–biodiversity interactions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T05:58:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e5fa16e1ec5e4656a5f7223138107624 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2352-7714 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T05:58:28Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | One Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-e5fa16e1ec5e4656a5f72231381076242023-06-13T04:12:29ZengElsevierOne Health2352-77142023-06-0116100548Relating biodiversity with health disparities of human population: An ecological study across the United StatesYing Chen0Peng Zhao1Qiaochu Xu2Bingjie Qu3Dan Li4Sarah Clement5Li Li6Wisdom Lake Academy of Pharmacy, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, ChinaDepartment of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, ChinaWisdom Lake Academy of Pharmacy, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, ChinaDepartment of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, China; Institute of Systems, Molecular & Integrative Biology, Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, UKDepartment of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, ChinaFenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia 2601. Department of Geography & Planning, School of Environmental Science, University of Liverpool, UKDepartment of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, China; Corresponding author.Understanding biodiversity's contributions to human health is the first step toward fostering synergies between biodiversity conservation and health promotion - two major targets of UN's Sustainable Development Goals. The One Health approach acknowledges the health of people and biodiversity are interconnected and facing common threats. In this study, we aimed to unveil the geographical association between avian biodiversity and population health across the US. In this ecological study, we combined citizen science bird data from eBird, population health data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and county-level statistics of population characteristics, including socio-economics, healthcare service etc. Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed between bird biodiversity (measured by rarefied species richness of birds), key indicators of general public health (e.g., cause-specific mortality rate), and socio-economic health determinants of 2751 US counties. We found that a higher number of bird species was significantly associated with longer life expectancy after confounding adjustment (regression coefficient (95% CIs), 0·005 (0·003, 0·008)). Bird species richness calculated using the rarefied method consistently accounted for variance in age-specific mortality risks in both very young and old age groups (R2 from 2% to 4%). Rarefied species richness of birds was negatively correlated with the majority of cause-specific deaths (12 out of 21 mutually exclusive causes of death), indicating a general synergy effect between biodiversity and human health. The associations with the top causes of deaths were regarded as highly significant, with considerable effect sizes, for example, for cardiovascular diseases (regression coefficient (95% CIs), −0·242 (−0·311, −0·174)). Our findings show human health is inseparable from the health of the shared environment and the well-being of all species. Bird species richness offers a valuable means to understand large-scale relationships between human health and the health of the environment. To enable equitable sharing of biodiversity's benefits to human health, more efforts should be made to understand two-way socio-ecological mechanism underlying human–biodiversity interactions.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235277142300068XAvian diversityKunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity FrameworkSustainable development goalsOne healthLife expectancyHuman–biodiversity interaction |
| spellingShingle | Ying Chen Peng Zhao Qiaochu Xu Bingjie Qu Dan Li Sarah Clement Li Li Relating biodiversity with health disparities of human population: An ecological study across the United States One Health Avian diversity Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Sustainable development goals One health Life expectancy Human–biodiversity interaction |
| title | Relating biodiversity with health disparities of human population: An ecological study across the United States |
| title_full | Relating biodiversity with health disparities of human population: An ecological study across the United States |
| title_fullStr | Relating biodiversity with health disparities of human population: An ecological study across the United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | Relating biodiversity with health disparities of human population: An ecological study across the United States |
| title_short | Relating biodiversity with health disparities of human population: An ecological study across the United States |
| title_sort | relating biodiversity with health disparities of human population an ecological study across the united states |
| topic | Avian diversity Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Sustainable development goals One health Life expectancy Human–biodiversity interaction |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235277142300068X |
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