Forest biodiversity and structure modulate human health benefits and risks
- Author
- Loïc Gillerot, Dries Landuyt (UGent) , Audrey Bourdin, Kevin Rozario, Taylor Shaw, Matthias Steinparzer, Katarzyna Stojek, Tosca Vanroy (UGent) , Ana Gabriela Cuentas Romero, Sandra Müller, Rachel R. Y. Oh, Tobias Proß, Damien Bonal, Aletta Bonn, Helge Bruelheide, Douglas Godbold, Daniela Haluza, Hervé Jactel, Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Katriina Kilpi, Melissa R. Marselle, Quentin Ponette, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Pieter De Frenne (UGent) , Bart Muys and Kris Verheyen (UGent)
- Organization
- Project
-
- Dr FOREST: diversity of FORESTs affecting human health and well-being
- Phenology responses to climate change in the understorey of temperate forests - Implications for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
- Forest biodiversity and multifunctionality drive chronic stress-mediated dynamics in pathogen reservoirs
- FORMICA (Microclimatic buffering of plant responses to macroclimate warming in temperate forests)
- Abstract
- The benefits and risks of forests to human health are widely recognized. Yet, variation across forest types and their ecological characteristics driving health effects remain underexplored. Based on a continental-scale, interdisciplinary empirical database from 164 European forest stands, we constructed a Bayesian Belief Network to quantify seven causal pathways relating distinct forest types to physical and mental health. These forest-health pathways included mental well-being via visual or auditory stimuli, thermal comfort, polyphenol content of medicinal plants, mushrooms and nutrition, air quality, and ticks and Lyme disease. Results show that forests consistently provide net health benefits regardless of their ecological characteristics. Forest canopy density and tree species diversity emerge as key drivers, but their effect size and directionality are strongly pathway-dependent. Changes in forest canopy density can generate trade-offs. For example, forests optimized for heat buffering and air pollution mitigation may compromise medicinal plant yield and enhance Lyme disease prevalence. Tree diversity effects were weaker but more uniformly positive. Therefore, forest management should account for such trade-offs to tailor forest biodiversity and functioning to local public health priorities.
- Keywords
- BAYESIAN NETWORKS, GREEN SPACE, KNOWLEDGE, DIVERSITY, RESPONSES
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01JX03BDZAJ8092EK69D7CGMH0
- MLA
- Gillerot, Loïc, et al. “Forest Biodiversity and Structure Modulate Human Health Benefits and Risks.” NATURE SUSTAINABILITY, vol. 8, no. 5, 2025, pp. 485–97, doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01547-3.
- APA
- Gillerot, L., Landuyt, D., Bourdin, A., Rozario, K., Shaw, T., Steinparzer, M., … Verheyen, K. (2025). Forest biodiversity and structure modulate human health benefits and risks. NATURE SUSTAINABILITY, 8(5), 485–497. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01547-3
- Chicago author-date
- Gillerot, Loïc, Dries Landuyt, Audrey Bourdin, Kevin Rozario, Taylor Shaw, Matthias Steinparzer, Katarzyna Stojek, et al. 2025. “Forest Biodiversity and Structure Modulate Human Health Benefits and Risks.” NATURE SUSTAINABILITY 8 (5): 485–97. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01547-3.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Gillerot, Loïc, Dries Landuyt, Audrey Bourdin, Kevin Rozario, Taylor Shaw, Matthias Steinparzer, Katarzyna Stojek, Tosca Vanroy, Ana Gabriela Cuentas Romero, Sandra Müller, Rachel R. Y. Oh, Tobias Proß, Damien Bonal, Aletta Bonn, Helge Bruelheide, Douglas Godbold, Daniela Haluza, Hervé Jactel, Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Katriina Kilpi, Melissa R. Marselle, Quentin Ponette, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Pieter De Frenne, Bart Muys, and Kris Verheyen. 2025. “Forest Biodiversity and Structure Modulate Human Health Benefits and Risks.” NATURE SUSTAINABILITY 8 (5): 485–497. doi:10.1038/s41893-025-01547-3.
- Vancouver
- 1.Gillerot L, Landuyt D, Bourdin A, Rozario K, Shaw T, Steinparzer M, et al. Forest biodiversity and structure modulate human health benefits and risks. NATURE SUSTAINABILITY. 2025;8(5):485–97.
- IEEE
- [1]L. Gillerot et al., “Forest biodiversity and structure modulate human health benefits and risks,” NATURE SUSTAINABILITY, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 485–497, 2025.
@article{01JX03BDZAJ8092EK69D7CGMH0,
abstract = {{The benefits and risks of forests to human health are widely recognized. Yet, variation across forest types and their ecological characteristics driving health effects remain underexplored. Based on a continental-scale, interdisciplinary empirical database from 164 European forest stands, we constructed a Bayesian Belief Network to quantify seven causal pathways relating distinct forest types to physical and mental health. These forest-health pathways included mental well-being via visual or auditory stimuli, thermal comfort, polyphenol content of medicinal plants, mushrooms and nutrition, air quality, and ticks and Lyme disease. Results show that forests consistently provide net health benefits regardless of their ecological characteristics. Forest canopy density and tree species diversity emerge as key drivers, but their effect size and directionality are strongly pathway-dependent. Changes in forest canopy density can generate trade-offs. For example, forests optimized for heat buffering and air pollution mitigation may compromise medicinal plant yield and enhance Lyme disease prevalence. Tree diversity effects were weaker but more uniformly positive. Therefore, forest management should account for such trade-offs to tailor forest biodiversity and functioning to local public health priorities.}},
author = {{Gillerot, Loïc and Landuyt, Dries and Bourdin, Audrey and Rozario, Kevin and Shaw, Taylor and Steinparzer, Matthias and Stojek, Katarzyna and Vanroy, Tosca and Cuentas Romero, Ana Gabriela and Müller, Sandra and Oh, Rachel R. Y. and Proß, Tobias and Bonal, Damien and Bonn, Aletta and Bruelheide, Helge and Godbold, Douglas and Haluza, Daniela and Jactel, Hervé and Jaroszewicz, Bogdan and Kilpi, Katriina and Marselle, Melissa R. and Ponette, Quentin and Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael and De Frenne, Pieter and Muys, Bart and Verheyen, Kris}},
issn = {{2398-9629}},
journal = {{NATURE SUSTAINABILITY}},
keywords = {{BAYESIAN NETWORKS,GREEN SPACE,KNOWLEDGE,DIVERSITY,RESPONSES}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{5}},
pages = {{485--497}},
title = {{Forest biodiversity and structure modulate human health benefits and risks}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01547-3}},
volume = {{8}},
year = {{2025}},
}
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