Eco-Health linkages: assessing the role of ecosystem goods and services on human health using causal criteria analysis

Crespo, Rebeca de Jesús; Fulford, Richard S.

doi:10.1007/s00038-017-1020-3

Cited by 20 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…The positive association between greenspace and human health for Puerto Rico was consistent with previous studies, which have shown positive associations between greenspace and human health outcomes (reviewed in [141]). In San Juan, Puerto Rico, household wealth is not necessarily a predictor of quality of green infrastructure, an opposite pattern to the so-called 'luxury effect' observed in many cities [142], and in fact residents with lower socio-economic status actually tend to have more access to green infrastructure [143].…”

Section: Relationships Between Ecosystem Services and Human Well-beingsupporting

confidence: 91%

Contributions of Ecosystem Services to Human Well-Being in Puerto Rico

Yee

2020

Sustainability

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Ecosystem services, including availability of greenspace, clean air, and clean water, can have benefits to human well-being, but their relative importance compared to economic or social services is often overlooked. In Puerto Rico, for example, improving community well-being, including economic and cultural opportunities, human health, and safety, are often overarching goals of environmental management decisions, but the degree to which improvements in ecological condition and provision of ecosystem services could impact local communities is complicated by wide variation in social and economic conditions. This study quantifies and maps neighborhood-scale indicators of human well-being and ecosystem services for Puerto Rico to better understand the degree to which ecosystem services provisioning, alongside co-occurring social and economic services, explains variability in a number of indicators of human well-being. In Puerto Rico, variability in indicators of human well-being were predominately explained by economic services related to accumulating income and personal savings, and social services, including availability of family services, healthcare services, and access to communication technology. Despite the large explanatory power of economic and social services, however, the analysis detected that substantial portions of well-being, in particular education and human health, could be explained by variability in ecosystem services over space and time, especially availability of greenspace. Linking ecosystem services to multivariate elements of human well-being can serve to complement more traditional community planning or environmental management efforts by helping identify potential unintended consequences or overlooked benefits of decisions.

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Section: Relationships Between Ecosystem Services and Human Well-beingsupporting

confidence: 91%

Contributions of Ecosystem Services to Human Well-Being in Puerto Rico

Yee

2020

Sustainability

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“…Land-use change, climate change, and point and nonpoint source runoff alter the state of ecosystems and their services, including disservices, leading to subsequent effects on human health (Myers et al 2013). The ability of ecosystems to regulate water quality and flood events has been linked to decreases in a number of health outcomes, including infectious and parasitic diseases, mental disorders, and respiratory illnesses (Hinga and Batchelor 2005;Ivers and Ryan 2006;Oosterbroek et al 2016;De Jesus Crespo and Fulford 2017). In coastal communities, greenspaces such as wetlands may play a role in mitigating mosquito-borne illnesses by moderating flooding events or regulating water quality (Carver et al 2015;De Jesus Crespo et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking Water Quality to Aedes aegypti and Zika in Flood-Prone Neighborhoods

Yee

Crespo

et al. 2019

EcoHealth

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The ability of ecosystems to regulate water quality and flood events has been linked to health outcomes, including mosquito-borne illnesses. In the San Juan Bay Estuary watershed of Puerto Rico, habitat alterations and land-use development have disrupted watershed hydrology, exacerbating wastewater discharges and subjecting some neighborhoods to frequent flooding events. In 2016, the mosquito-borne illness Zika became a new cause for concern. We hypothesized that nutrient-enriched flood water could provide pulses of supplemental nutrients to local mosquito populations. We conducted a field study in six neighborhoods adjacent to the estuary to assess whether environmental variability of nutrient inputs could be linked to breeding habitat containers, Aedes aegypti larvae and adults, and the acquisition of Zika virus by adult mosquitoes. The most frequently flooded neighborhood had consistently higher levels of nitrogen in estuary water, leaf detritus, containers, and adult mosquitoes compared to other neighborhoods. Adult body nitrogen was significantly related to both nitrogen content of containers and leaf detritus from the local trapping area. Disseminated Zika concentration in adult Ae. aegypti tended to decrease as body carbon and nitrogen increased. Our study provides preliminary evidence that environmental variability in nutrient inputs can influence viral acquisition by mosquito vectors. This suggests that management actions to reduce flooding and improve water quality should go hand-in-hand with more traditional vector control methods, such as aerial spraying, to help control spread of vector-borne diseases.

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“…Existing evidence points to the beneficial impacts of ES on human health through pathways that reduce harmful exposures and restore or build both physical and mental health capacities [11,12]. Research into these relationships is often termed “ecohealth.” As described by Butler and Friel [13], “Ecohealth extends traditional environmental health by studying the relationship between health and explicitly ecological factors such as biodiversity and ecosystem ‘services.’” In highly developed urban areas, causal links between indicators of ES, such as greenspace, and human health outcomes are complex and difficult to confirm; researchers are currently reexamining ecohealth relationships based on the entire body of evidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research into these relationships is often termed “ecohealth.” As described by Butler and Friel [13], “Ecohealth extends traditional environmental health by studying the relationship between health and explicitly ecological factors such as biodiversity and ecosystem ‘services.’” In highly developed urban areas, causal links between indicators of ES, such as greenspace, and human health outcomes are complex and difficult to confirm; researchers are currently reexamining ecohealth relationships based on the entire body of evidence. Recent literature reviews [11,14,15,16,17] can help clarify where evidence is supportive or insufficient for key ecohealth relationships.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All reviews discussed in the following paragraphs cover both hazard buffering and health promoting ES, except for De Jesus Crespo and Fulford [11] who focus only on hazard buffering ES. A causal criteria analysis was conducted by De Jesus Crespo and Fulford [11] that shows sufficient weight of evidence for causality between greenspace and decreased heat morbidities and cardiovascular disease, but inconsistent evidence for greenspace and the broad category of respiratory illness. They also found evidence for causality between greenspace and water hazard mitigation, and water hazard mitigation and gastrointestinal disease.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Community EcoHealth Index from EnviroAtlas Ecosystem Services Metrics

Cochran

Jackson

Neale

et al. 2019

IJERPH

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Human health is inextricably tied to ecosystem services (ES), including those associated with greenspace in urban communities. EnviroAtlas provides close to 100 maps of ES metrics based on high-resolution land cover data in featured communities across the contiguous United States. Using selected EnviroAtlas ES metrics, a Community EcoHealth Index (CEHI) was created based on an ecohealth framework including health promotion and hazard buffering domains. Aggregation of eight selected ES metrics in these domains entailed a weighted distance measure, where objective, data-driven weights were generated. CEHI was calculated by Census Block Group (CBG) at both the local level and the national level for 22 EnviroAtlas communities. Results were mapped to show one- to five-star CBGs or neighborhoods within and across all 22 featured communities. At the national level, CEHI favors communities in forested ecoregions. The local version of CEHI is more appropriate to inform social, economic, and environmental decision-making for improving community ES associated with human health.

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Eco-Health linkages: assessing the role of ecosystem goods and services on human health using causal criteria analysis

Abstract: Our results help establish an agenda to shape future Eco-Health research and define priorities for managing green spaces to provide human health benefits.

Cited by 20 publications

References 66 publications

Contributions of Ecosystem Services to Human Well-Being in Puerto Rico

Contributions of Ecosystem Services to Human Well-Being in Puerto Rico

Linking Water Quality to Aedes aegypti and Zika in Flood-Prone Neighborhoods

A Community EcoHealth Index from EnviroAtlas Ecosystem Services Metrics

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