Optimising Early Childhood Educational Settings for Health Using Nature-Based Solutions:The Microbiome Aspect

Alexia Barrable - ORCID: 0000-0002-5352-8330 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5352-8330Early childhood is a time of rapid physiological, cognitive, and social development, affected by various environmental factors. The physical environment, including the environmental microbiome (the entire consortium of microorganisms and their theatre of activity in a given environment), plays an essential role in childhood development and can be shaped in ways to support health and wellbeing. In this Perspective article, we present considerations for early childhood education settings that wish to shape their outdoor and indoor environments to optimise human and ecosystem health. This is done in line with the latest evidence base on optimising health-supporting interactions between humans and environmental microbiota, but also in pedagogically and developmentally appropriate ways. Based on the Microbiome-Inspired Green Infrastructure (MIGI) principles, the considerations presented here not only support health through human–nature interactions and a healthier natural environment, but also promote a closer, reciprocal relationship between children and their natural environments.This research received no external funding.https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci1302021113pubpub

Nature-based Interventions and the Environment-Microbiome-Health Axis

This interdisciplinary PhD is an innovative socioecological investigation into two key phenomena: 1. nature-based interventions, which are structured nature-based activities that aim to facilitate behavioural changes for the benefit of health and wellbeing; and 2. the relationship between the environment, the microbiome and human health. The aims of the PhD study include: o Determining the distribution of, and socioecological constraints and opportunities associated with nature-based interventions. o Ascertaining how engagement with nature may have supported population health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether the pandemic affected nature engagement. o Investigating the environment-microbiome-health axis, including a review of potential anthropogenic disruptions to this relationship, and determining the spatio-compositional and ecological factors that affect exposure to the aerobiome (microbiome of the air) in urban green spaces. o Determining whether relationships with and knowledge of biodiversity affect attitudes towards microbes. o The development of novel conceptualisations that transcend the boundaries of current knowledge, including Microbiome-Inspired Green Infrastructure (MIG) – multifunctional green infrastructure that aims to enhance ecosystem functionality and human health through considerations for the microbiome; the Lovebug Effect – microbially-mediated nature affinity; and, the Holobiont Blindspot – a newly proposed cognitive bias that may result from the failure to recognise the microbiome’s role in behaviour and health. This is a PhD by publication comprising 9 chapters and 12 publications. Chapter 2 presents publications on nature-based interventions (Robinson and Breed, 2019; Robinson et al. 2020a), and the potential health benefits of engaging with nature are presented in Chapter 3 (Robinson et al. 2020b). This is followed by an overview of the environment-microbiome-health axis (Robinson and Jorgensen, 2020) and how nature engagement may affect our attitudes towards microbes in Chapter 4 (Robinson et al. 2021e). This is followed by the aerobiome studies in Chapter 5 (Robinson et al. 2020c; Robinson et al. 2021b) and potential disruptions to the environmental microbiome and human health in Chapter 6 (Robinson et al. 2021c). Chapter 7 presents Microbiome-Inspired Green Infrastructure (Robinson et al. 2018; Watkins and Robinson et al. 2020), and finally in Chapter 8, novel conceptualisations are presented, including the Lovebug Effect (Robinson and Breed, 2020) and the Holobiont Blindspot (Robinson and Cameron, 2020). The methods used in the nature-based intervention studies included geospatial analysis using geographic information systems (GIS) and online questionnaires. The methods used in the microbiome studies included the creation of novel sampling methods to collect bacterial DNA in urban green spaces, DNA sequencing, and the application of bioinformatic tools. Although systematic reviews were not included, the reviews in this thesis did follow the preferred reporting system for systematic reviews (PRISMA) method to ensure robust data collection. This PhD makes several important contributions to knowledge. For example, constraints to nature-based interventions were identified, and these show that enhanced transdisciplinary collaborative pathways and efficient infrastructure are needed. The research also identified that people significantly changed their patterns of nature engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic and many visited nature for important wellbeing and coping benefits. This highlights the immense value of nature to health and wellbeing during unprecedented times. The research also revealed for the first time that attitudes towards microbes might be influenced by nature engagement and biodiversity literacy, and that anthropogenic pollution (light and sound) could affect the microbiome with important ecological and health implications. In the aerobiome studies, the cutting-edge discovery of ecological factors that drive aerobiome assembly and potentially affect exposure types and routes could have important implications for public health and landscape management. Nature-based interventions have the potential to enhance human and environmental health, and the environmental microbiome will likely play an important role. The novel conceptualisations developed during this PhD add new knowledge to the fields of landscape design, microbiome science, and environmental psychology and have stimulated new research agendas across the world. The work in this thesis is influenced by the emerging planetary health paradigm, the ‘interconnectedness’ and intrinsic value narrative associated with Indigenous cultures, and ‘systems thinking’ (a holistic analytical approach that focuses on the way a system’s constituent parts – – and how systems themselves –– interrelate). Fostering deep reciprocity with the natural world to enhance personal and planetary health has never been more important. We have a key opportunity to redefine our relationship with the wider biotic community by establishing a new appreciation of our ‘microbial friends’ and the profound interconnectedness between the environment, the microbiome and human health. List of publications in this PhD thesis: 1. Robinson, J.M., and Breed, M.F. (2019). Green Prescriptions and Their Co- Benefits: Integrative Strategies for Public and Planetary Health. Challenges. 10, pp. 1-14. Part of the Special Issue - The Emerging Concept of Planetary Health: Connecting People, Place, Purpose, and Planet. 2. Robinson, J.M., Jorgensen, A., Cameron, R., and Brindley, P. (2020). Let Nature Be Thy Medicine: A Socioecological Exploration of Green Prescribing in the UK. Int J Environ Public Health. 17, pp. 1-24. Part of the Special Issue "Planetary Health: From Challenges to Opportunities for People, Place, Purpose and Planet” 3. Robinson, J.M., Brindley, P, Cameron, R., MacCarthy, D., and, Jorgensen, A. (2021). Nature’s Role in Supporting Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Geospatial and Socioecological Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 18, pp. 1-21. 4. Robinson, J.M., and Jorgensen, A. (2019). Rekindling Old Friendships in New Landscapes: The Environment-Microbiome-Health Axis in the Realms of Landscape Research. People Nat. 2, pp.339-349. 5. Robinson, J.M., Cameron, R., and Jorgensen, A. (2021). Germaphobia! Does our Relationship with, and Knowledge of Biodiversity, Affect our Attitudes Towards Microbes? Front Psychol, 12, pp. 1-10. 6. Robinson, J.M., Cando-Dumancela, C., Liddicoat, C., Weinstein, P., Cameron, R. and Breed, M.F. (2020). Vertical Stratification in Urban Green Space Aerobiomes. Environ Health Persp, 128, p.117008. 7. Robinson, J.M., Cando-Dumancela, C., Antwis, R.E., Cameron, R., Liddicoat, C., Poudel, R., Weinstein, P., and Breed, M.F. (2021). Urban Green Space Aerobiomes: Exposure to Airborne Bacteria Depends Upon Vertical Stratification and Vegetation Complexity. Sci Rep, 11, pp. 1-17. 8. Robinson, J.M., and Parker, B. (2021). The Effects of Anthropogenic Sound and Artificial Light Exposure on Microbiomes: Ecological and Public Health Implications. Front Ecol Evol. 9, pp. 1-7. 9. Robinson, J.M., Mills, J.G., and Breed, M.F. (2018). Walking Ecosystems in Microbiome-Inspired Green Infrastructure: An Ecological Perspective on Enhancing Personal and Planetary Health. Challenges. 9, pp.1-15. 10. Watkins, H., Robinson, J.M., Breed, M.F., Parker, B. and Weinstein, P. (2020). Microbiome-Inspired Green Infrastructure: A Toolkit for Multidisciplinary Landscape Design. Trends in Biotech. 38, pp.1305-1308. 11. Robinson, J.M., and Breed, M.F. (2020). The Lovebug Effect: Is the Human Biophilic Drive Influenced by Interactions Between the Host, The Environment, and the Microbiome? Sci Tot Environ. 720, p.137626. 12. Robinson, J.M., and Cameron, R. (2020). The Holobiont Blindspot: Relating Host-Microbiome Interactions to Cognitive Biases and the Concept of the “Umwelt”. Front Psychol. 11, p.591071

Brexit and the everyday politics of emotion: methodological lessons from history

The 2016 European Union referendum campaign has been depicted as a battle between ‘heads’ and ‘hearts’, reason and emotion. Voters’ propensity to trust their feelings over expert knowledge has sparked debate about the future of democratic politics in what is increasingly believed to be an ‘age of emotion’. In this article, we argue that we can learn from the ways that historians have approached the study of emotions and everyday politics to help us make sense of this present moment. Drawing on William Reddy’s concept of ‘emotional regimes’, we analyse the position of emotion in qualitative, ‘everyday narratives’ about the 2016 European Union referendum. Using new evidence from the Mass Observation Archive, we argue that while reason and emotion are inextricable facets of political decision-making, citizens themselves understand the two processes as distinct and competing

A global model of the response of tropical and sub-tropical forest biodiversity to anthropogenic pressures

Habitat loss and degradation, driven largely by agricultural expansion and intensification, present the greatest immediate threat to biodiversity. Tropical forests harbour among the highest levels of terrestrial species diversity and are likely to experience rapid land-use change in the coming decades. Synthetic analyses of observed responses of species are useful for quantifying how land use affects biodiversity and for predicting outcomes under land-use scenarios. Previous applications of this approach have typically focused on individual taxonomic groups, analysing the average response of the whole community to changes in land use. Here, we incorporate quantitative remotely sensed data about habitats in, to our knowledge, the first worldwide synthetic analysis of how individual species in four major taxonomic groups—invertebrates, ‘herptiles’ (reptiles and amphibians), mammals and birds—respond to multiple human pressures in tropical and sub-tropical forests. We show significant independent impacts of land use, human vegetation offtake, forest cover and human population density on both occurrence and abundance of species, highlighting the value of analysing multiple explanatory variables simultaneously. Responses differ among the four groups considered, and—within birds and mammals—between habitat specialists and habitat generalists and between narrow-ranged and wide-ranged species

The Need for Laboratory Measurements and Ab Initio Studies to Aid Understanding of Exoplanetary Atmospheres

We are now on a clear trajectory for improvements in exoplanet observations that will revolutionize our ability to characterize their atmospheric structure, composition, and circulation, from gas giants to rocky planets. However, exoplanet atmospheric models capable of interpreting the upcoming observations are often limited by insufficiencies in the laboratory and theoretical data that serve as critical inputs to atmospheric physical and chemical tools. Here we provide an up-to-date and condensed description of areas where laboratory and/or ab initio investigations could fill critical gaps in our ability to model exoplanet atmospheric opacities, clouds, and chemistry, building off a larger 2016 white paper, and endorsed by the NAS Exoplanet Science Strategy report. Now is the ideal time for progress in these areas, but this progress requires better access to, understanding of, and training in the production of spectroscopic data as well as a better insight into chemical reaction kinetics both thermal and radiation-induced at a broad range of temperatures. Given that most published efforts have emphasized relatively Earth-like conditions, we can expect significant and enlightening discoveries as emphasis moves to the exotic atmospheres of exoplanets.Comment: Submitted as an Astro2020 Science White Pape

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Creating testable questions in practical conservation: a process and 100 questions

It is now clear that the routine embedding of experiments into conservation practice is essential for creating reasonably comprehensive evidence of the effectiveness of actions. However, an important barrier is the stage of identifying testable questions that are both useful but also realistic to carry out without a major research project. We identified approaches for generating such suitable questions. A team of 24 participants crowdsourced suggestions, resulting in a list of a hundred possible tests of actions