The Beneficial Elements in Forest Environment Based on Human Health and Well-Being Perspective
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
3.1. Beneficial Substances
3.1.1. Clean Air
3.1.2. High-Quality Fresh Water
3.1.3. CO2/O2 Balance
3.1.4. Negative Air Ions (NAIs)
3.1.5. Phytoncides
3.2. Beneficial Factors
3.2.1. Moderate Thermal Environment
3.2.2. Biodiversity
4. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Beneficial Substances | Ecological Services | Pathway | Citations |
---|---|---|---|
Clean air | Plants in the forest environment play an important role in ameliorating air pollution and improving human health. | (1) Affecting the diffusion of air pollutants; (2) Trapping particulate matter; (3) Absorbing and storing air pollution. | Nowak et al., 2014 [20] Manes et al., 2016 [21] Bagheri et al., 2017 [22] Nowak et al., 2018 [23] Almeida et al., 2020 [24] Azwardi et al., 2021 [25] |
High-quality freshwater | Forests are natural water purifiers, providing an important ecological service that improves human health. | (1) Filtering solid pollutants in runoff; (2) Precipitating and degrading organic pollutants; (3) Absorbing nutrient ions. | Cunha et al., 2016 [26] Shah and Nisbet, 2019 [27] Kumarasiri et al., 2021 [28] Piaggio and Siikamki, 2021 [29] |
CO2/O2 balance | Forest plants regulate the balance between O2 and CO2 by absorbing CO2 and releasing O2. | (1) Photosynthesis; (2) Respiration. | Fang et al., 2001 [30] Tang et al., 2018 [31] Wen et al., 2018 [32] Green and Keenan, 2022 [33] |
Negative air ions | NAIs are known as “air vitamins” and directly benefit human health. | (1) Photosynthesis in forests’ canopies; (2) Electrolysis of air from branches and leaves; (3) Air ionization from volatile substances released by plants; (4) Surviving for a long time in the forest environment. | Yan et al., 2015 [34] Miao et al., 2018 [35] Wang et al., 2020 [36] |
Phytoncides | Phytoncides are aromatic volatile substances emitted by the organs and tissues of plants. | The release of phytoncides is closely related to the physiological activities of plants. | Yang et al., 2010 [37] Li, 2013 [38] Kim et al., 2020 [39] |
Beneficial Factors | Ecological Services | Pathway | Citations |
---|---|---|---|
Moderate thermal environment | A forest environment dominated by trees has more moderate temperatures. | (1) Shading; (2) Cooling effects from evapotranspiration; (3) Low thermal conductivity of biological materials. | USGCRP, 2017 [67] Dimoudi et al., 2013 [68] Huang et al., 2020 [69] Yuan et al., 2020 [70] |
Biodiversity | Biodiversity is critical to the ability of ecosystems to sustain society. | All of these life forms in forests together make up the biodiversity of the Earth. | Marselle et al., 2021 [71] Methorst et al., 2021 [72] Wei et al., 2022 [73] |
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Gao, D.; Shen, J.; Gao, Y.; Zhang, Z. The Beneficial Elements in Forest Environment Based on Human Health and Well-Being Perspective. Forests 2024, 15, 1604. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15091604
Gao D, Shen J, Gao Y, Zhang Z. The Beneficial Elements in Forest Environment Based on Human Health and Well-Being Perspective. Forests. 2024; 15(9):1604. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15091604
Chicago/Turabian StyleGao, Deqiang, Jiapeng Shen, Yunchang Gao, and Zhiyong Zhang. 2024. "The Beneficial Elements in Forest Environment Based on Human Health and Well-Being Perspective" Forests 15, no. 9: 1604. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15091604