Abstract
Abstract Humans are spending less time in biodiverse environments, and according to the Old Friends and Biodiversity hypotheses, this has led to fewer interactions with diverse immunoregulatory micro‐organisms or ‘old friends’. Non‐communicable diseases such as asthma and inflammatory bowel disease are on the rise, and the development and progression of these ‘modern’ diseases may be attributed in part, to the breakdown of this evolutionary relationship between humans and environmental microbiota. There is a growing interest in the environment–microbiome–health axis as a mechanism to explain some of the health benefits linked to spending time in nature. This may provide a platform for proposing a new, holistic and transdisciplinary approach to public and environmental health. The field of landscape research—which combines social and natural sciences—responds to emerging socioecological issues and can make a significant contribution towards this approach. This paper explores innovative, landscape research‐based approaches to understanding the complex relationships between the environment, the microbiome and human health. Transdisciplinarity will play an important role moving forward. This forms a major discussion point in this paper, along with future research directions, key research questions and novel concepts supported by recent technological advancements. The development of a new field of study—Microbioscape Research as a crossover between microbiome science and landscape research—is also discussed. A free plain language summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Highlights
The O d Friends hypothesis Rook Martine i Brunet a revision of the Hygiene hypothesis (Strachan, 1989), puts forward a mechanism to explain the rise in immunological dysfunction and allergic disorders in highly urbanized populations
The hypothesis is based on the premise that humans have co-evolved with a diversity of microbiota in biodiverse environments, and this relationship was essential to the evolution of resilient immune systems (Rook & Brunet, 2005; Rook, Raison, & Lowry, 2014)
We argue that landscape research can make an important contribution towards rekindling the ‘old friendships’ between humans, biodiverse environments and microbiota
Summary
The O d Friends hypothesis Rook Martine i Brunet a revision of the Hygiene hypothesis (Strachan, 1989), puts forward a mechanism to explain the rise in immunological dysfunction and allergic disorders in highly urbanized populations. Environmental justice could be a useful lens for landscape researchers and others to study place and inclusion, understand social and ecological trade-offs, and promote equitable distribution of biodiverse urban greenspaces with strategic considerations for the role of the microbiome Another useful lens could be nature-based interventions. An emerging objective for those involved in urban ecological design is to understand whether green infrastructure could be designed and managed to generate microbiome-associated health benefits (Robinson et al, 2018; Watkins, Robinson, Breed, Parker, & Weinstein, 2020) This will require a comprehensive understanding of the various physical, spatial and biological factors that affect the composition, function and transmission of environmental microbiota in urban landscapes, and of the social factors that influence interactions Figure Fu thorpe MacIvor Jia and Yasui discuss the importance of green roofs as an ecosystem service provider, and the importance of plant–microbe interactions, presenting a list of hypotheses for the positive role of environmental microbiota. Which spatial and design characteristics will provide the optimal conditions for beneficial microbial distribution?
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