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Forest biodiversity and structure modulate human health benefits and risks

Nature Sustainability volume 8, pages 485–497 (2025)Cite this article

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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.

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Fig. 1: Study design.
Fig. 2: Sensitivities of forest–health pathways to the characteristics of tree diversity, structure and composition.
Fig. 3: Synergies and trade-offs between forest–health pathways, based on mutual information levels between nodes of different pathways.
Fig. 4: Health effect magnitudes relative to several baseline conditions and under contrasting tree diversity and canopy density.

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Data availability

The BBN file that supports the findings of this study is available via Figshare at https://figshare.com/s/63ac8597986bc3d81e2f (ref. 32). It can be used to replicate the findings or for adding new data (belief updating). The individual datasets used to operationalize the BBN are tied to their respective studies, which are cited in the manuscript and listed in the Supplementary Information. Whether data are readily available via repositories or have to be requested from the owners depends on the study.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all study participants. This research was funded by the ERA-Net BiodivERsA project Dr.FOREST, the German Research Foundation (no. 428795724), the French National Research Agency, Research Foundation-Flanders, the Austrian Science Fund and the National Science Center (project no. 2019/31/Z/NZ8/04032) as part of the 2018–2019 BiodivERsA call for research proposals. P.D.F. received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC Starting Grant FORMICA 757833). D.L. was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship of Research Foundation-Flanders. T.V. was supported by a UGent GOA project (no. BOF20/GOA/009). Q.P. thanks the Walloon forest service (Service Public de Wallonie-Département de la Nature et des Forêts) for supporting the maintenance of the FORBIO-Gedinne experiment within the framework of the 5-year research programme ‘Plan Quinquennal de Recherche et de Vulgarisation Forestières’.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Pieter De Frenne, Bart Muys, Kris Verheyen.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forest & Nature Lab, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Melle-Gontrode, Belgium

    Loïc Gillerot, Dries Landuyt, Tosca Vanroy, Pieter De Frenne & Kris Verheyen

  2. Division of Forest, Nature and Landscape, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Loïc Gillerot & Bart Muys

  3. INRAE, University of Bordeaux, UMR Biogeco, Cestas, France

    Audrey Bourdin & Hervé Jactel

  4. Jena Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany

    Kevin Rozario & Aletta Bonn

  5. Department of Biodiversity and People, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany

    Kevin Rozario, Rachel R. Y. Oh & Aletta Bonn

  6. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Kevin Rozario, Rachel R. Y. Oh, Tobias Proß, Aletta Bonn & Helge Bruelheide

  7. Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany

    Kevin Rozario

  8. Department of Biodiversity Economics, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany

    Kevin Rozario

  9. Geobotany, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Taylor Shaw, Ana Gabriela Cuentas Romero, Sandra Müller & Michael Scherer-Lorenzen

  10. Institute of Forest Ecology, Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, BOKU University, Vienna, Austria

    Matthias Steinparzer & Douglas Godbold

  11. Faculty of Biology, Białowieża Geobotanical Station, University of Warsaw, Białowieża, Poland

    Katarzyna Stojek & Bogdan Jaroszewicz

  12. Facultad de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Peru

    Ana Gabriela Cuentas Romero

  13. Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

    Tobias Proß & Helge Bruelheide

  14. Université de Lorraine, AgroParisTech, INRAE, UMR Silva, Nancy, France

    Damien Bonal

  15. Department of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic

    Douglas Godbold

  16. Department for Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Daniela Haluza

  17. BOS+, Gontrode, Belgium

    Katriina Kilpi

  18. Environmental Psychology Research Group, School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Melissa R. Marselle

  19. Earth and Life Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Quentin Ponette

Authors
  1. Loïc Gillerot
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  2. Dries Landuyt
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Contributions

L.G., D.L., B.M. and K.V. conceptualized the statistical approach and developed the methodology. L.G., D.L., A. Bourdin, K.R., T.S., M.S., K.S., T.V., A.G.C.R., S.M., R.R.Y.O., A. Bonn, H.B., D.G., D.H., H.J., B.J., M.R.M., Q.P., M.S.L., B.M. and K.V. developed the outlines of the conceptual models (phase I). L.G., D.L., A. Bourdin, K.R., T.S., M.S., K.S., T.V., A.G.C.R., S.M., R.R.Y.O. shared and prepared the empirical data, quantified the submodels and validated the behaviour model (phases II and III). L.G. and D.L. conducted the data analyses. L.G. wrote the original manuscript draft and all authors reviewed the manuscript. D.L., P.D.F., B.M. and K.V. supervised the study. S.M., D.B., A. Bonn, H.B., D.G., D.H., H.J., B.J., M.R.M., Q.P., M.S.L., B.M. and K.V. obtained the funding and administered the project. M.S.L. and D.H. coordinated the project.

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Correspondence to Loïc Gillerot.

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Gillerot, L., Landuyt, D., Bourdin, A. et al. Forest biodiversity and structure modulate human health benefits and risks. Nat Sustain 8, 485–497 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01547-3

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