Longitudinal data analyses reveal a positive effect of bird diversity on human mental health

A growing body of research has focused on the connection between biodiversity and human mental health, but many studies lack longitudinal data, creating problems due to endogeneity. This study stands out by utilizing a newly compiled panel dataset covering the time period between 2015-2019 to investigate the impact of bird diversity exposure on mental health and well-being. By analysing data from around 200,000 individuals from the German National Cohort Health Study and using a unique bird diversity indicator based on citizen-science data, this study found that a greater likelihood of encountering many different bird species in a person's area of residence had a significant positive effect on mental health and well-being. In addition, the study examined how different sensory abilities play a role in this relationship. These findings have national-level implications for biodiversity conservation and public health policy decisions, as it may be the first to offer evidence of the positive impact of bird diversity on human mental well-being while minimizing issues such as omitted variable bias.越来越多的研究聚焦于生物多样性与人类心理健康之间的关联，但多数现有研究缺乏纵向数据，且因内生性问题引发诸多局限。本研究独具特色，通过采用全新汇编的2015-2019年面板数据集，探究鸟类多样性暴露水平对人类心理健康与福祉的影响。本研究依托德国国家队列健康研究（German National Cohort Health Study）中约20万名个体的数据，并采用基于公民科学数据构建的独特鸟类多样性指标，分析后发现：居民居住区域内接触到更多鸟类物种的概率越高，其心理健康与福祉水平的提升效果越显著。此外，本研究还探讨了不同感官能力在该关联中所发挥的作用。本研究的发现可为生物多样性保护与公共卫生政策制定提供国家级层面的决策参考，其或为首项在规避遗漏变量偏误等问题的前提下，证实鸟类多样性对人类心理福祉存在积极影响的相关研究。