Page - 205 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

205 Lovell et  al. (2014) provided a number of recommendations for future research, which were to improve study design, and specify the type of contact and frequency of exposure to biodiversity, and test for moderating and mediating variables. Most of the recently published studies were cross-sectional; a similar observation made by Lovell et  al. (2014). However, the number of robust research designs (experi- mental, natural experimental, longitudinal), as well as quasi-experimental and before-and-after repeated measures studies has increased, reflecting the call for improved study designs. Additionally, 2 studies sought to examine impacts of changes in biodiversity on mental health and well-being outcomes, which is an increase from Lovell et  al. (2014), which had no such studies. Regarding contact with biodiversity, more than half of the recently published studies explicitly investi- gated direct and indirect contact, thus heeding Lovell et  al.’s (2014) call to investi- gate how type of contact with the biodiverse environment may influence outcomes. However, no studies have yet heeded Lovell et  al.’s (2014) call for investigations of frequency of exposure to biodiversity. Four of the identified 16 studies investigated moderators that qualified the biodiversity and mental health and well-being rela- tionship. Three of the recently published studies conducted mediation analyses to determine the mechanisms through which biodiversity affects mental health and/or well-being. These few moderator and mediator studies are nevertheless an increase from those reported in Lovell et  al. (2014). 9.4.1 Concluding Observations In conclusion, we provide some thoughts to guide future research: Better Integration By its nature, the questions considered within this field of inquiry are interdisciplin- ary and thus by necessity require integration of natural, social and health sciences. Future research should be interdisciplinary as this will improve measurement of biodiversity, mental health and well-being. Research Design We encourage researchers to consider more robust designs such as before-and-after comparison studies, as well as to take advantage of natural experiment situations, and to consider development of integrative mixed method studies. Experimental studies, which test short-term effects, are particularly suited for assessing changes in momentary mental well-being. Future reviews of the influence of biodiversity and health could include a statistical meta-analysis to address the limitations from vote-counting reported here and in Lovell et  al. (2014). Qualitative research designs could help identify what aspects of biodiversity people attend to, and what experi- ences this creates. This information could help to unravel the process by which biodiversity affects mental health and well-being. Biodiversity Assessment We encourage future research to use well accepted approaches for measuring biodi- versity in the field or from secondary data, such as those used in the ecological 9 Review of  the  Mental Health and  Well-being Benefits of  Biodiversity