Page - 455 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

455 develop recommendations to address the urgent health and sustainability challenges in science, policy and practice. 20.2 Evidence of  Effects of  Biodiversity on  Physical Health Biodiverse natural environments and climate change interact to influence human physical health and well-being in positive and negative ways. Case study exam- ples illustrate these interrelationships for extreme heat, allergenic plants and vector- borne diseases. The effects of nature and health relationships on specific populations groups  – children and different socio-economic groups  – are highlighted. There are important links between biodiversity and physical health as demon- strated by the review of Sarah Lindley and co-authors. They argue that both bio- diversity and climate change  set important boundary conditions for human health, as they influence many elements that impact on health and well-being of individu- als, for example through altered ecosystem functions and services. The authors point out that, especially in the face of a changing climate, NBS are needed to adapt to or mitigate negative climate-induced stressors, such as heat waves, reduced air quality, flooding or water quality regulation, that have serious impacts on human health. Many of the available studies are drawn from urban environ- ments where climate effects may be experienced most dramatically due to the urban heat-island effect, and evidenced by the presented case study from Greater Manchester, England. The authors point to the need to consider socio-economic confounding factors to fully address the challenges of understanding the links between biodiversity and physical health, and for research to develop robust met- rics and indicators to measure not only the state but also trends of linkages. Overall, it will be important to identify what configurations of green spaces in cities are most beneficial to promote health in order to provide input to urban planning and management. Athanasios Damialis and co-authors discuss  the negative effects of biodiversity and physical health by highlighting the specific issue of pollen allergies. As allergy prevalence has increased worldwide, partly due to a warming climate, their review provides a greater understanding of the emerging challenges. In particular, the authors call for better spatial and temporal risk mapping and forecasting of poten- tial pollen exposure to advise allergy-sensitive individuals as well as to inform urban planning measures to develop green spaces that can minimise allergenic pol- len exposure. Importantly, pollen can be a carrier of biochemical complex particles that can additionally affect health, and only recently has an understanding of the pollen microbiome begun to emerge. With the spread of invasive and alien aller- genic species in a changing climate, such as ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), we need to better understand how these distributions can be assessed, predicted and proactively managed. Here, the development of automated, near-real-time pollen 20 Biodiversity and  Health in  the  Face of  Climate Change: Perspectives for  Science…