Publications

Filter Publications

Select Research Themes

Select Authors

Select Publication Years

5 publications published in 2026

Associations of Forest vs. Urban Environmental Exposure With Well-Being and Nasal Microbiome Composition: An Exploratory Pilot Study

2026 / Health and well-being, Urban, Forest, Olfaction

Highlights An 8-week forest vs. urban exposure was associated with affective improvements. Greater post-exposure richness in forest vs. urban group’s nasal microbiomes. Forest group’s nasal microbiome enriched with well-being-associated bacteria. Increased nasal bacterial richness correlated with affective improvements. Bifidobacterium and Akkermansia abundance correlated with affective improvements. The benefits of nature exposure for human well-being are well-recognized, yet much remains to be understood about the underlying causal mechanisms. This exploratory, hypothesis-generating pilot study used a natural experimental design with University of Washington students (Seattle, WA, USA; 2024) to investigate links between the nasal microbiome and well-being over an 8-week forest vs. urban environment exposure. After an academic year (September-May) during which all participants (N = 13) were full-time students in Seattle, one group relocated to remote forest sites in western Washington (n = 5; forest condition), while another group remained in urban Seattle (n = 8; urban condition). Self-reported affect, rumination, and mental well-being were assessed pre- and post-exposure using validated surveys, and nasal swabs were collected pre- and post-exposure for nasal microbiome profiling via 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Compared to the urban group, the forest group exhibited significantly greater increases in positive affect and decreases in negative affect and rumination. While no between-group differences in overall nasal bacterial community composition were detected pre-exposure, significant differences emerged post-exposure. Moreover, the forest group exhibited greater post-exposure taxonomic richness at a marginally statistically significant level and significant enrichment of taxa previously associated with well-being (e.g., Bifidobacterium, Akkermansia), changes not observed in the urban group. Increases in taxonomic richness and the relative abundance of these key taxa were significantly associated with affective improvements. These preliminary results suggest that nasal microbiome-mediated pathways linking nature exposure with well-being merit further investigation.

Multiple Sources of Volunteered Geographic Information Strengthen Holistic Estimates of Lake Visitation

2026 / Public land

Lakes provide human societies with a wide range of cultural ecosystem services (CES), yet these benefits are rarely quantified. Site visitation is frequently used to assign CES values to recreational destinations, but traditional approaches for estimating lake visitation have limited spatiotemporal extent. Visitation estimates increasingly leverage volunteered geographic information (VGI) to address this challenge. We compared the utility of five different sources of VGI from Flickr, eBird, iNaturalist, Twitter, and Gaia GPS, which broadly encompass lake users with different motivations for interacting with nature. We evaluated the potential for predicting on-site visitation from in-person counts by testing models informed by unique combinations of VGI sources at urban and suburban lakes in western Washington. Additionally, we investigated the amenities driving differences in relative lake visitation by modeling visitation as a function of lake attributes (e.g., tree cover, water quality, built infrastructure). All VGI sources were included in the top-performing visitation models, suggesting they provide significant and unique contributions to estimates of overall lake use (combined R2 = 0.85, in-sample testing). Given that these VGI sources reflect different types of lake users seeking unique CES, we conclude that holistic VGI visitation estimates should incorporate a diversity of VGI sources. Our results also reveal that built lakeside infrastructure is the predominant driver of visitation at lakes in western Washington, suggesting that spatially equitable updates to amenities will encourage public lake use. We urge greater consideration of the accessibility of different lake-based CES across the landscape and among diverse communities in future lake recreation planning, and suggest that VGI-based estimates of lake visitation offer a robust way to inform this process.

Parks and Recreation in Cancer Prevention: Bringing Cancer Center Outreach and Engagement Initiatives to Public Spaces Through Partnership With Local Governments

2026 / Healthcare providers, Green spaces, Built environment + Urban design, Health and well-being

Introduction Public parks are an integral part of the built environment, with a considerable role to promote public health by advancing physical health, mental wellness and overall quality of life. The potential exists for parks and greenspace to contribute to cancer control and prevention, and local park and recreation departments (PARDs) are natural partners for Comprehensive Cancer Centers as they pursue Community Outreach and Engagement activities. However there is a lack of research on best practices for structuring these relationships to ensure success. Methods A collaboration framework for Comprehensive Cancer Centers and PARDs was informed by the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) model of implementation science. The model was applied by a large cancer center to 3 implementation sites in the greater Houston area. A set of shared measures were developed and tracked across all sites. Results Three PARDs implemented 5 unique active living and sun safety evidence-based interventions (EBIs) of 2 main types, educational focused interventions (to increase knowledge and change behavior) and infrastructure interventions (to modify the physical environment). Three-quarters (75%, 9/12) of all educational EBIs across communities were sustained by the PARDs one or more years after the funding ended; all (13/13) infrastructure projects were completed during the active implementation period and sustained by the PARDs. A range of 10-39 partners supported the work of the PARDs. Conclusion The 3 collaboration sites each offer a case study on the impact and effectiveness of health promotion across sectors to impact modifiable risk factors for cancer, leveraging the replicable EPIS model. Partnership is critical to both sectors to advance community health and impact.

Relative Vulnerability of US National Parks to Cumulative and Transformational Climate Impacts

2026 / Public land

National Parks are under threat from multiple interacting climatic changes, which have already triggered transformations in these protected landscapes. We conducted a multidimensional analysis of climate‐change vulnerability for National Parks to identify which parks are most at risk of climate‐change impacts and therefore in the greatest need of targeted climate‐change vulnerability assessment and planning. We identified 174 (67%) parks as most exposed to one or more potentially transformative climate impacts including fire, drought, sea‐level rise, and forest pests and diseases. Cumulative vulnerability across multiple dimensions was the highest for parks in the Midwest and eastern United States due to high physical exposures, the exacerbation of existing stressors, and high surrounding land‐use intensity. Western parks exhibited lower cumulative vulnerability due to less intense land use and topography that may provide climatic refugia. However, western parks tended to be most exposed to multiple transformative impacts. These widespread, diverse threats highlight not only the need for coordinated evaluation of vulnerabilities from multiple perspectives, but also the need for park managers to evaluate and plan for potentially irreversible ecological changes to the landscapes and resources that parks are intended to preserve.

Using Nature to Regulate Emotions: Introducing the Nature Selection Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (NS-ERQ)

2026 / Health and well-being

Emotion regulation (ER) takes many forms. One of the most intriguing is situation selection, which refers to selecting the situations we’re exposed to with a view to influencing our emotions. Despite its importance, surprisingly little is known about situation selection. In the present work, we examine an important form of situation selection, namely location selection – emphasizing the deliberate choice of environmental settings, with a particular focus in selecting nature experiences, to influence emotional states. To measure and explore this process, we validated a new self-report scale – the Nature Selection Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (NS-ERQ) – across three studies. In the first study (NS1 = 292), we developed the English version of the scale starting with an initial set of 20 items. The items were generated based on Russell’s Circumplex Model of Affect (1980), reflecting the four primary dimensions of affect defined by valence and arousal. Exploratory factor analysis led to a refined 12-item scale, organized into a two-factor structure: restoration and revitalization. The second study (NS2 – T1 = 302) tested the 12-item scale’s reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity, as well as test-retest reliability and predictive validity through a follow-up survey (NS2 – T2 = 125). The third study (NS3 = 308) adapted the scale for Italian speakers, confirming the two-factor structure as well as its reliability and validity. Furthermore, the scale demonstrated measurement invariance across English and Italian versions, confirming its cross-linguistic equivalence. Overall, these findings establish the NS-ERQ as a robust instrument for assessing how individuals choose to visit natural environments for emotion regulation, providing a new framework for understanding the role of selecting environmental context in emotion regulation.