Biodiversity and infrastructure interact to drive tourism to and within Costa Rica

Nature and Health researchers explore how nature-based tourism has the potential to sustain an area’s biodiversity and economic development in a recent article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Citation: Alejandra Echeverri, Jeffrey R. Smith, Dylan MacArthur-Waltz, Katherine S. Lauck, Christopher B. Anderson, Rafael Monge Vargas, Irene Alvarado Quesada, Spencer A. Wood, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, & Gretchen C. Daily. (2022). Biodiversity and infrastructure interact to drive tourism to and within Costa Rica. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119: e2107662119.

Photo by Robin Canfield on Unsplash

UW’s Nature and Health Group Talks Time Outside

Allie Tripp · Washington Trails Association · March 22, 2021

Featuring Josh Lawler, Nature and Health director and Spencer Wood, Nature and Health researcher

A person hiking on a grassy hillTime spent in nature is good for you. Whether you’ve known that consciously or not, it’s likely that the physical and mental benefits have played a role in why you get outside and hike. But there are plenty of questions about how much time or what type of nature gives people the greatest benefits. Thankfully, there is Nature and Health, an entire group of professors and students at the University of Washington dedicated to exploring these connections. WTA has been attending events and meetings with Nature and Health for several years, even presenting with GirlTrek and the U.S. Forest Service to other member organizations about our joint research. We talked with Josh Lawler, Nature and Health director and Denman Professor of Sustainable Resource Sciences, one of the group’s key organizers, to find out more about the group’s work and findings.


What Social Media Can Teach Us About Human-Environment Relationships

Aastha Uprety · State of the Planet · August 25, 2020

Featuring Spencer Wood, Nature and Health researcher

A man wearing a brown hat taking a selfie in front of a waterfall
Credit: Djamal Akhmad Fahmi, Unsplash

Recent ecological research used Instagram posts to analyze the preferences of visitors to natural areas around the world. Researchers deduced the activities and feelings that people associated with different environments, including Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The study explores the potential of using social media data to understand cultural ecosystem services—the intangible benefits that people receive from nature—and interactions between people and their environments.