Linking restorative human health outcomes to protected area ecosystem diversity and integrity

Abstract

Human health and well-being benefits have increasingly been associated with contact with nature. However, limited research has focused on the influence of ecosystem type and quality on these outcomes. This paper reports on the results of an in-situ survey of 467 visitors to an Ontario protected area. Results revealed high overall restorative outcomes across all ecosystem types, with greater benefits reported for women than men. Perceived ecosystem quality, including species richness, naturalness, and ecological integrity, had the greatest impact on restorative outcomes, while the type of ecosystem and time spent had surprisingly little influence. Greater restorative outcomes for women were also associated with specific ecosystem types. The study advances our limited understanding of the nuanced relationship between human health and well-being outcomes and exposure to diverse ecosystems, and by extenstion the unique aspects of biodiversity and ecosystem condition that Canada’s protected areas exhibit.

Keywords:

• restorative outcomes
• ecological integrity
• environmental quality
• protected areas
• park management

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Allison Myles, Trina King, and Dr. Paul Eagles for their contributions to this project. This research was made possible due to the generous support of Ontario Parks staff (Alistair Mackenzie and Tanya Berkers). We thank two anonymous Reviewers whose constructive comments improved the paper substantially.

Disclosure statement

The authors receive no financial interest or benefit from the direct application of their research.

Notes

1 Ontario Parks uses visitor days for visitation accounting purposes. Visitor days should not be equated to number of visitors. For example, a single visitor who spends four days at the park would equal four visitor days.