Jessica C. Fisher

University of Kent | KENT · Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology

Despite the multifaceted and diverse challenges that refugees, migrants, and asylum-seekers experience when entering a new country, they remain notably underrepresented in the evaluation and understanding of the health and wellbeing impacts of outdoor health interventions. We addressed this knowledge gap by a mixed-methods evaluation (questionnaire...

Background: Evidence on the health benefits of spending time in nature has highlighted the importance of pro vision of blue and green spaces where people live. The potential for health benefits offered by nature exposure, however, extends beyond health promotion to health treatment. Social prescribing links people with health or social care needs...

Tackling environmental challenges that face humanity requires us to acknowledge new ways of working and to cross disciplinary boundaries. However, the methodological toolkit used by environmental researchers to explore the human attitudes, knowledge and behaviours that drive global challenges such as biodiversity loss and climate breakdown remains...

Language is central to the way people learn about the natural world. A salient concern of the biodiversity conservation arena has been to understand how language can be employed by scientists to communicate knowledge to nonexpert audiences and build ecological literacy. The use of analogy and narrative by scientists are prominent techniques. In thi...

Background: Evidence on the health benefits of spending time in nature has highlighted the importance of provision of blue and green spaces in peoples living environments. The potential for health benefits offered by nature exposure, however, extends beyond health promotion to health treatment. Social prescribing links people with health or social...

People rely on well-functioning ecosystems to provide critical services that underpin human health and well-being. Consequently, biodiversity loss has profound negative implications for humanity. Human–biodiversity interactions can deliver individual-level well-being gains, equating to substantial healthcare cost savings when scaled up across popul...

The evidence linking nature and human wellbeing is compelling. Yet, there is a lack of understanding regarding which aspects of nature contribute to wellbeing and the role biodiversity plays specifically. This knowledge gap hampers our ability to understand and manage natural environments from an ecological perspective to improve human wellbeing. T...

Forest restoration/creation is a policy focus worldwide, with initiatives pledging to plant billions of trees. While there is an emphasis on providing “the right tree in the right place,” we need to understand for whom the trees are right. Such social dimensions are frequently overlooked, despite being critical to successful forest restoration/crea...

The link between nature and human wellbeing is well established. However, few studies go beyond considering the visual and auditory underpinnings of this relationship, even though engaging with nature is a multisensory experience. While research linking smell to wellbeing exists, it focuses predominantly on smells as a source of nuisance/offence. S...

Most of the global population are urban, with inhabitants exposed to raised levels of pollution. Pollutants negatively impact human wellbeing, and can alter the structure and diversity of ecosystems. Contrastingly, urban biodiversity can positively contribute to human wellbeing. We know little, however, about whether the negative impacts of polluti...

Human population growth and urbanisation are putting pressure on urban green and blue spaces worldwide. These spaces provide habitat for biodiversity and, as evidence from the Global North shows, can provide health and wellbeing benefits to urban dwellers. Nonetheless, there is a paucity of evidence regarding the wellbeing benefits associated with...

Cities are complex, socio‐ecological ecosystems providing both opportunity and detriment to human health and wellbeing. Specifically, urban green (e.g. parks) and blue space (e.g. coastline) can restore human psychological wellbeing. In the Global South, where rapid urbanisation is posing challenges for biodiversity conservation and the mental well...

The current extinction crisis demands worldwide commitment to conservation across all sectors of society. By transcending the traditional disciplinary boundaries, conservationists can reach new audiences to communicate pro‐conservation knowledge, education and awareness messages. There are approximately 2.7 billion video‐gamers worldwide, with mill...

Accelerating rates of urbanisation are contributing to biodiversity declines worldwide. However, urban green (e.g. parks) and blue spaces (e.g. coast) provide important habitat for species. Emerging evidence also shows that green and blue spaces can benefit human psychological wellbeing, although few studies originate from the Global South and it i...

Technology is transforming societies worldwide. A major innovation is the emergence of robotics and autonomous systems (RAS), which have the potential to revolutionize cities for both people and nature. Nonetheless, the opportunities and challenges associated with RAS for urban ecosystems have yet to be considered systematically. Here, we report th...

Urban land cover expansion and human population growth are accelerating worldwide. This is resulting in the loss and degradation of green and blue spaces (e.g. parks, waterways, lakes) in cities, which provide resources to sustain biodiversity and improve human wellbeing. The specific characteristics of these spaces (e.g. sounds, species, safety) t...

Urbanization poses a serious threat to local biodiversity, yet towns and cities with abundant natural features may harbor important species populations and communities. While the contribution of urban greenspaces to conservation has been demonstrated by numerous studies within temperate regions, few consider the bird communities associated with dif...

The human health and well-being benefits of contact with nature are becoming increasingly recognised and well understood, yet the implications of nature experiences for biodiversity conservation are far less clear. Theoretically, there are two plausible pathways that could lead to positive conservation outcomes. The first is a direct win-win scenar...

Kelps (Laminariales, Ochrophyta) are ecologically and commercially important habitat-forming brown macroalgae, found in coastal ecosystems worldwide. Their presence in the sublittoral fringe makes monitoring kelp forests problematic and consequently they remain relatively understudied. Remote sensing offers new avenues to monitor difficult-to-acces...

Benthic habitats are important elements of polar marine environments, but can be vulnerable to anthropogenic influences such as trawling. Bottom trawling can reduce diversity and alter communities, although some habitats show resilience. The shrimp trawl fishery of West Greenland is a significant part of Greenland's economy. It operates along the w...