Biodiversity Interventions for Well-Being (BIWE)

Biodiversity Interventions for Well-being, Neighborhood Rewilding

Biodiversity is essential for nature and human well-being. Land use has reduced biodiversity in cities, which weakens the functionality of the urban ecosystems and the well-being of citizens. This may also increase the risk of immune-mediated disorders among urban dwellers.

In Biodiversity interventions for well-being (BIWE), microbial biodiversity interventions are performed to increase biodiversity in urban built areas. Results from the intervention trials are combined with publicly available land cover and ecological data. These are analyzed from the viewpoint of shifts in ecosystems and human well-being and immune regulation, ecological quality, and urban planning.

The investigators set up an intervention study in which urban private yards are rewilded with diverse vegetation and decaying deadwood and plant residuals. The investigators aim to evaluate the effect of rewilding, and yard management practices on commensal microbiome, cortisol levels and well-being and salivary cytokine levels, and gene pathways.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Immune System Diseases; Microbial Colonization; Nature, Human; Well-Being, Psychological
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Rewilding

Detailed Description

Our specific aims are:

To assess if rewilding diversifies health-associated skin microbiota and is associated with salivary cytokine levels, gene pathways, cortisol levels and commensal microbiota.

Assess whether there are patterns in the microbiome associated with the salivary cytokine levels and hair cortisol levels.

Assess whether rewilding affects health and psychological measures, such as Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWS), Depression Scale (DEPS) and Nature Relatedness Scale (NR6).

The investigators will recruit approximately 42 (21 study subjects per treatment) subjects living in a detached house or terraced house in urban areas and aged between 18-72.

The medical exclusion criteria include immunosuppressive medications, immune deficiencies, a disease affecting immune response (e.g., colitis ulcerosa, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, diabetes), cancer diagnosis within the last year or on-going cancer treatment. Other exclusion criteria include incompetency and living outside city area.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 30
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Finland
  • Uusimaa
    • Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland, 00970
      • Natural Resources Institute Finland

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Living in a detached or terraced house in urban area

Exclusion Criteria:

• Immunosuppressive medications
• Immune deficiencies
• a disease affecting immune response (e.g., colitis ulcerosa, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, diabetes)
• cancer diagnosis within the last year or on-going cancer treatment
• Incompetency
• Living outside city area.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Rewilding; Private yards of the intervention study subjects will be modified with berry bushes, fruit trees, perennial yard plants, meadow flowers, cultivation boxes, organic mulch materials, decaying deadwood, leaf compost and organic plant growing media with high microbial diversity.	Other: Rewilding; Private yards of the intervention study subjects will be modified with vegetation and deadwood.
No Intervention: Control; The control group's yards will not be modified. Control group receives inorganic fertilizers, moss remover and ant control insecticide (Myrr®; active ingredient imidacloprid 0.03 % w/w).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Skin Gammaproteobacteria	Difference on skin gammaproteobacterial diversity between rewilding and control group	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Salivary cytokines	Interleukin-6 and -10 measured from saliva	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year
Difference in diversity (Alpha and beta diversity) of skin, saliva and stool microbiota	It will be analyzed if microbial communities are different between treatments	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year
Difference in observed species richness of skin, saliva and stool microbiota	It will be analyzed if microbial communities are different between treatments	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year
Difference in taxonomies of skin, saliva and stool microbiota	It will be analyzed if microbial communities are different between treatments	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year
Difference in microbial gene pathways of saliva and stool microbiota	Will be analyzed with shotgun sequencing if gene pathways are different between treatments	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year
Cortisol levels	Cortisol levels measured from hair samples	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year
Perceived Stress Scale	Lower score on a perceived stress scale among intervention treatment compared to control that indicates lower perceived stress levels among intervention treatment. Minimum 0, maximum 40.	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year
Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale	Higher score on a Warwick-Edinburhg Mental Wellbeing scale among intervention treatment compared to control that indicates better mental well-being among intervention treatment. Minimum 14, maximum 70.	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year
Depression Scale	Lower score on a Depression scale among intervention treatment compared to control that indicates lower levels of depression symptoms among intervention treatment. Minimum 0, maximum 60.	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year
Nature Relatedness Scale	Higher score on a Nature Relatedness scale among intervention treatment compared to control that indicates stronger sense of connectedness to nature among intervention treatment. Minimum 6, maximum 30.	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year
Metabolites in urine	Metabolites of harmful substances are measured from the urine sample.	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Associations between environmental factors and microbial measurements, salivary cytokine levels, hair cortisol levels, perceived well-being	associations between environmental factors (vegetation, deadwood, and polypore richness, land cover categories and other yard characteristics), yard management practices, activities at the yard, salivary cytokine levels and bacterial measurements (diversity, and taxonomic and functional features).	Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Natural Resources Institute Finland
• Collaborators: Tampere University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Aki Sinkkonen, Natural Resources Institute Finland

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 30, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): September 30, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 27, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 3, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): April 8, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 8, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 3, 2024
• Last Verified: March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Well-being; Planetary health; Commensal microbiome; Salivary cytokines
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Disease Attributes; Infections; Communicable Diseases; Immune System Diseases
• Other Study ID Numbers: NaturalResourcesIFinland; 346136 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Strategic Research Council Finland); 346138 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Strategic Research Council Finland)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No