They say birds descended from dinosaurs who have long inhabited the Earth's surface. They have been used as symbols to mean various things, like love, hope, peace. Today, they are associated with feelings of happiness as ecologists are investigating whether birds make humans happy.
According to researchers from the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research, there is a link between birds and human happiness. These recent findings are significant to the efforts in bird conservation and important for human-well-being.
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Nature Can Be Good For A Person's Mental Health
The pandemic seems to have brought many people close to nature as activities relating to it have become popular pastimes during lockdowns. From planting to adopting animals, indeed humans have embraced nature once more.
The beneficial effects of being close to nature include mental health and various studies have already documented it. Now, scientists from Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, the iDiv, and the University of Kiel have examined whether a diverse nature could have positive impacts on the mental health of people in Europe.
Science Daily reported that the researchers used data from the "2012 European Quality of Life Survey" to study how species diversities in humans' surroundings could affect their life satisfaction. Species diversities were measured based on the birds documented in the European breeding bird atlas.
Joel Methorst, the study's lead author, said that Europeans are satisfied with their lives if there is a large species diversity in their immediate surroundings. He further said that their study found that the happiest Europeans are those that can experience numerous different bird species in their daily life or those who live in near-natural surroundings where various species live.
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Birds Are Suitable Indicators of Biological Diversity
The study authors said that the birds are some of the best indicators of biological diversity because they are the most common species seen in the surroundings, especially in the urban areas. Besides, their song can often be heard and they are popular for people to watch.
According to Eco Watch, birding has become a more accessible and common hobby in the United States during the pandemic. Although this is not something new, thousands of amateur and expert birders have participated in the long-running annual Christmas Bird Count of Audubon, which is a three-week activity where participants count the number of birds in a specific area for the group's recording.
In conclusion, Methorst said that "the Global Assessment 2019 by the World Biodiversity Council IPBES and studies of avian species in agricultural landscapes in Europe clearly show that the biological diversity is currently undergoing a dramatic decline. This poses the risk that human well-being will also suffer from an impoverished nature. Nature conservation therefore, not only ensures our material basis of life, but it also constitutes an investment in the well-being of us all."
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