A Butterfly Flaps its Wings: Extinction of Biological Experience and the Origins of Allergy

Prescott, Susan L.

OBJECTIVE: The grand global challenges of the Anthropocene are interdependent with ample evidence that reduced early-life ‘experience’ of biodiversity primes for immune dysregulation and a higher propensity low-grade inflammation, increasing the risk of allergy many other later-onset NCDs —also now implicated in the susceptibility to acute inflammation in COVID-19 infection. The objective of this review is to explore links between biodiversity on all scales and allergic disease as a measure of immune dysregulation. DATA SOURCES: Were identified from PubMed and Web of Science using search terms pertaining to biodiversity, nature-relatedness, allergic disease, microbiome, NCDs, COVID-19 and associated terms. STUDY SELECTIONS: Studies were selected based on relevance to human health and biodiversity. RESULTS: Contact with natural environments enriches the human microbiome, promotes regulated immune responses, and protects from allergy and both acute and chronic inflammatory disorders. These important links to eco-psychological constructs of the ‘extinction of experience’ which indicates that loss of direct, personal contact with biodiversity—wildlife and the more visible elements of the natural world—might lead to emotional apathy and irresponsible behaviors toward the environment. CONCLUSION: The immune system is a useful early barometer of environmental impacts, and via the microbiome, a measure of the way in which our current experiences differ from our ancestral past. While we would benefit from further research, efforts to increase direct, personal contact with biodiversity have clear benefits for multiple aspect of physical and mental health, the skin and gut microbiome, immune function, food choices, sleep, physical activity, and promotes environmental responsibility.