Citizen Science and Public Health- Can eBird data inform relationships between public health and access to biodiversity?

Abstract The relationship between access to nature and public health outcomes has been well-studied and established in the literature. However, most studies use simple greenness indices as a proxy for access to nature, which ignores the “quality” of the nature since greenness indices are not able to predict biodiversity. My objective was to investigate the relationship between citizen scientist collected biodiversity data from the eBird platform, urban greenness and four human health outcomes (asthma, coronary heart disease, and self-assessed mental and physical health). I mapped and tested for correlations among eBird record species richness, greenness as NDVI and PLACES human health data in urban census tracts located in three metro areas/ecological zones (Albany, NY: eastern deciduous forest, Kansas City, MO: tallgrass prairie, and Phoenix, AZ: Sonoran Desert). eBird species richness was related to greenness, measures of urbanization and several human health factors; however, the correlations varied by metro area and in strength. Provided confounders are controlled for, eBird data could help to refine models surrounding relationships between public health and nature access.