How urban biodiversity connects to our health
How can urban green spaces support both biodiversity and human health? Urban ecologist Mallika Sardeshpande explores the links between our surroundings and the microbes we carry, and how a One Health perspective can help us design healthier cities.
Mallika joined SLU’s Division of Landscape Architecture in September 2026.
Welcome to SLU! Could you tell us about your research background and what brought you here?
‘Delighted to be here! I have been researching the relationship between humans and biodiversity in conservation areas, agricultural landscapes and cities.
Cities are at the cutting edge of this work because there is so much potential to actively design spaces where humans and biodiversity can connect, coexist and contribute to sustainability. This is what I now investigate as an urban ecologist in the Division of Landscape Architecture: how can we better design and maintain cities for the benefit of both people and biodiversity?’
What are microbiomes, and why are they important from a One Health perspective?
‘Our bodies host communities of microorganisms, known as microbiomes, which help us function by processing nutrients and transmitting signals. These communities also interact with microbes in the wider environment.
From a One Health perspective, we need to recognise these connections and create opportunities for beneficial microbial interactions, for example, through contact with healthy soil, plants and animals. We also need to consider exposures that can disrupt microbial communities, including antimicrobial substances.
Diverse microbiomes can help protect against pathogens and influence how we respond to treatments.’
In your recent paper, you describe how microbiomes are shaped by factors ranging from diet and medication to biodiversity and the wider environment:
What are the most important connections between these different levels, and how can this broader perspective help us better understand antimicrobial resistance and other health challenges?
The microbial diversity within our bodies reflects, in part, the environments we interact with. In environments with limited microbial diversity, our microbiomes can become disrupted, with consequences for the communication between our nervous, immune, and other physiological systems. In more diverse and dynamic environments, microbial communities interact and adapt.
Diet, medication, lifestyle and environmental exposures all contribute to shaping our microbiomes, and we can often make informed choices to cultivate our microbiomes. This includes eating healthy ‘living’ foods and products labelled free from antibiotics, and following medical prescription and disposal instructions carefully. Antibiotics spread rapidly into water and soil, making their target microbes increasingly resistant and difficult to control.
Fortunately, much research indicates that the beneficial effects of healthy microbiomes can accumulate over time. It is never too late to start cultivating more balanced and resilient microbiomes in our daily lives.
What will you be working on at SLU, and what collaborations would you like to develop?
‘My main focus will be theoretical and applied research on designing cities that benefit people and biodiversity, with a particular emphasis on health.
This includes planning landscapes that connect habitats, enriching habitats and designing green spaces with features that support biodiversity. I will also study how people’s perceptions, everyday practices and policies can enable biodiversity to thrive alongside us in cities.
My interests extend to agriculture, conservation, culture, health and livelihoods, as well as large-scale ecological patterns, systems thinking and the links between science, policy and practice. Do get in touch if you would like to collaborate.’
What three messages would you like policymakers and practitioners to take away from your research?
- All living things rely on microbes. Consider them when making major changes to an environment, whether it is a body, a field or a landscape.
- Health is sustained through feedback and interactions between communities, whether they are communities of microbes or groups of professionals.
- Treat nature and culture as allies in practice, creating balance rather than dependencies.
More information
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Read the paper: Microbiomes as Modulators of Human and Planetary Health: A Relational and Cross-Scale Perspective, published in Global Change Biology in 2025 (published before she joined SLU).
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Explore the Landscape Architecture – Urban Ecology research group