Phytochemical Screening of Volatile Organic Compounds in Three Common Coniferous Tree Species in Terms of Forest Ecosystem Services

Abstract

Multiple positive effects that forests have on human health and overall well-being have been reported widely in the literature. Still, multiple elements of this relationship remain unidentified and unexplained. In this study, the composition of leaf volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) content in three common coniferous species: the Austrian pine (Pinus nigra), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Spruce (Picea abies), was analyzed. The specificity of BVOCs content in the examined species and their genotypes is observed as a plant potential to evaporate these organic compounds and potentially improve human health and well-being. Principal component analysis applied on BVOCs content among species showed significant differences between compounds that have previously been characterized as having positive effects on human health by acting as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and antibacterial. Variations among genotypes of the investigated species were observed in the content of BVOCs relevant for human health improvement, such as limonene, terpinolene, β-pinene, linalool, camphene, camphor, citronellol and α-cadinol. The observed intra- and inter-species variations in the BVOCs content provide an appropriate base for further research on the forest–human health relationship, breeding and selection of the most suitable genotypes for human health improvement, and could I mpact the sustainable management of forests.

Evaluating Potential Respiratory Benefits of Forest-Based Experiences: A Regional Scale Approach

“…The aims to supply data for forest management and clinical practice guidelines fall beyond the purposes of this study. The analysis models adopted here, on the one hand, did not take into account all of the variables influencing the production of BVOCs, such as phytochemical variables [96], chrono-referenced variables [97], meteorological ones [98], interactions among variables, or the degree of connectivity among variables constituting any complex system [99]. This limit seems largely embedded in the concept of the model.…”

Forest Therapy Research in Europe: A Scoping Review of the Scientific Literature

“…plants, and investigating sustainable management strategies for forests used for therapeutic purposes [26,[62][63][64][65][66][67]. Furthermore, other research has focused on designing suitable trails for therapeutic activities within forest environments [68].…”

“…In the realm of environmental impact, researchers have scrutinized biodiversity and ecosystem services provided by therapeutic forests. This entails assessing the air quality, analyzing the composition of vegetation and the volatile organic compounds released by plants, and investigating sustainable management strategies for forests used for therapeutic purposes [26,[62][63][64][65][66][67]. Furthermore, other research has focused on designing suitable trails for therapeutic activities within forest environments [68].…”

Nature-Related Odors Influence Stress and Eating Behavior: A Laboratory Experiment With Pine and Grass Volatiles

“…Pines have a very extensive distribution across the world (Šimpraga et al, 2019; Woo & Lee, 2020) and emit high concentrations of monoterpene BVOCs (Antonelli et al, 2020). Major BVOCs that can be isolated from pine (α-pinene, β-pinene, β-myrcene, δ-3-carene, camphene, and limonene) (Rodrigues et al, 2017) have been related to various health effects, including anti-inflammatory, sleep-enhancing, antioxidant, and anti-stress effects (Antonelli et al, 2020; Woo et al, 2019; Zorić et al, 2021). To verify anti-stress effects, these BVOCs have been mainly examined in animal studies with sometimes effects on psychophysiological parameters (Akutsu et al, 2002; Okano et al, 2019).…”