Human genetic genes are responsible for his tendencies and attitudes towards nature

Although city life influences human instincts, the study tends to confirm that nature lovers will seek to visit green places anyway, no matter how advanced the city they live in.

Who among us is not captivated by flowers and trees and delights in hearing the birds and seeing the rivers, and who among us does not feel joy in the lush gardens and looking forward to the clear sky or the waves of the sea? There is no doubt that a person is happy to see trees, plants and green areas, and all people share a love for the beautiful nature and feel happy when visiting it and spending time in its spaciousness.

However, science proves that this is not due to the personal taste of every human being, but rather it is an integral part of our genetic makeup and our DNA, which we inherited from our parents and grandparents.

Genetics responsibility

And a scientific study, the first of its kind, published in the journal PLOS Biology , revealed that genes are largely responsible for human variation in their love for nature and their tendency to visit and enjoy being in its arms, just as they are responsible for their variation in their other formal and psychological qualities.

The Varsity report indicated that the study was led by Dr. Chia Chen Chang, a professor of biological sciences at the National University of Singapore, with the help of a team of 10 researchers from several universities and research centers in Britain, Australia and Singapore.

The study surveyed 1,153 pairs of identical and non-identical twins from the UK Twins Database by asking them about their tendency to be in nature, their understanding of it and their sense of harmony with it, the frequency of their visits to natural places such as green spaces, parks and beaches, the extent to which they enjoy visiting natural places, and the length of time they spend there.

By comparing identical twins who share nearly 100% of their DNA with non-identical twins who share only half of the DNA, but are similar in upbringing, the research team found that identical twins are more likely to share psychological tendencies related to love of nature than non-identical twins. The study asserts that human genetics are responsible for 46% of his inclinations and attitudes towards nature.

The study also compared between the two groups in the rate of visits to parks and green spaces and the length of the visit, and concluded that identical twins are more similar in this regard than non-identical twins, which means that even a person’s desire to go to natural places and go to them is not from the pure will of the human being completely, it is partially Stemming from his genes that he inherited from his parents and grandparents.

Age and environmental influences

The researchers examined traits such as age, as the ages of the twins participating in the study ranged between 19 and 89 years, and the researchers concluded that any genetic traits related to attitudes, tendencies and experiences decrease as a person ages, due to the cumulative effect of environmental factors, different life experiences, economic conditions and health barriers. . Those who suffer from movement difficulties, for example, have less frequent visits to natural places.

Dr. Zhang's team found that the other half of the individual differences between twins participating in nature experiences was due to differences in environmental factors such as city life, where the people living there did not have the same experiences with nature as those living in rural areas.

Although city life affects the innate human orientation towards green, open nature, the study confirms the opinion that nature lovers will seek to visit natural places anyway, regardless of how advanced the city they live in, and that they get greater psychological benefits from visits to places natural compared to others.

Despite the significant influence of environmental factors, this study provided the first scientific evidence that our genes are partly responsible for the extent to which we interact with and love nature, and even the extent to which we sense its joy and beauty.