Plants as Countermeasures: A Review of the Literature and Application to Habitation Systems for Humans Living in Isolated or Extreme Environments

Humans rely on plants for their survival in a multitude of ways. Plants provide nutritive value to organisms throughout the food chain and support a life-sustaining atmosphere. The idea that plants provide non-nutritive value is less established. In this paper, we will outline a variety of ways in which plants have been shown to have positive (nonnutritive) impacts on humans such that the potential application of plants as a countermeasure for difficulties experienced by humans living in isolated or extreme environments is established and evaluated. A literature review on the topic of the non-nutritive benefits of plants is drawn from a wide variety of disciplines; a framework is offered to organize and provide structure for addressing the potential of plants to serve as effective countermeasures in isolated/extreme environments.