Potential tree species for use in urban areas in temperate and oceanic climates (original) (raw)
Related papers
Urban trees – their impacts and roles in the urban forest
Arboricultural Journal, 2019
Urban treestheir impacts and roles in the urban forest Presenting three major papers this is the fourth and final issue of the Arboricultural Journal for 2019. One paper considers root intrusions and damage, one the problems of assessing street-tree condition in the absence of effective, professional arboriculture, and one the ecosystem services provided by a widely-planted non-native tree. Damage by intrusive street-tree roots is a big issue as trees become urbanised and as planted street-trees are used to improve local environmental conditions. In this context, tree roots often intrude into sewerage pipes and storm-water drains to cause potential damage. Dealing with such intrusions may be expensive for local authorities and agencies such as utility companies. Therefore, finding ways to identify individual trees responsible for damage can be helpful but so far has proved problematic. Effective but non-destructive identification of trees with intrusive roots can help reduce costs and target resources to best effect. Fransson (2019) investigates the potential for using the concentrations in tree tissues, of eight heavy metals (silver, gold, cadmium, lead, palladium, rubidium, antimony, and zinc) and of potassium in identifying whether the tree roots were intrusive into sewer pipes or storm-water drains. Meunpong, Buathong, and Kaewgrajang (2019) take a view of the issues for street-tree evaluation and management in a major emerging urban area, namely the city of Bangkok in Thailand. The context for the study is the Bangkok Metropolitan Area (BMA), Thailand's capital city. This has around 1,200 kilometres of main roads and side-streets with about 103,000 large trees along these, and in other public spaces. However, despite the obvious need for these trees to be monitored, assessed, and managed for things like public safety or nuisance reasons, little arboricultural work is done. The trees require professional management to avoid unnecessary and potentially catastrophic fall or dropping of trunks and branches. With tropical storms and the like, there is a serious risk of injury or damage to property; and so it is surprising that so little is done within the BMA, in terms of managing its street-tree resource. This paper seeks a cost-effective way to evaluate the condition of these trees by means of Google Street View (GSV) imagery. Interestingly, comparison of the GSV survey information with data gathered and verified in the field showed a high degree of agreement in evaluating both genus and species. However, the approach was far less useful and reliable in the assessment of overall risk of failure or other associated damage. The ability of the method in identifying the overall crown risk, tree defects, and size was very limited. Ramírez and Kallarackal (2019) examine the status and ecological behaviour of Magenta Lilly Pilly tree (Syzygium paniculatum) a species widely introduced and planted in Bogotá, Colombia. This tree is now an important component of the Bogotá urban forest system and therefore it is informative to gain a better understanding of its contributions to potential ecosystem services like pollination, perching sites, and food for birds. Magenta offers a constant supply of nectar and pollen for bees though it seems that honeybees were the only insects recorded as visiting the fully-opened flowers. The native bird species, the great
Trees for Tough Urban Sites Learning from Nature
2012
The main body of work in this thesis was to develop and test a working procedure for identification of new tree species and genotypes that holds the potential to diversify urban tree populations. This process has been set in context through a literature review which characterise species-specific information about the tolerance of trees to the environmental stresses in urban paved sites. With a Scandinavian focus, a review of literature was made in order to characterise species-specific information concerning site tolerance for urban paved environments as it is disseminated in scientific papers, dendrology literature, books addressing plant use in urban environments, plant nursery catalogues. The information was evaluated against the requirements of urban tree planners which should ideally be; contextual; local, referring to existing urban plantings, specify the urban site type(s) for which a given species can be recommended, and include the full range of tree species that are well a...
The Complex Issue of Urban Trees—Stress Factor Accumulation and Ecological Service Possibilities
Forests
This review paper is the first that summarizes many aspects of the ecological role of trees in urban landscapes while considering their growth conditions. Research Highlights are: (i) Plant growth conditions in cities are worsening due to high urbanization rates and new stress factors; (ii) Urban trees are capable of alleviating the stress factors they are exposed to; (iii) The size and vitality of trees is related to the ecological services they can provide. Our review shows, in a clear way, that the phenomenon of human-related environmental degradation, which generates urban tree stress, can be effectively alleviated by the presence of trees. The first section reviews concerns related to urban environment degradation and its influence on trees. Intense urbanization affects the environment of plants, raising the mortality rate of urban trees. The second part deals with the dieback of city trees, its causes and scale. The average life expectancy of urban trees is relatively low and ...
TREES IN URBAN HABITAT Authors: Hardial Singh Johl and Sarbjit Singh Bahga This is a "ground breaking" book for town planners, architects, landscapists and city planners who face the enormous task of creating and planning cities, buildings, parks and open spaces in the face of challenging unprecedented urbanization. It is an encyclopedia of knowledge on methods and techniques to solve the intricate problems of urban planning with tree plantation. This book is an excellent reference guide that cites New Delhi and Chandigarh as examples of cities where tree plantation was a priority. The book offers valuable concepts of tree planting accompanied with photographs and illustrations to describe the appropriate use of trees in different urban settings. It provides a detailed description of the fundamental requirements of tree plantation around roads, buildings, open spaces and parks taking into account the important considerations pertaining to the structure and textures of trees, their density and diversity in growth patterns, scale, colour, form and detail. The book includes "lessons learnt" with insights into opportunities for improvement in future planning and development. The one chapter pertaining to the concept of developing the entire city into a park makes this book unique and creative.
Agrochimica -Pisa-
It is well known that, at present, more than a half of the world population live in the built-up areas (in Europe almost 80%) and the urbanization trend will continue as the population increases and more people will live in large cities. In this scenario arbo-riculture and urban forestry should have a main role in the effort to manage urbanization and to create livable cities and it is certain that all green areas, starting from the single tree specimens to periurban forests which, in some way, recall the " concept of nature " , can fulfil a paramount function in improving life quality and in reaching the minimal threshold for human well-being. What is going to happen next – over 10-15 years – will obviously be of the greatest interest to all people concerned with urban environment. This latter poses some constraints to tree growth and survival: drought, poor soil quality and compaction, pollutants, salinity, pathogens, light heterogeneity, and conflicts with human activit...
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 2010
Urban paved sites are complex stress environments and when selecting trees for such sites, tree planners must prioritise stress tolerance above aesthetic appeal and functional aspects. This requires detailed information about the tolerance of tree species to environmental stresses, so as to support urban tree planners in selecting a wide range of trees. In Scandinavia there is currently no overview of the extent to which the character of information about stress tolerance and its dissemination in books and papers support urban tree planners in selecting a wide range of species for paved sites. Books on dendrology, literature on plant use in cities, tree nursery catalogues and scientific papers were therefore reviewed. For the review, eight tree species were selected along a gradient representing their intensity of use in Northern Europe. We examined the character of information and assessed it relative to tree planners' requirements for information to be; contextual, local to Scandinavia, referring to existing plantings in paved sites and recommendations for use of the species in paved sites. The results showed that existing information is piecemeal and that most is either too general (dendrology literature) or too specific or contradictory (scientific literature) to meet the requirements of urban tree planners, while books intended for plant use in cities do not sufficiently integrate the local perspective. Moreover, contextual information local to the Scandinavian region is mainly provided for already much used species. These findings led to suggestions on how future urban forestry and arboriculture research and dissemination efforts in Scandinavia can encourage tree planners to use a greater variety of tree species in urban paved sites.
An index for tree stability assessment in urban environment
Ecological Engineering
a b s t r a c t Trees in the city not only have an ornamental function but also a role in improving the ecological function in urban ecosystems that has been substantially disturbed by human activities such as environmental pollution. Today the ecological role of urban greenery is clearer than ever and is included in the new scientific field of ecological engineering, which is the design of sustainable ecosystems that integrate human society with its natural environment for the benefit of both. Trees in an urban environment show many difficulties in surviving in it because the ecological conditions that exist in the cities are worse than these of the nature. One of these seems to be the heavy wind loads. But even though rough surfaces slow down the wind speed, tall buildings can cause wind tunnel effects that stress a tree as much or even more than if it was positioned in an exposed, unprotected site. An urban tree must be able to endure all the damages and loads from the wind throu...
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 2012
Urban trees can potentially mitigate environmental degradation accompanying rapid urbanisation via a range of tree benefits and services. But uncertainty exists about the extent of tree benefits and services because urban trees also impose costs (e.g. asthma) and may create hazards (e.g. windthrow). Few researchers have systematically assessed how urban tree benefits and costs vary across different cities, geographic scales and climates. This paper provides a quantitative review of 115 original urban tree studies, examining: (i) research locations, (ii) research methods, and (iii) assessment techniques for tree services and disservices. Researchers published findings in 33 journals from diverse disciplines including: forestry, land use planning, ecology, and economics. Research has been geographically concentrated (64% of studies were conducted in North America). Nearly all studies (91.3%) used quantitative research, and most studies (60%) employed natural science methods. Demonstrated tree benefits include: economic, social, health, visual and aesthetic benefits; identified ecosystem services include: carbon sequestration, air quality improvement, storm water attenuation, and energy conservation. Disservices include: maintenance costs, light attenuation, infrastructure damage and health problems, among others. Additional research is required to better inform public policy, including comparative assessment of tree services and disservices, and assessment of urban residents and land managers’ understanding of tree benefits and costs.
THE IMPACTS OF TREES AND GREEN SPACES ON THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGICAL SPECIES
Globally, there are campaign for mitigation on climate change, reduction of carbon dioxide and green house gas emission. Trees have the capacities to absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and release oxygen to the atmosphere, which is useful to man and other species. This paper took inventory of impacts of trees in the built environment and other ecological species. This effect of trees to man and the built environment includes Energy Saving, Air Pollution reduction, Sewage Treatment, Noise Reduction. Trees aids the absorption, recycling as well as the moderation of the flow of rain water within the ecosystem. Trees as sources of construction materials to man as well as shelter to other species within the ecosystem whereas dead trees serves as organic manure which is used in agriculture. Trees also serves as sources of food, home, song post, trap for prey and hiding place against predators to other species.the paper was concluded by further stressing the urgent need to integrate tree planting and inclusion of green spaces into our built environment during urban development.and specific recommendations were highlighted.