scholarly journals Evaluation of Sampling Protocol for i-Tree Eco: A Case Study in Predicting Ecosystem Services at Auburn University

2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Martin ◽  
Arthur Chappelka ◽  
Greg Somers ◽  
Edward Loewenstein ◽  
Gary Keever

Auburn University (Auburn, Alabama, U.S.) was used as a site for a case study evaluating the standard plot sampling protocol for i-Tree Eco. A 100% tree inventory of the managed areas of campus was conducted in 2009–2010 and provided a complete data set for the evaluation. Air pollution removal, carbon storage, and carbon sequestration were the ecosystem services examined. Total tree population was also utilized for this assessment to provide a comparison to i-Tree Eco protocol. To achieve an estimate with a ±10% allowable error of the total campus value, 622 plots (0.04 ha each) with at least one tree present would need to be inventoried for air pollution removal, 870 plots for carbon storage, 483 plots for carbon sequestration, and 258 plots for number of trees, as opposed to the standard i-Tree Eco protocol of 200 plots. This study provides a first step in evaluating i-Tree Eco sampling protocol; however, efforts testing these results at sites throughout the southern United States are needed to provide the most accurate estimate of plot numbers necessary for predicting ecosystem services of urban forests.

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Márton Kiss ◽  
Ágnes Takács ◽  
Réka Pogácsás ◽  
Ágnes Gulyás

Abstract The evaluation of ecosystem services can provide essential help in incorporatating the multifunctionality of urban ecosystems in planning and management processes. Two important regulating services of urban trees, carbon sequestration and air pollution removal, are evaluated in this article for different types of tree stands (streets, parks) in the city centre of Szeged (Hungary). The necessary calculations were carried out by an adaptation of the targeted model (i-Tree Eco), based on a large complete tree inventory dataset. The analyses revealed the main tendencies in differences between tree species considering the tree condition, which affects the service-providing capacity to a high degree. The effects of differences in tree management on the chosen ecosystem services were investigated by comparing two pairs of tree alleys. Based on our observations, clear cuts and complete tree alley changes are not advisable from an ecosystem service point of view.


Land ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janis Arnold ◽  
Janina Kleemann ◽  
Christine Fürst

Urban ecosystem services (ES) contribute to the compensation of negative effects caused by cities by means of, for example, reducing air pollution and providing cooling effects during the summer time. In this study, an approach is described that combines the regional biotope and land use data set, hemeroby and the accessibility of open space in order to assess the provision of urban ES. Hemeroby expresses the degree of naturalness of land use types and, therefore, provides a differentiated assessment of urban ES. Assessment of the local capacity to provide urban ES was conducted with a spatially explicit modeling approach in the city of Halle (Saale) in Germany. The following urban ES were assessed: (a) global climate regulation, (b) local climate regulation, (c) air pollution control, (d) water cycle regulation, (e) food production, (f) nature experience and (g) leisure activities. We identified areas with high and low capacity of ES in the urban context. For instance, the central parts of Halle had very low or no capacity to provide ES due to highly compact building styles and soil sealing. In contrast, peri-urban areas had particularly high capacities. The potential provision of regulating services was spatially limited due to the location of land use types that provide these services.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hingabu Hordofa Koricho ◽  
Ararsa Derese Seboka ◽  
Shaoxian Song

Abstract Background: The recent urban challenges due to climate change and urban environment deterioration requires proper planning and inventories of urban forests. In this paper, trees and shrub information were used to estimate leaf area/biomass, carbon storage, carbon sequestration, pollution removal, and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, hydrological and functional values of Adama city urban forest. This study was conducted to assess and quantify the ecosystem services of urban forests of Adama city, Central Ethiopia.Results: The result of i-tree Eco model has indicated that the tree species such as Azadirachta indica, Eucalyptus globulus, Carica papaya and Delonix regia sequester high percentage of carbon which is approximately 14.7%, 7.4%, 7.3% and 6.2% of all annually sequestered carbon respectively. Besides, urban forests of the city was estimated to store 116,000 tons of carbon; the most carbons were stored by the species such as Eucalyptus globulus, Azadirachta indica, Carica papaya and Delonix regia that stores approximately 22.1%, 12.3%, 9.5% and 4.2% of all stored carbon respectively. Trees in Adama urban forests were estimated to produce 19.93 thousand tons of oxygen per year. It was estimated that trees and shrubs remove 188.3 thousand tons of air pollution due to O3, CO, NO2, PM2.5 and SO2 per year. In the city, 35 percent of the urban forest's VOC emissions were from Eucalyptus cinerea and Eucalyptus globulus. Besides, the monetary value of Adama urban forest in terms of carbon storage, carbon sequestration, and pollution removal was estimated to 16,588,470 ETB/yr, 118,283 ETB /yr and 12,162,701,080. 9 ETB /yr respectively.Conclusion: Urban forest of Adama city has significant contribution in terms of enhancing woody species diversity and the regulation of urban environment of the study area. From the management and conservation perspectives, urban forests of the study area needs consolidated interventions in terms of tree planting in bare areas and management works. Hence, reliable commitment should be demanded form the key stakeholders such as government, urban foresters and city dwellers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 745-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Olin ◽  
M. Lindeskog ◽  
T. A. M. Pugh ◽  
G. Schurgers ◽  
D. Wårlind ◽  
...  

Abstract. Croplands are vital ecosystems for human well-being and provide important ecosystem services such as crop yields, retention of nitrogen and carbon storage. On large (regional to global)-scale levels, assessment of how these different services will vary in space and time, especially in response to cropland management, are scarce. We explore cropland management alternatives and the effect these can have on future C and N pools and fluxes using the land-use-enabled dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS (Lund–Potsdam–Jena General Ecosystem Simulator). Simulated crop production, cropland carbon storage, carbon sequestration and nitrogen leaching from croplands are evaluated and discussed. Compared to the version of LPJ-GUESS that does not include land-use dynamics, estimates of soil carbon stocks and nitrogen leaching from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems were improved. Our model experiments allow us to investigate trade-offs between these ecosystem services that can be provided from agricultural fields. These trade-offs are evaluated for current land use and climate and further explored for future conditions within the two future climate change scenarios, RCP (Representative Concentration Pathway) 2.6 and 8.5. Our results show that the potential for carbon sequestration due to typical cropland management practices such as no-till management and cover crops proposed in previous studies is not realised, globally or over larger climatic regions. Our results highlight important considerations to be made when modelling C–N interactions in agricultural ecosystems under future environmental change and the effects these have on terrestrial biogeochemical cycles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10649
Author(s):  
Jian Zhang ◽  
Hengxing Xiang ◽  
Shizuka Hashimoto ◽  
Toshiya Okuro

Understanding how observational scale affects the interactions and spatial distributions of ecosystem services is important for effective ecosystem assessment and management. We conducted a case study in the Ussuri watershed, Northeast China, to explore how observational scale (1 km to 15 km grid resolution) influences the correlations and spatial distributions of ecosystem services. Four ecosystem services of particular importance for the sustainable development of the study area were examined: carbon sequestration, habitat provision, soil retention, and water retention. Across the observational scales examined, trade-offs and synergies of extensively distributed ecosystem services were more likely to be robust compared with those of sparsely distributed ecosystem services, and hot/cold-spots of ecosystem services were more likely to persist when associated with large rather than small land-cover patches. Our analysis suggests that a dual-purpose strategy is the most appropriate for the management of carbon sequestration and habitat provision, and cross-scale management strategies are the most appropriate for the management of soil retention and water retention in the study area. Further studies to deepen our understanding of local landscape patterns will help determine the most appropriate observational scale for analyzing the spatial distributions of these ecosystem services.


2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 347-358
Author(s):  
David Nowak ◽  
Daniel Crane ◽  
Jack Stevens ◽  
Robert Hoehn ◽  
Jeffrey Walton ◽  
...  

To properly manage urban forests, it is essential to have data on this important resource. An efficient means to obtain this information is to randomly sample urban areas. To help assess the urban forest structure (e.g., number of trees, species composition, tree sizes, health) and several functions (e.g., air pollution removal, carbon storage and sequestration), the Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) model was developed. Data collection variables and model methods are detailed and urban forest structure results are compared among 14 United States cities with average tree density ranging between 22.5 trees/ha (9.1 trees/ac) in Casper, Wyoming, U.S. to 275.8 trees/ha (111.6 trees/ac) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Advantages and disadvantages of this ground-based method of assessing urban forest structure, functions, and values are discussed.


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