Abstract
Street trees have aesthetic, environmental, human health, and economic benefits in urban ecosystems. Street tree populations are constructed by cycles of planting, growth, death, removal and replacement. The goals of this study were to understand how tree mortality and planting rates affect net population growth, evaluate the shape of the mortality curve, and assess selected risk factors for survival. We monitored a street tree population in West Oakland, CA for 5 years after an initial inventory (2006). We adapted the classic demographic balancing equation to quantify annual inputs and outputs to the system, tracking pools of live and standing dead trees. There was a 17.2 % net increase in live tree counts during the study period (995 in 2006, 1166 in 2011), with population growth observed each year. Of the live trees in 2006, 822 survived to 2011, for an annual mortality rate of 3.7 %. However, population growth was constrained by high mortality of young/small trees. Annual mortality was highest for small trees, and lower for mid-size and large trees; this represents a Type III mortality curve. We used multivariate logistic regression to evaluate the relationship between 2011 survival outcomes and inventory data from 2006. In the final model, significant associations were found for size class, foliage condition, planting location, and a multiplicative interaction term for size and foliage condition. Street tree populations are complex cultivated systems whose dynamics can be understood by a combination of longitudinal data and demographic analysis. Urban forest monitoring is important to understand the impact of tree planting programs.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Appleyard D (1981) Livable streets, protected neighborhoods. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 336 pp
Baker FA (1993) Monitoring the urban forest: case studies and evaluations. Environ Monit Assess 26:153–163
Bartsch D, Hook J, Prince E, Schrom D (1985) Using computer simulation to plan a sustained-yield urban forest. J For 83:372–375
Boyce S (2010) It takes a stewardship village: effect of volunteer tree stewardship on urban tree mortality rates. Cities Environ 3: article 3. 8pp
Brack CL (2006) Updating urban forest inventories: an example of the DISMUT model. Urban For Urban Green 5:189–194
Buchman RG (1983) Survival predictions for major lake states tree species. USDA Forest Service, Research paper NC-233, St. Paul, MN. 7pp
Buchman RG (1985) Performance of a tree survival model on national forests. North J Appl For 2:114–116
Buchman RG, Lentz EL (1984) More lake states tree survival predictions. USDA Forest Service, Research Note NC-312, St. Paul, MN. 6pp
Clark JR, Matheny NP, Cross G, Wake V (1997) A model of urban forest sustainability. J Arboric 23:17–30
Cole DW (1979) Oakland urban forestry experiment: a cooperative approach. J For Jul.:417–419
Condit R (1995) Research in large, long-term tropical forest plots. Trends Ecol Evol 10:18–22
Coomes DA, Allen RB (2007) Mortality and tree-size distributions in natural mixed-age forests. J Ecol 95:27–40
Costa S, Palaniappan M, Wong AK, Hays J, Landerio C, Rongerude J (2002) West Oakland Indicators Project. Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security. 76 pp
Craul PJ (1999) Urban soils: applications and practices. John Wiley & Sons, NY
Cumming AB, Twardus DB, Nowak DJ (2008) Urban forest health monitoring: large-scale assessments in the United States. Arboricult Urban For 34:341–346
Das AJ, Battles JJ, Stephenson NL, van Mantgem PJ (2007) The relationship between tree growth patterns and likelihood of mortality: a study of two tree species in the Sierra Nevada. Can J For Res 37:580–597
Donovan GH, Butry DT (2010) Trees in the city: valuing street trees in Portland, Oregon. Landsc Urban Plan 94:77–83
Donovan GH, Butry DT (2011) The effect of urban trees on the rental price of single-family homes in Portland, Oregon. Urban For Urban Green 10:163–168
Dreistadt SH, Dahlsten DL, Frankie GW (1990) Urban forests and insect ecology. BioSci 40:192–198
Duryea ML, Blakeslee GM, Hubbard WG, Vasquez RA (1996) Wind and trees: a survey of homeowners after Hurricane Andrew. J Arboric 22:44–50
Duryea ML, Kampf E, Littell RC (2007) Hurricanes and the urban forest: I. Effects on southeastern United States coastal plain tree species. Arboricult Urban For 33:83–97
Dwyer JF, McPherson EG, Schroeder HW, Rowntree RA (1992) Assessing the benefits and costs of the urban forest. J Arboric 18:227–234
Ferrini F, Nicese FP, Mancuso S, Giuntoli A (2000) Effect of nursery production method and planting techniques on tree establishment in urban sites: preliminary results. J Arboric 26:281–284
Fisher JB, Kelly M, Romm J (2006) Scales of environmental justice: combining GIS and spatial analysis for air toxics in West Oakland, California. Health Place 12:701–714
Gonzales PA, Minkler M, Garcia AP, Gordon M, Garzon C, Palaniappan M, Prakash S, Beveridge B (2011) Community-based participatory research and policy advocacy to reduce diesel exposure in West Oakland, California. Am J Pub Health 101:e1–e10
Grabosky J, Bassuk N (1995) A new urban tree soil to safely increase rooting volume under sidewalks. J Arboric 21:187–201
Greenland S, Schwartzbaum JA, Finkle WD (2000) Problems due to small samples and sparse data in conditional logistic regression analysis. Am J Epidemiol 151:531–539
Harcombe PA (1987) Tree life tables. BioSci 37:550–597
Harcombe PA, Marks PL (1983) Five years of tree death in a Fagus-Magnolia forest, southeast Texas (USA). Oecologia 57:49–54
Harris RW, Clark JR, Matheny NP (2004) Arboriculture: Integrated management of landscape trees, shrubs, and vines, 4th edn. New Jersey, Prentice Hall
Hauer RJ, Wang W, Dawson JO (1993) Ice storm damage to urban trees. J Arboric 19:187–194
Hauer RJ, Miller RW, Ouimet DM (1994) Street tree decline and construction damage. J Arboric 20:94–97
Hildebrandt EW, Sarkovich M (1998) Assessing the cost-effectiveness of SMUD’s shade tree program. Atmos Environ 32:85–94
Hosmer DW, Lemeshow S (2000) Applied logistic regression, 2nd edn. New York, Wiley
Jacobs AB (1995) Great streets. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass
Jewell NP (2004) Statistics for epidemiology. Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton
Lacan I, McBride JR (2008) Pest Vulnerability Matrix (PVM): a graphic model for assessing the interaction between tree species diversity and urban forest susceptibility to insects and diseases. Urban For Urban Green 7:291–300
Laverne RJ, Winson-Geideman K (2003) The influence of trees and landscaping on rental rates at office buildings. J Arboric 29:281–290
Lawrence HW (1988) Origins of the tree-lined boulevard. Geogr Rev 78:355–364
Lawrence AB, Escobedo FJ, Staudhammer CL, Zipperer W (2011) Analyzing growth and mortality in a subtropical urban forest ecosystem. Landsc Urban Plan 104:85–94
Lindenmayer DB, Likens GE (2009) Adaptive monitoring: a new paradigm for long-term research and monitoring. Trends Ecol Evol 24:482–486
Lindenmayer DB, Likens GE (2010) The science and application of ecological monitoring. Biol Conserv 143:1317–1328
Lines ER, Coomes DA, Purves DW (2010) Influences of forest structure, climate and species composition on tree mortality across the eastern US. PLoS One 5:e13212
Lorimer CG, Dahir SE, Nordheim EV (2001) Tree mortality rates and longevity in mature and old-growth hemlock-hardwood forests. J Ecol 89:960–971
Lovasi GS, Quinn JW, Neckerman KM, Perzanowski MS, Rundle A (2008) Children living in areas with more street trees have lower prevalence of asthma. J Epidemiol Community Health 62:647–649
Lu JWT, Svendsen ES, Campbell LK, Greenfeld J, Branden J, King KL, Flaxa-Raymond N (2010) Biological, social, and urban design factors affecting young street tree mortality in New York City. Cities Environ 3: article 5. 15pp
Maco SE, McPherson EG (2002) Assessing canopy cover over streets and sidewalks in street tree populations. J Arboric 28:270–276
McPherson EG (1993) Monitoring urban forest health. Environ Monit Assess 26:165–174
McPherson EG (2003) A benefit-cost analysis of ten street tree species in Modesto, California, U.S. J Arboric 29:1–8
McPherson EG, Rowntree RA (1989) Using structural measures to compare twenty-two U.S. street tree populations. Landsc J 8:13–23
McPherson EG, Simpson JR (2002) A comparison of municipal forest benefits and costs in Modesto and Santa Monica, California, USA. Urban For Urban Green 1:61–64
McPherson EG, Simpson JR (2003) Potential energy savings in builds by an urban tree planting programme in California. Urban For Urban Green 2:73–86
McPherson EG, Scott KI, Simpson JR (1998) Estimating cost effectiveness of residential yard trees for improving air quality in Sacramento, California using existing models. Atmos Chem 32:75–84
McPherson EG, Simpson JR, Peper PJ, Maco SE, Xiao Q (2005) Municipal forest benefits and costs in five US cities. J For 103:411–416
McPherson EG, Simpson JR, Xiao Q, Wu C (2008) Los Angeles 1-million tree canopy cover assessment. USDA Forest Service, GTR PSW-GTR-207, Albany, CA. 52 pp
McRoberts RE, Bechtold WA, Patterson PL, Scott CT, Reams GA (2005) The enhanced Forest Inventory and Analysis Program of the USDA Forest Service: historical perspective and announcement of statistical documentation. J For 103:304–308
Merse CL, Buckley GL, Boone CG (2008) Street trees and urban renewal: a Baltimore case study. Geogr Bull 50:65–81
Metcalf CJE, McMahon SM, Clark JS (2009) Overcoming data sparseness and parametric constraints in modeling of tree mortality: a new nonparametric Bayesian model. Can J For Res 39:1677–1687
Miller RG, Miller RW (1991) Planting survival of selected street tree taxa. J Arboric 17:185–191
Monserud RA, Sterba H (1999) Modeling individual tree mortality for Austrian forest species. For Ecol Manag 113:109–123
Morani A, Nowak DJ, Hirabayashi S, Calfapietra C (2011) How to select the best tree planting locations to enhance air pollution removal in the MillionTreesNYC initiative. Environ Pollut 159:1040–1047
Morris WF, Doak DF (2002) Quantitative conservation biology: theory and practice of population viability analysis. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA
Nielsen CN, Bühler O, Kristoffersen P (2007) Soil water dynamics and growth of street and park trees. Arboricult Urban For 33:231–245
Nowak DJ (1986) Silvics of an urban tree species: Norway maple (Acer platanoides L.). M.S. thesis. State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY. 148 pp
Nowak DJ (1993) Historical vegetation change in Oakland and its implications for urban forest management. J Arboric 19:313–319
Nowak DJ, Dwyer JF (2007) Understanding the benefits and costs of urban forest ecosystems. In: Kuser JE (ed) Urban and community forestry in the Northeast, 2nd edn. Springer, New York, pp 25–46, 517 pp
Nowak DJ, McBride JR, Beatty RA (1990) Newly planted street tree growth and mortality. J Arboric 16:124–129
Nowak DJ, Kuroda MK, Crane DE (2004) Tree mortality rates and tree population projections in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Urban For Urban Green 2:139–147
Pauleit S, Jones N, Garcia-Martin G, Garcia-Valdecantos JL, Rivière LM, Vidal-Beaudet L, Bodson M, Randrup TB (2002) Tree establishment practice in towns and cities—results from a European survey. Urban For Urban Green 1:83–96
Poland TM, McCullough DG (2006) Emerald ash borer: invasion of the urban forest and the threat to North America’s ash resource. J For Apr/May:118–124
Preston SH, Heuveline P, Guillot M (2001) Demography: measuring and modeling population processes. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK
Richards NA (1979) Modeling survival and consequent replacement needs in a street tree population. J Arboric 5:251–255
Richards NA (1983) Diversity and stability in a street tree population. Urban Ecol 7:159–171
Roman LA, Scatena FN (2011) Street tree survival rates: meta-analysis of previous studies and application to a field survey in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Urban For Urban Green 10:269–274
Scharenbroch BC, Lloyd JE, Johnson-Maynard JL (2005) Distinguishing urban soils with physical, chemical, and biological properties. Pedobiologia 49:283–296
Sheil DF (1995) A critique of permanent plot methods and analysis with examples from Budongo Forest, Uganda. For Ecol Manag 77:11–34
Sheil DF, Burslem RP, Alder D (1995) The interpretation and misinterpretation of mortality rate measures. J Ecol 83:331–333
Silvertown J, Franco M, Pisanty I, Mendoza A (1993) Comparative plant demography—relative importance of life-cyle components of the finite rate of increase in woody and herbaceous perennials. J Ecol 81:465–476
Sklar F, Ames RG (1985) Staying alive: street tree survival in the inner-city. J Urban Aff 7:55–65
Smiley ET, Fraedrich BR, Fengler P (2007) Chapter 17: Tree hazard inspection, evaluation, and management. In: Kuser JE (ed) Urban and community forestry in the northeast, 2nd edn. Springer, NY, pp 277–294
Smith WB (2002) Forest inventory and analysis: a national inventory and monitoring program. Environ Pollut 116:S233–S242
Southworth M (2003) Measuring the livable city. Built Environ 29:343–354
Southworth M (2005) Designing the walkable city. J Urban Plan Devel 131:246–257
StataCorp (2009) Stata Statistical Software: Release 11. StataCorp LP, College Station, TX
Staudhammar C, Escobedo F, Lawrence A, Duryea M, Smith P, Merritt M (2011) Rapid assessment of change and hurricane impacts to Houston’s urban forest structure. Arboricult Urban For 37:60–66
Tilt JH, Unfried TM, Roca B (2007) Using objective and subjective measures of neighborhood greenness and accessible destinations for understanding walking trips and BMI in Seattle, Washington. Health Promot 21:371–379
Umeki K (2002) Tree mortality of five major species on Hokkaido Island, northern Japan. Ecol Res 17:575–589
USDA Forest Service (2006) Project profile: Oakland watershed restoration and protection study. Pacific Southwest Research Station, Center for Urban Forest Research. www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/cufr
van Mantgem PJ, Stephenson NL (2005) The accuracy of matrix population model projections for coniferous trees in the Sierra Nevada, California. J Ecol 93:737–747
Whitlow TH, Bassuk NL, Reichert DL (1992) A 3-year study of water relations of urban street trees. J Appl Ecol 29:436–450
Wolf KL (2003) Public response to the urban forest in inner-city business districts. J Arboric 29:117–126
Wolf KL (2004) Trees and business district preferences: A case study of Athens, Georgia, U.S. J Arboric 30:336–346
Xiao Q, McPherson EG (2011) Rainfall interception of three trees in Oakland, California. Urban Ecosyst 14:755–769
Acknowledgments
This research was partially funded by the Garden Club of America’s Urban Forestry Fellowship and the University of California, Berkeley Schwabacher Fellowship to L.A. Roman. We thank Q. Xiao and G.W. Tarver, Jr. for supplying the 2006 inventory data. We thank K. Shakur and staff at Urban Releaf their assistance with the field research, and their dedication to Oakland’s urban forest. We are grateful to many UCB undergraduates for assistance with the annual tree monitoring. We thank D.J. Nowak, C.W. Woodall, J.S. Stanovick, and L. Mozingo for thoughtful critiques of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix 1: Supplementary field data collection details
Appendix 1: Supplementary field data collection details
Several quality assurance and quality control steps were necessary to adapt the 2006 inventory system to multi-year monitoring. Some trees that were assumed to have been omitted from the 2006 inventory were retroactively added as alive in 2006. In these cases, tree size (>10 cm DBH in 2008) was taken as evidence that they were already in the ground in 2006. The urban forestry initiatives in this neighborhood plant small saplings, therefore it seemed reasonable to assume that mid-size and large trees were omitted in 2006. In the first monitoring year (2007), we also confirmed species, land use, and planting location information from the initial inventory, correcting errors where necessary.
Standing dead status during monitoring years 2007–2011 was defined by an absence of green leaves and live buds. This is a lower threshold of health than the “dead or dying” condition rating in i-Tree (Table 1). Trees from the 2006 inventory recorded as health rating 1 (dead or dying) for both foliage and wood were categorized as standing dead by our definition. However, because health rating is subjective, and different individuals were involved during the inventory vs. monitoring years, this approach to connect our standing dead definition and 2006 health categories was imprecise. There were 2 trees from the 2006 inventory with dying health ratings for foliage and wood that we recorded alive in 2007; however, we also noted that these trees were nearly dead. For simplicity in this analysis, because no backwards transitions were allowed from standing dead to alive, we retroactively re-categorized those 2 trees as alive in 2006.
To facilitate ease of finding trees each year in the study, tree location was recorded with several complementary systems: street addresses, manual notes on a map of GPS coordinates from the 2006 inventory, and order on the block. Tree order on the block was a system of numbering each tree every year in progression from north to south, or east to west, for one side of the street on a given block. The ordering system was used to facilitate database sorting for convenience during field work.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Roman, L.A., Battles, J.J. & McBride, J.R. The balance of planting and mortality in a street tree population. Urban Ecosyst 17, 387–404 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-013-0320-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-013-0320-5