OOS 11 - Towards a Better Understanding of Urban Forests: Innovative and Emerging Methods for Monitoring Urban Tree Health and Quantifying Ecosystem Services in Cities

Organizer(s)

• HP

  Hannah Prather

  Postdoctoral Researcher
  Reed College
  Portland, Oregon, United States

Co-Organizer(s)

• JM

  Jason Maxfield

  Senior Research Associate
  Reed College, United States
• AR

  Aaron Ramirez

  Assistant Professor
  Department of Biology & Department of Environmental Studies, Reed College, United States

Trees play major roles in the bio-physical function of cities and provide many benefits to urban residents, including mitigating extreme temperatures, capturing airborne pollutants, and managing stormwater. All of these ecosystem services vary with tree health, as do the risks trees can pose to infrastructure and property when stressed or poorly managed. In cities, trees experience unique environmental stressors such as heat island effects, increased pollution, and impervious surface cover, all of which are highly variable within urban areas. Consequently, tree health impacts on the ecosystem services trees provide potentially exacerbate social and health inequalities for urban residents, yet these dynamics remain poorly understood.

This session explores novel and emerging methods for measuring and monitoring the physiological health and biophysical function of urban trees, with a focus on approaches that increase understanding of high-resolution spatial and temporal variations in tree health, as well as methods for frequent or continuous monitoring and early-warning of urban forest vulnerability. Additionally, this session highlights novel approaches for utilizing readily-available data streams such as smartphones, satellites, and tree-based environmental sensors, to gain ecologically relevant insights about tree health and environmental conditions in cities.

Presentations:

• 3:30 PM – 3:45 PM PDT

  Integrating field and remote sensing applications for characterizing tree loss in a rapidly densifying urban area
  

  Presenting Author: Vivek Shandas – Portland State University

  Co-author: Yunjae Ock – Portland State University
• 3:45 PM – 4:00 PM PDT

  The Urban Forest Digital Twin: technologies to build virtual forests for urban forestry, STEM education, and public outreach
  

  Presenting Author: Michael P. Hamilton – UC Berkeley - Blue Oak Ranch Reserve
• 4:00 PM – 4:15 PM PDT

  Monitoring tree sway signals as indicators of water-tree interactions in built environments
  

  Presenting Author: Dominick M. Ciruzzi – William & Mary

  Co-author: Steven P. Loheide II – University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 4:15 PM – 4:30 PM PDT

  Adapting tree ecophysiology methods in support of urban silviculture: insights from Baltimore, MD
  

  Presenting Author: Nancy F. Sonti – USDA Forest Service

  Co-author: Thomas Eberhardt – USDA Forest Service

  Co-author: Rich Hallett – USDA Forest Service

  Co-author: Max Piana – USDA Forest Service

  Co-author: James Westfall – USDA Forest Service

  Co-author: Michael Wiemann – USDA Forest Service

  Co-author: Ronald Zalesny – USDA Forest Service
• 4:30 PM – 4:45 PM PDT

  Seeing the trees through the forest: the importance of a community ecology approach to urban forestry
  

  Presenting Author: Elsa C. Anderson – Northwestern University, Chicago Botanic Garden

  Co-author: Shannon L. L. LaDeau – Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

  Co-author: Dexter Locke – US Forest Service

  Co-author: Steward T.A. Pickett, n/a – Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
• 4:45 PM – 5:00 PM PDT

  How local adaptation plays a key role to secure urban forests in a changing climate
  

  Presenting Author: Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez – Western Sydney University

  Co-author: Matthew Brookhouse – Australian National University

  Co-author: Sally A A. Power – Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia

  Co-author: Mark G. G. Tjoelker – Western Sydney University