{"title":"What Kills Mature Street and Park Trees in Cities? Systematic Quantitative Review of Published Case Studies.","authors":"Anna Petrova, Ruby Naomi Michael, Chris Pratt","doi":"10.1007/s00267-025-02116-2","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Street and park trees often endure harsher conditions, including increased temperatures and drier soil and air, than those found in urban or natural forests. These conditions can lead to shorter lifespans and a greater vulnerability to dieback. This literature review aimed to identify confirmed causes of street and park tree dieback in urban areas from around the world. Peer-reviewed case studies related to urban tree decline were scanned for the words \"urban\", \"city\", \"cities\", \"tree*\", \"decline\", \"dieback\", \"mortality\", and \"survival\". From an initial pool of 1281 papers on Web of Science and 1489 on Scopus, 65 original peer-reviewed research papers were selected for detailed analysis. Out of all species reported to decline, 46 were native, while non-natives were represented by 35 species. The most commonly affected trees were Platanus, Fraxinus, Acer, and Ficus. Most studies were conducted in Mediterranean, humid subtropical, and humid continental climates, with the greatest representation from the United States, followed by Australia, Brazil, Iran, Italy, and Russia. Many authors focused on either biotic or abiotic causes of dieback; some explored both, and some also discussed underlying environmental and urban stresses as potential predisposing factors. The majority (81% of the papers) concluded that a decline was caused by either an arthropod or a microorganism. Overall, it was suggested that changing management strategies to improve water availability and soil health might help with tree resilience. Additionally, regular monitoring and research, along with improving tree species selection and implementing biological and chemical control methods, can help prevent or slow down tree decline. Increasing awareness and adopting preventative approaches could help to extend the lifespan of street and park trees in urban environments and mitigate some of the biological threats, especially considering the challenges we may be facing due to the changing climate.</p>","PeriodicalId":543,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Management","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-025-02116-2","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Street and park trees often endure harsher conditions, including increased temperatures and drier soil and air, than those found in urban or natural forests. These conditions can lead to shorter lifespans and a greater vulnerability to dieback. This literature review aimed to identify confirmed causes of street and park tree dieback in urban areas from around the world. Peer-reviewed case studies related to urban tree decline were scanned for the words "urban", "city", "cities", "tree*", "decline", "dieback", "mortality", and "survival". From an initial pool of 1281 papers on Web of Science and 1489 on Scopus, 65 original peer-reviewed research papers were selected for detailed analysis. Out of all species reported to decline, 46 were native, while non-natives were represented by 35 species. The most commonly affected trees were Platanus, Fraxinus, Acer, and Ficus. Most studies were conducted in Mediterranean, humid subtropical, and humid continental climates, with the greatest representation from the United States, followed by Australia, Brazil, Iran, Italy, and Russia. Many authors focused on either biotic or abiotic causes of dieback; some explored both, and some also discussed underlying environmental and urban stresses as potential predisposing factors. The majority (81% of the papers) concluded that a decline was caused by either an arthropod or a microorganism. Overall, it was suggested that changing management strategies to improve water availability and soil health might help with tree resilience. Additionally, regular monitoring and research, along with improving tree species selection and implementing biological and chemical control methods, can help prevent or slow down tree decline. Increasing awareness and adopting preventative approaches could help to extend the lifespan of street and park trees in urban environments and mitigate some of the biological threats, especially considering the challenges we may be facing due to the changing climate.
街道和公园的树木通常比城市或天然森林中的树木承受更恶劣的条件,包括温度升高、土壤和空气更干燥。这些情况会导致寿命缩短,更容易枯死。本文献综述旨在确定世界各地城市街道和公园树木枯死的确切原因。研究人员扫描了与城市树木衰退相关的同行评审案例研究,寻找“urban”、“city”、“cities”、“tree*”、“decline”、“dieback”、“mortality”和“survival”等词。从Web of Science的1281篇论文和Scopus的1489篇论文中,选择了65篇经过同行评审的原创研究论文进行详细分析。在所有报告减少的物种中,46种是本地物种,而35种是非本地物种。最常受影响的树木是梧桐树、黄曲霉树、槭和榕树。大多数研究是在地中海、湿润的亚热带和湿润的大陆性气候中进行的,其中美国的代表性最大,其次是澳大利亚、巴西、伊朗、意大利和俄罗斯。许多作者关注于枯死的生物或非生物原因;有些人对两者都进行了探讨,有些人还讨论了潜在的环境和城市压力作为潜在的诱发因素。大多数(81%的论文)得出结论认为,这种下降是由节肢动物或微生物引起的。总体而言,建议改变管理策略以改善水分可用性和土壤健康可能有助于树木的恢复力。此外,定期监测和研究,以及改进树种选择和实施生物和化学控制方法,可以帮助防止或减缓树木的衰退。提高意识和采取预防措施可以帮助延长城市环境中街道和公园树木的寿命,减轻一些生物威胁,特别是考虑到我们可能面临的气候变化带来的挑战。
期刊介绍:
Environmental Management offers research and opinions on use and conservation of natural resources, protection of habitats and control of hazards, spanning the field of environmental management without regard to traditional disciplinary boundaries. The journal aims to improve communication, making ideas and results from any field available to practitioners from other backgrounds. Contributions are drawn from biology, botany, chemistry, climatology, ecology, ecological economics, environmental engineering, fisheries, environmental law, forest sciences, geosciences, information science, public affairs, public health, toxicology, zoology and more.
As the principal user of nature, humanity is responsible for ensuring that its environmental impacts are benign rather than catastrophic. Environmental Management presents the work of academic researchers and professionals outside universities, including those in business, government, research establishments, and public interest groups, presenting a wide spectrum of viewpoints and approaches.