Unravelling the 3D thermal environment differences between forest center and edge: A case study on 22 urban forests in Hefei city, China

IF 5.6 1区农林科学 Q1 AGRONOMY

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Pub Date : 2025-03-14 DOI:10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110481

Qingqing Ma , Yongxian Su , Xiuzhi Chen , Xiu Meng , Fengyu Zhang , Raffaele Lafortezza , Yiyong Li

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Urban forests with various structures can bring considerable but divergent biophysical cooling and humidification effects on their local climate. Thus, it is crucial to unravel the 3D thermal environment within urban forests and their relationship with forest structure, which are helpful for the urban forest planning and design. In this study, we continuously observed the air temperature (T_a) at different vertical layers from canopy to land surface as well as the soil surface temperature (T_s) from the forest center to 5 m outside the forest edge across 22 urban forests in Hefei city, China. Indicators of forest structure such as tree height, diameter at breast height (DBH), crown diameter and leaf traits were associated with their 3D thermal environments for exploring the underlying mechanisms. We found that T_s was 1.43 °C lower than the understory air temperature (T_{a understory}) in forest center but 10.90 °C higher than T_{a understory} outside the forest. Additionally, tree height largely influenced the buffering distance from forests center to the places with T_s = T_{a understory} (L_{Ts=Ta understory Lcenter}), being 4.41 m, 5.80 m and 7.75 m in short (< 7 m), medium (7–9 m) and tall (>9 m) canopy forests, respectively. The temperature difference between forest center and 5 m outside the forest (ΔTemperature) varied significantly at different vertical layers, with ΔT_s greater than 10 °C, ΔT_{a understory} and ΔT_{a bottom canopy} at around 2 °C, and no difference for ΔT_{a upper canopy}. Regression analysis showed different relationships of forest structure and leaf traits with ΔTemperature between vertical layers. Tree height, forest area and DBH showed significant positive relationships with L_{Ts=Ta understory Lcenter}. The study, for the first time, demonstrate the 3D thermal environments of urban forests, quantify the role of forest structure and leaf traits in predicting forest cooling.

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森林中心与边缘的三维热环境差异研究——以合肥市22个城市森林为例

不同结构的城市森林对当地气候的生物物理降温和增湿作用各不相同。因此，揭示城市森林内部的三维热环境及其与森林结构的关系，对城市森林的规划设计具有重要意义。本研究连续观测了合肥市22个城市森林从林冠层到地表不同垂直层的气温（Ta），以及从森林中心到林缘外5 m的土壤表面温度（Ts）。将树高、胸径、冠径、叶片性状等森林结构指标与其三维热环境相关联，探讨其机理。结果表明，林内温度比林下温度（Ta林下）低1.43°C，比林外温度高10.90°C。此外，树高对森林中心到Ts=Ta林下植被Lcenter的缓冲距离（LTs=Ta林下植被Lcenter）影响较大，分别为4.41 m、5.80 m和7.75 m (<；7米)，中（7 - 9米）和高（>；9米）冠层林。不同垂直层林心与林外5 m （ΔTemperature）的温差差异显著，ΔTs大于10℃，ΔTa林下层和ΔTa下冠层温差在2℃左右，ΔTa上冠层温差无显著差异。回归分析表明，垂直层间森林结构与叶片性状的关系存在差异。树高、森林面积和胸径与林下植被LTs=Ta呈显著正相关。该研究首次展示了城市森林的三维热环境，量化了森林结构和叶片特征在预测森林降温中的作用。

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来源期刊

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 农林科学-林学

CiteScore

10.30

自引率

9.70%

发文量

415

审稿时长

69 days

期刊介绍： Agricultural and Forest Meteorology is an international journal for the publication of original articles and reviews on the inter-relationship between meteorology, agriculture, forestry, and natural ecosystems. Emphasis is on basic and applied scientific research relevant to practical problems in the field of plant and soil sciences, ecology and biogeochemistry as affected by weather as well as climate variability and change. Theoretical models should be tested against experimental data. Articles must appeal to an international audience. Special issues devoted to single topics are also published. Typical topics include canopy micrometeorology (e.g. canopy radiation transfer, turbulence near the ground, evapotranspiration, energy balance, fluxes of trace gases), micrometeorological instrumentation (e.g., sensors for trace gases, flux measurement instruments, radiation measurement techniques), aerobiology (e.g. the dispersion of pollen, spores, insects and pesticides), biometeorology (e.g. the effect of weather and climate on plant distribution, crop yield, water-use efficiency, and plant phenology), forest-fire/weather interactions, and feedbacks from vegetation to weather and the climate system.