Oral Abstract Details

Author(s):
Matthew F. Winn, Sang-Mook Lee, Philip A. Araman

Affiliation:
USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station; Bradley Department of Electrical Engineering, Virginia Tech; USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station

Presentation Type:
Oral

Topic Area:
Monitoring and predicting human influences on landscapes and ecosystems

Abstract Text:
Trees are important assets to the urban environment. They improve air quality by reducing temperatures, lowering VOC emissions, and removing harmful pollutants from the air. They can improve water quality by intercepting and filtering rainfall, thus reducing urban runoff and the pollutants they carry. Strategically placed trees can also reduce heating and cooling energy use by providing shade in the summer and windbreaks in the winter. In addition to the environmental benefits urban trees provide, they add aesthetic, social, and economic value to urban communities as well. The urban environment, however, can often produce added stresses to these trees. Soil compaction, limited root growth, groundwater contamination, and high pollutant levels are just a few of the factors that can influence tree growth and vigor. Because of the benefits that urban trees provide and the associated risks they face, it is important to monitor trees for early indications of declining health. The most common indicator of declining tree health is a reduction in crown foliage. There are few tools available, however, for accurately measuring the crown characteristics of urban trees. Therefore, the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station has developed a crown analysis software tool to assist with urban tree monitoring programs. The program, called UrbanCrowns, can be used by anyone with or without a background in urban forestry to analyze urban tree crown characteristics using only a single, side-view digital photograph and a few easily collected field measurements. The output provided by the software includes estimates of tree height, crown height, crown diameter, live crown ratio, crown volume, and foliage transparency.