Arbolado urbano, calidad del aire y afecciones respiratorias en seis comunas de la provincia de Santiago, Chile

Abstract

Urban trees, air quality and respiratory diseases in six communes of the province of Santiago, Chile Ozone (O 3) is a secondary pollutant, often above the norm in some areas of Santiago in the spring-summer period. It is formed in the atmosphere by photochemical reactions, between nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which have an important biogenic contribution (BVOCs). In this research the interrelationship between urban trees, their contribution to atmospheric ozone formation and particulate matter, and respiratory diseases in 6 communes in the province of Santiago was analyzed. The choice of the communes considered the number of inhabitants, the existence of stations monitoring air quality, the percentage of green areas and the geographical distribution. The results showed correlation between the type of species of urban trees, ozone, particulate matter and respiratory diseases: asthma and pneumonia. Necessity for replacement of exotic trees species by native species is concluded.

Configurations for Four Urban Tree Species in the Santiago Metropolitan Region and Their Impact on the Environment According to CO2, PM2.5, Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds and Water Resource Criteria

“…However, scarce economic resources mean that these projects will always be limited by budgetary constraints [47,56]. In addition, the economic resources available for the addition of urban trees are not homogeneous in the area investigated, as each municipality has a limited amount related to the socioeconomic level of its inhabitants [12,48,49]. Therefore, the way authorities, urban designers and the community as a whole approach development must change.…”

“…In the absence of specific normative or legislative figures, the available options clearly tend to be voluntary or informative. These categories include technical manuals [45,46], studies on the link between the number of green areas and the people's socioeconomic level [47], magazines on the situation of urban trees [48], studies on quality of life in relation to tree species [49] and private initiatives [50]. However, in 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture set out to produce a law on urban trees [51] and created a legislative proposal in April 2021 [15].…”

Cambios en la composición y diversidad del arbolado urbano de Linares, Nuevo León

“…1A), este resultado difiere de lo reportado por otros autores. Criollo et al (2016) evaluaron el arbolado urbano de seis comunas en Chile encontrando muy por encima mayor número de individuos exóticos que nativos (un promedio de 3164 individuos nativos y 38229 individuos exóticos). Silva et al (2020) evaluaron 17 espacios verdes urbanos en el atlántico brasileño, registrando un 37 % de individuos nativos y un 63 % de individuos exóticos.…”

Native trees provide more benefits than exotic trees when ecosystem services are weighted in Santiago, Chile

“…Finally, tree selection for urban forests demands an evaluation of environmental "disservice" (Nowak and Dwyer 2007;Lyytimäki et al 2008;Lyytimäki and Sipilä 2009;Dobbs et al 2011), not included in the present study. In Santiago, two types of environmental tree disservices have been recognized as important: the emission of allergen pollen (Mardones et al 2011;Criollo et al 2016) and that of volatile organic compounds (VOC) (Préndez et al 2013;Egas et al 2018). Although evidence is scarce for most of the tree species in Santiago city, studies have recognized exotic tree species as more disadvantageous than native trees.…”

“…Indeed, pollen of exotic trees is known to be highly allergenic to Santiago's inhabitants (e.g., Platanus spp., Populus spp.) and VOC emissions (e.g., Acacia dealbata, Betula pendula Roth, Melia azedarach L., Olea europaea L., Prunus spp., Robinia pseudoacacia L.) (Préndez et al 2013(Préndez et al , 2014Criollo et al 2016;Egas et al 2018).…”