Attitudes toward Residential Trees and Awareness of Tree Services and Disservices in a Tropical City

Abstract

Attitudes toward urban residential trees and awareness of their ecosystem services and disservices may play an important role in management decisions of private residential green spaces with important consequences to urban sustainability. In 2011, 397 household surveys were conducted in six locations of the Río Piedras Watershed (San Juan, Puerto Rico) to evaluate residents' attitudes toward residential and neighborhood trees and their association with household socio-demographic factors, how awareness of services and disservices relate to the spatial proximity of trees (home versus neighborhood), and whether attitudes are associated with yard management (tree abundance). Most residents self-reported positive attitudes toward trees in general and these appeared to be more frequent than self-reported negative attitudes. Respondents recognized more tree services (emphasizing shade, lower temperature, food, and ornamental/aesthetics) and fewer disservices (emphasizing maintenance hardship, property damage, and power line obstruction). Not all tree services and disservices were equally recognized, and differences in the spatial context of trees and residents may contribute to the variation in residents' awareness of tree ecosystem services or disservices. Variation in positive attitudes partially explained the current variation in yard tree abundance, along with residents' age, housing tenure, yard size, and watershed location. Results have direct implications for urban forest planning and management in residential contexts.Sustainability 2020, 12, 117 2 of 21 feature of green infrastructure and urban forestry management strategies are incorporated into green infrastructure planning due to the commonality of the two approaches [9]. It is generally accepted that these green networks, and trees specifically, can provide a variety of ecosystem services that directly or indirectly impact human well-being in urban socio-ecological systems [10,11]. On the other hand, green spaces may inadvertently cause perceived or realized disservices that may affect human well-being (i.e., structural damage to private or public infrastructure, sources of pollen allergens) [12] if not planned adequately. Managing for ecosystem disservices may facilitate the optimization of outcomes for well-being rather than just managing ecosystem services alone [13]. One possibility is that the interplay between perceived services and disservices of green infrastructure within urban spaces could also be influencing management decisions about these spaces and changing them over time [13][14][15]. If so, urban planning with sustainability as a goal must address the links between human attitudes and behaviors toward green spaces and how these factors may influence the planning, development, and management of urban green infrastructure [16][17][18][19].Residential green infrastructure has earned visibility as an important component of urban landscapes for its potential to provide multiple ecosystem services. Green infrastructure in the form of residential ...

Public support for restoration: Does including ecosystem services as a goal engage a different set of values and attitudes than biodiversity protection alone?

“…Ecosystem disservices are poorly studied compared to services [ 71 ] and rarely considered simultaneously with benefits [ 72 , 73 ]. We know of no other research relating core values and environmental attitudes to the perception of disservices, although a few studies have shown that these perceptions may differ cross-culturally [ 74 ], between rural and urban dwellers [ 75 ], across income and ethnic groups [ 76 ], with proximity to the disservice [ 77 ], and among people with different pro-environmental behaviors [ 78 ]. Given the dearth of work on this topic, we are unable to contextualize our finding that disservices were more concerning to people with Egoistic values and Utilizationist attitudes.…”

Thermal Comfort and Perceptions of the Ecosystem Services and Disservices of Urban Trees in Florence

“…The ES or EDS mentioned as reasons for preference or least preference respectively, were deductively coded by one author based on lists from the literature [29][30][31]. The coding process was in accordance with that outlined in Olivero-Lora et al [32]. The ES were assigned to a group in the CICES classification system [31] and EDS were assigned to one of the five categories of EDS proposed in Vaz et al [30].…”

“…This may indicate a recognition that urban trees have a common good and contribute to a better quality of life shared by all the citizens, and so trees better suited for that purpose are preferred. Olivero et al [32] noted differences in the recognition of the ES provided by private trees (provisioning) and public trees (cultural). Or alternatively, it may reflect a general knowledge of the challenges of urban forestry gained from the reporting of storm damage from trees in the local media for example [46].…”

Hurricane Driven Changes in Vegetation Structure and Ecosystem Services in Tropical Urban Yards: a Study Case in San Juan, Puerto Rico

“…1). These yards are part of a larger project setup established by the San Juan ULTRA Network across the RPWS Urban Ecosystems (Melendez-Ackerman et al 2014Vila-Ruiz et al 2014;Torres-Camacho et al 2017;Olivero-Lora et al, 2019). The RPWS is characterized by a land cover gradient that ranges from highly urbanized areas near the coast to highly forested areas around the headwater and has a mean annual temperature of 25.7º C and a mean annual precipitation that ranges from 1,509 mm in the coast to 1,755 mm in the upland (Lugo et al 2011).…”

“…However, residential yards are privately owned and subject to human selective pressures and management that may hinder the recovery of ecosystem services. A prior study shows that yard owners in San Juan have prioritized food production, air purification, ornamental value, and temperature reduction above other services (Olivero-Lora et al 2019). Therefore, decision makers and managers should use these preferences as a guide to develop management plans for these areas.…”