Spatio-Temporal Changes in Structure for a Mediterranean Urban Forest: Santiago, Chile 2002 to 2014

Abstract

Abstract:There is little information on how urban forest ecosystems in South America and Mediterranean climates change across both space and time. This study statistically and spatially analyzed the spatio-temporal dynamics of Santiago, Chile's urban forest using tree and plot-level data from permanent plots from 2002 to 2014. We found mortality, ingrowth, and tree cover remained stable over the analysis period and similar patterns were observed for basal area (BA) and biomass. However, tree cover increased, and was greater in the highest socioeconomic stratum neighborhoods while it dropped in the medium and low strata. Growth rates for the five most common tree species averaged from 0.12 to 0.36 cm¨year´1. Spatially, tree biomass and BA were greater in the affluent, northeastern sections of the city and in southwest peri-urban areas. Conversely, less affluent central, northwest, and southern areas showed temporal losses in BA and biomass. Overall, we found that Santiago's urban forest follows similar patterns as in other parts of the world; affluent areas tend to have more and better managed urban forests than poorer areas, and changes are primarily influenced by social and ecological drivers. Nonetheless, care is warranted when comparing urban forest structural metrics measured with similar sampling-monitoring approaches across ecologically disparate regions and biomes.

Urbanization in Small Cities and Their Significant Implications on Landscape Structures: The Case in Ethiopia

“…Furthermore, the most significant dynamics related to urban growth is the loss of vegetation cover around the periphery due to the replacement of natural land cover by impervious surfaces. Nevertheless, several studies have suggested that urban expansion is also attributed to a reduction of vegetation cover in the urban center, because of the steady rise in urban density and paving of green spaces [49,62,63]. In this investigation, the loss of about 45.3% of vegetation cover including natural forest, could contribute to the deterioration of the environmental services of a city.…”

Distribución de la infraestructura verde y su capacidad de regulación térmica en Bogotá, Colombia

“…Resultados significativos con p < 0.05. tanto la cantidad de árboles (Brown, 2012) como su diversidad, área de copa y otros atributos estructurales (Escobedo et al, 2015), son mayores en los estratos más altos. De manera similar, este patrón de mayor abundancia y calidad de la infraestructura verde en las zonas con mejor condición socioeconómica, ha sido observado en otras ciudades de Latinoamérica (De la Maza et al, 2002;Pedlowski et al, 2002;Escobedo et al, 2016), Norteamérica (Schwarz et al, 2015;Nesbitt y Meitner, 2016) y Europa (Kabisch y Haase, 2014). Teniendo en cuenta que los estratos socioeconómicos buscan capturar las diferencias socioeconómicas de la población (Hernández, 2016), los resultados obtenidos indican problemas de inequidad ambiental en Bogotá, tal como han concluido previamente otros autores (Brown, 2012;Escobedo et al, 2015).…”

Ecological Impact of Forest Fires and Subsequent Restoration in Chile

“…Implementation of forecasting methods [31,32], combined with different tools for trend breaks in time series [33], requires further work. Moreover, to gain better understanding of the spatio-temporal dynamics [34] of forest fires in the area considered here, spatial analysis is necessary over the long term.…”