Urbanization exacerbates climate sensitivity of eastern United States broadleaf trees.

Tree growth is a key mechanism driving carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems. Environmental conditions are important regulators of tree growth that can vary considerably between nearby urban and rural forests. For example, trees growing in cities often experience hotter and drier conditions than their rural counterparts while also being exposed to higher levels of light, pollution, and nutrient inputs.

Positive long-term impacts of restoration on soils in an experimental urban forest.

As urbanization increases worldwide, investments in nature-based solutions that aim to mitigate urban stressors and counter the impacts of global climate change are also on the rise. Tree planting on degraded urban lands-or afforestation-is one form of nature-based solution that has been increasingly implemented in cities around the world. The benefits of afforestation are, however, contingent on the capacity of soils to support the growth of planted trees, which poses a challenge in some urban settings where unfavorable soil conditions limit tree performance.

Photosynthesis, fluorescence, and biomass responses of white oak seedlings to urban soil and air temperature effects.

Urban forest patches can provide critical ecosystem services and their ability to regenerate native tree species is critical to their sustainability. Little is known about native tree seedling establishment and physiological function in urban ecosystems. This growth chamber study examined the effects of urban soil and air temperatures on white oak (Quercus alba L.

Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, leaf traits and foliar chemistry of white oak and red maple trees in urban forest patches.

The provisioning of critical ecosystem services to cities of the eastern USA depends on the health and physiological function of trees in urban areas. Although we know that the urban environment may be stressful for trees planted in highly developed areas, it is not clear that trees in urban forest patches experience the same stressful environmental impacts. In this study, we examine chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, leaf traits, foliar nutrients and stable isotope signatures of urban forest patch trees compared with trees growing at reference forest sites, in order to characterize physiological response of these native tree species to the urban environment of three major cities arranged along a latitudinal gradient (New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Baltimore, MD).

Sugar maple growth in relation to nutrition and stress in the northeastern United States.

Sugar maple, Acer saccharum, decline disease is incited by multiple disturbance factors when imbalanced calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and manganese (Mn) act as predisposing stressors. Our objective in this study was to determine whether factors affecting sugar maple health also affect growth as estimated by basal area increment (BAI). We used 76 northern hardwood stands in northern Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire, USA, and found that sugar maple growth was positively related to foliar concentrations of Ca and Mg and stand level estimates of sugar maple crown health during a high stress period from 1987 to 1996.