ARSEC

Urban Trees and Drought

Creaf leader

The objective of ARSEC is to establish an innovative system for continuous scientific monitoring, as well as retrospective analysis using tree rings, of Barcelona’s urban trees in order to understand how climate change affects their growth and health status, and to improve their management. The study will analyse three representative species (Platanus x hispanica, Tijuana tipu, and Celtis australis) in different urban contexts, combining physiological and environmental measurements with retrospective analysis and citizen science, to ensure the survival of trees and their capacity to provide ecosystem services.

Objectives

1. To characterise the physiological response and the annual and seasonal growth of the three most abundant tree species in the city —plane tree (Platanus × hispanica), tipuana (Tipuana tipu) and hackberry (Celtis australis)— across three different urban environmental contexts (parks, avenues and narrow streets), in order to assess whether these three species are efficient and resilient to extreme climatic events (drought and heatwaves) through two approaches:

a. Continuous growth measurements.
b. Retrospective analysis of tree growth and climate sensitivity.

2. To promote a citizen science initiative through the active participation of schools and local organisations in the collection of data on tree health, fostering environmental education and the dissemination of knowledge on the effects of climate change on urban trees.

3. To integrate physiological and environmental data, as well as transfer knowledge to the municipal services responsible for urban trees through a decision-support system for the technical management of urban trees. Data generated through monitoring will be compiled, processed and analysed in order to visualise, within an integrated environment, how vegetation responds to the urban climate. Through a data viewer, the aim is to highlight the physiological responses of trees to local meteorological conditions.