Source: CORNELL UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
ADAPTATION OF URBAN TREES TO CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH SUPERIOR GENETICS AND MODIFIED SOILS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
MCINTIRE-STENNIS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1007212
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2015
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2018
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
ITHACA,NY 14853
Performing Department
Horticulture
Non Technical Summary
Close to 80 percent of the U.S. population lives in urban areas and depends on the essential ecological, economic, and social benefits provided by urban trees and forests. Today, the urban forest is much more than an aesthetic green element in cities. Storm water management, pollution relief, beneficial and recreational impacts on human well-being and urban heat island mitigation are some of the services urban trees provide. In the United States alone, urban trees store over 708 million tons of carbon and can help further reduce emissions by lowering electricity demand for summer air conditioning and winter heating. In the 2011 report on climate change in New York, substantially increased summer heat stress is predicted. New strategies for tree selection and management are needed now if we are to prepare for these challenges. Moreover, urban soils are often unproductive due to high soil bulk density, low organic matter, poor structure and low water holding capacity. These characteristics diminish soil health and create an environment inhospitable to plant growth. There are two fundamental approaches we can choose: we can select tree species that are better able to grow under extreme weather events or we can mitigate disturbed urban soils to reduce stress levels. We propose that both approaches taken simultaneously are best. Our research and extension programs have targeted both urban tree selection as well as soil remediation.
Animal Health Component
70%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
70%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1240530106075%
2032110311125%
Knowledge Area
203 - Plant Biological Efficiency and Abiotic Stresses Affecting Plants; 124 - Urban Forestry;

Subject Of Investigation
2110 - Ornamental trees and shrubs; 0530 - Parks and urban green space;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems); 3111 - Landscape architecture;
Goals / Objectives
Develop and improve turgor loss point methodology for screening urban trees.Rate new hybrid oaksand common and potential trees for drought tolerance using turgor loss point methodologyDevelop rapid multiplication techniques for desirable new oak selections using tissue culture and modified stool bed field methods.Increase healthy soil volume in urban areas using remediation techniques that create breakout zones creating greater soil volume for urban trees.Develop a soil health manual for urban landscapes
Project Methods
Micro propagation techniques for oaks will be developed using tissue culture and juvenile explants.A vapor pressure osmometer will test trees for tolerance to drought by measuring osmotic adjustment in the spring, summer and during experimentally controlled water deficits in containerized treesCompost quality will be evaluated to develop a specification for soil remediation. Composts derived from various feedstocks will be mixed with soil and trees grown in them to determine a range of acceptable composts for urban soil remediation.

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Urban forestry researchers, nursery growers and municipal tree managers are the target audience of this research. Twenty-five presentations and workshops have been given to these target audiences. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Twenty-five presentations and workshops have been given in the past two years to disseminate research findings. Cooperative Extension Educators, Urban Foresters, Nursery Professionals and Arborists have taken part in these. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In addition to face to face presentations and workshops, web-based databases and videos have helped to get the message out. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Substantial progress has been in developing the Turgor Loss Point method for determining tree drought tolerance. In addition, research on the ability of trees to become more drought tolerant after controlled short water deficit challenges showed that certain species were able to acclimate after drought events and others dropped their leaves to reduce water losses. A paper describing this finding is under review. Fifteen hybrid oaks have been shown to have increased insect and disease resistant, drought tolerance, good form and tolerance to alkaine soils. Eleven of these trees have been able to be propagated using tissue culture. 230 trees are being given to communities in NYS for further long-term evaluation The 'Scoop and Dump' soil remediation technique has shown to increase usable soil volumes for trees while increasing soil quality both in landscape beds and along streets. A Soil Health Manual for Urban Landscapes is in progress.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Bassuk, N. May 2018. Greening the Inner City: How do we Choose the Best Trees. Open Access Government ISSN 2516-3817. Pages 386-388
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sjoman, H., Hirons, A., and Bassuk, N. 2018 Magnolias as urban trees - a preliminary evaluation of drought tolerance in seven magnolia species" Arboricultural Journal 2018 https://doi.org/10.1080/03071375.2017.1415554
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Bassuk, N.L Dec 12, 2017 Scientia: Biology, Earth and Environment Trees  the True Urban Warriors http://www.scientia.global/dr-nina-bassuk-trees-the-true-urban-warriors/
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Bassuk, Nina (2018). Urban forests pay us back. SciTech Europa Quarterly 26 (Pan European Networks), pp. 268-269.. http://www.hort.cornell.edu/uhi/research/articles/ST26%20CORNELL1%2023312%20pro.pdf
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Bassuk, N. November 2018. Trees in the urban environment: Seeing roots underground. Open Access Government.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Bassuk, N. October 2018. Finding space for trees in the urban environment. Open Access Government.


Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:This research is aimed at landscape managers, nursery professionals, landscape architects, arborists, city foresters and educators in Cooperative Extension and at Botanic Gardens and Arboreta. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?15 presentations were made to professional audiences. Hands-on workshops helped train participants on the importance of soil remediation and appropriate plant selection. Fifty students developed skills in site assessment, plant selection and soil remediation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Journal articles were published, web sites developed and outreach materials published on the urban horticulture website. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continued experimentation of turgor loss point as predictor of stress tolerance in trees. Trees will be challenged with drought conditions to determine whether they can modify their osmotic adjustment to compensate for greater drought stress. Hybrid oaks clones will be rooted and grown in nursery conditions.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Turgor loss point calculation in urban trees has shown to be a good predictor or drought stress tolerance and agrees with published observation reports on each taxa's drought stress tolerance. This will enable us to develop a screening technique to rate trees for tolerance to extremes in drought and adaptation to urban environments. Results are being disseminated through the Woody Plant Database http://woodyplants.cals.cornell.edu/home and through many conference presentations. Long term soil remediation with deep incorporation of compost has shown to improve soil health and plant growth over a twelve year period. This technique will enable landscape professionals to remediate degraded and compacted urban soils using a readily available source of organic matter and mulch. Plants growing in this remediated soil have exhibited increased growth and tolernace to drought events. Hybrid oaks have been successfully cloned using tissue culture. This will enable superior oaks to become available for commercial production in the near future.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Scharenbroch, B., Stephanie Miller, David Carter, Margaret Bialecki, Robert Fahey, Luke Scheberl, Michelle Catania, Lara Roman, Nina Bassuk, Richard Harper, Les Werner, Alan Siewert, Lucy Hutyra, Steve Raciti. 2017 A rapid urban site index for assessing the quality of street tree planting sites. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening 27 (279-286)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2017 Citation: Henrik Sj�man, Andrew D. Hirons & Nina L.Bassuk Improving confidence in species selection for challenging urban sites: a role for leaf turgor loss Bassuk Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Jingjing Yin, Richard W. Harper, Nina L. Bassuk 2017 Effects of Tree Production Method and Transplanting on Root Hydraulic Conductance. Journal of Environmental Horticulture 35(2) June 79-83
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Dropkin, E. Bassuk,N. and Signorelli, T.2017 Woody Shrubs for Water Retention Practices 2nd edition July, 2017 http://www.hort.cornell.edu/uhi/outreach/pdfs/woody_shrubs_stormwater.pdf
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Sax, M.S., Bassuk, N., van Es, H., Rakow, D.,2017 Long-Term Remediation of Compacted Urban Soils by Physical Fracturing and Incorporation of Compost, Urban Forestry and Urban Greening (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.03.023


Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:This research is aimed at nursery producers and landscape managers (Landscape Architects, City Foresters, Arborists, Landscape Managers) and educators (Cooperative Extension educators, Botanic Garden and Arboreta) Changes/Problems:Turgor loss point methodology was found to be very sensitive to air temperature and phenological leaf age. New experiments this summer will investigate and control of these factors. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Ten presentations haven been made to stakeholder and professional audiences. Three articles were written describing different facets of the work Database was improved and made available to all through internet access What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Micropropagation of hybrid oaks is continuing. Compost assessment will complete the soil remediation process Turgor loss point will be assessed on drought stressed and well-watered trees over the growing season

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Turgor loss point methodology was refined and improved. Trees were rated for drought tolerance, but this work will be repeated because of changes to the methodology Micropropagation of oaks is progressing. Initiation protocol is finalized. Progress was made on the multiplcation phase. 'Scoop and Dump' methodology was assessed over 12 years and reported through a journal article and video. Health manual has not been completed

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Nina L.Bassuk, Bryan R. Denig, Miles Schwartz Sax 2016 Asexual propagation of oak hybrids: our progress, and the challenges of producing clonal plants. Journal of the International Oak Society. Issue 27. 99-106
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Grabosky J and Bassuk N. 2016 Seventeen years growth of street trees in structural soil compared with a tree lawn in New York City. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening Vol. 16,103-109.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2017 Citation: Miles Schwartz Saxa, Nina Bassukb, Harold van Esc, Don Rakowd 2017 Long-term remediation of compacted urban soils by physical fracturing and incorporation of compost. Urban Forest and Urban Greening.