NORTH-EAST ROMANIA AS A FUTURE SOURCE OF TREES FOR URBAN PAVED ENVIRONMENTS IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE

• Main Authors: SJÖMAN HENRIK, RICHNAU GUSTAV
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi 2009-12-01
• Series: Journal of Plant Development
• Subjects: Urban paved environment; city trees; site-adapted species use; urban heat island; climate change
• Online Access: http://www.plant-journal.uaic.ro/docs/2009/7.pdf
• ISSN: 2065-3158; 2066-9917

Trees are an important feature of the urban environment. The problem today lies not in finding a wide range of well-adapted tree species for park environments, but in finding species suitable for urban paved sites. In terms of north-west Europe, it is unlikely that the limited native dendroflora will provide a large variety of tree species with high tolerance to the environmental stresses characterising urban paved sites in the region. However, other regions with a comparable climate but with a rich dendroflora can potentially provide new tree species and genera well-suited to the growing conditions at urban sites in north-west Europe. This paper examines the potential of a geographical area extending over north-east Romania and the Republic of Moldavia to supply suitable tree species for urban paved sites in Central and Northern Europe (CNE). The study involved comparing the temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration and water runoff in the woodland area of Iasi, Romania, with those the current inner-city climate of Copenhagen, Denmark and those predicted for Copenhagen 2100. The latter included urban heat island effects and predicted global climate change. The results revealed similar pattern in summer water deficit and temperature between natural woodlands in Iasi and inner-city environment of Copenhagen today. On the other hand, there is a weak match between Iasi and the future Copenhagen. In order to match the future scenario of Copenhagen with the present situation in Iasi, a greater understanding in a early phase that the solution not only depends on suitable tree species, but also on technical solutions being developed in order to have trees in paved environments in the future. On the basis of precipitation and temperature data, natural woodlands in north-east Romania have the potential to be a source of suitable trees for urban paved environments in the CNE region, even for a future climate if other aspects in the planning of trees in paved sites are included.