The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.As climate change progresses, trees in cities struggle
By MANUEL VALDES SEATTLE©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
13 Comments
Login to comment
GBR48
Pollarding and coppicing can prolong the life of a tree, but how often (and how aggressively) you do it depends on the species, the circumstances and the individual trees.
We need to lose the biopuritanical mantra of 'native species only' and plant species that will survive the climate we are going to get. That is especially important for trees. We assist migration because the climate may change faster than less mobile species can cope with.
It is always wise to be wary of invasive species, but if we need a lot of resilient greenery, we may end up relying on some invasive flora in the future, especially if they are edible. Invasive species are invasive because they are resilient. That works for fauna too. Those attempting to rid the UK of grey squirrels are unlikely to see reds move south again and re-establish, given the changing climate. They will just wipe a species out from a chunk of the country.
The use of stadium air con in Qatar is interesting. We may be able to use that in urban areas to alter the temperature and humidity at specific times, to reduce heatstroke, fire risks and drought damage. In the meantime, getting local councils or volunteers to water urban trees at night in droughts is an option.
We need far better excess rain capture and many more reservoirs, for individual farms and for irrigating wild areas, to reduce drought death and wildfires.
Anonymous
Human hibris:,if I plant a tree -any tree - it will grow wherever I plant it. Don’t work like that. A serious arborist knows what’s appropriate. There may just be a shortage of such people.
Anonymous
“hubris”, not hibris!
wallace
In our city, there are hundreds of thousands of healthy trees.
virusrex
The city trees are like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, more sensitive than those in the wild to threats brought by climate change and much easier to see for all the people living close by.
Keeping them alive is not going to make any significant impact in climate change in general, but it would help a lot to increase quality of life in their location, research done about practical ways to keep cities with trees may also end up helping indirectly keeping forests as well.
virusrex
You are the only one claiming it, the article simply describe how trees are progressively having more problems surviving and that can be clearly correlated with climate change.
You have also not provided any of the mistaken data or invalid predictions that would support your claim that this article is "fear mongering", are you recognizing this claim is not true either?
Yrral
I am gonna have cut some tree saplings, before they turn into a Forest
YGHome3
The whole vegetation of this planet will burn out soon, and rise to the atmosphere in the form of CO2.
virusrex
Which of the claims of the article can you prove is not supported by evidence? if you can't then your accusation is false. Just because you don't want to accept something that does not automatically make it fear mongering, for that it is required that the warnings are unjustified or the information used to make them is false. You have proved none of those things.
painkiller
Planting more non-native trees is augmenting something city arborists have learned from decades of tree deaths: diversity in the types and ages of trees planted is key to keeping urban forests alive.
So trees don't thrive in cities in the first place.
painkiller
As climate change progresses, trees in cities struggle
When did trees in cities thrive?