Are you getting your fair share? That depends on what bias
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Transcript Are you getting your fair share? That depends on what bias
UFORE
Overview and Process
Overview & Process I
What is UFORE?
= Urban Forest Effects
Science-based computer model that
quantifies urban forest structure, functions,
and values
Collection of analysis tools
Specialized analysis for urban ecosystems
More at www.ufore.org
Overview & Process
Ecosystem
“Functional units of interacting abiotic, biotic, and
cultural (anthropogenic) components”
Includes all trees
Public/private
Native/exotic/”utopian”
No systematic management of individuals, but we
can manage the population
Population contributes to common good at much
lower cost/benefit ratio than street trees
Overview & Process
Status of UFORE
Fully operational as program
Over 10 years in development
In SAS code at FS Syracuse
Direction: David Nowak, Project Leader
Programmer: Dan Crane
Being converted to desktop app (Windows)
i-Tree 1.0: UFORE “shell” makes
everything now much easier
Overview & Process
UFORE calculates
Structure, e.g.
Leaf area and biomass
Species and DBH distribution
Function, e.g.
VOC emissions
Pollution removal
Effect on building energy use
Total carbon stored
Value based on structure, function
1 metric ton (“tonne”) = 1.10231131 US (short) ton
Sounds like STRATUM…
Similarities
Similar questions
Structure, function, value
Implications for management
Similar goals
Differences
Different populations
STRATUM: street trees
UFORE: whole ecosystem
Some differences in methods,
often b/c of differing populations
Overview & Process
What good is it?
Aid planning and management
Improve forest designs
Project future impacts
Assess impact of catastrophic events
Justify programs
Source: http://www.houstonregionalforest.org/Report/
Overview & Process
How does it work?
Uses field data to calculate structure
Uses structure data to calculate
function
Uses function data to calculate value
Uses value data to draw conclusions
and make recommendations
The Devil lurks, as always, in the
details
Does this help? (Not!)
3 questions
I ask when evaluating models:
Do I understand the numbers?
Can I trust the numbers?
Can I use the numbers?
I want to drill down one level in
an effort to answer these
questions, “peek under the hood”
Overview & Process VI
Let’s examine one relatively *simple* set of
calculations: CARBON
Start with allometric¹ equations estimating
above-ground biomass from species and
DBH
¹ = relation of the growth of a part of an organism to
the growth of the whole
Convert with species-specific factor:
above-ground biomass whole tree
biomass
Regression of DBH as predictor of biomass
http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/ncas/reports/pubs/tr05afinal.pdf
Overview & Process VI
Adjustment
80% less biomass for open-grown urban
trees than regression formulae compute
Based on field measurements of 30 street trees
(1994 Chicago study)
Probably due to pruning
How much of biomass is carbon?
Stored C biomass x 0.5
Chow and Rolfe 1989, et al
Is this too MUCH??!!
http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/JapanProj/FLClipart/Adjectives/heavy.gif
Overview & Process VI
Use growth and mortality rates for annual
Start with published and/or field data for each
species and DBH class
Adjust growth (C storage) for
Site (e.g., park 1.78 times less growth than street)
Growing season length
Condition of tree
Adjust mortality (C release) for
% of condition class
Rapid release (above ground, populated areas)
Slow release (below ground, unpopulated areas)
Growth - Mortality net annual C storage
Overview & Process VI
Value
Multiply net annual stored C by
$22.80/tC
Based on the estimated marginal
social costs of carbon dioxide
emissions (Fankhauser, 1994).
Stochastic model provides a
distribution of outcomes from which
means can be calculated.
“Rough order-of-magnitude
assessment”
Nature 443 (October 5, 2006)
http://coreacademy.usu.edu/04_Materials/Clip_Art/
What’s the point?!
We can begin to understand and
therefore trust the numbers
Because of that, we can use the numbers
Advocacy
Strategic planning
Action
UFORE, like STRATUM, is a powerful
tool for promoting sustainable
management of urban forest resource.
Are
me?