Urban trees are growing — and dying — faster than their rural counterparts

By Matt Hickman
Mother Nature Network
November 21, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: International

In a newly published study, researchers at Germany’s Technical University of Munich (TUM) conclude that urban trees can grow up 25 percent faster than their country cousins. This is a positive thing, right? After all, trees growing in densely populated metropolitan areas do so much good… Why would the fact that these multitasking miracle-workers are thriving and growing at an accelerated rate be construed as bad? Per the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, the clip that urban trees are growing at — easily viewed as a sign of health and vitality — is believed to be direct result of climate change, specifically the heat island effect. So yeah, not great. …It’s a tricky arboreal quandary: Elevated temperatures are helping city trees flourish, enabling them to do what they do best, while also hastening their premature demise.

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