ASSESSMENT OF TREE COMPOSITION AND THEIR ROLE IN REGULATING ENVIRONMENT QUALITY IN THE URBAN ECOSYSTEM
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Date
2023-04-07
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UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES BANGALORE
Abstract
Urban trees provide many ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, air purification, and biodiversity conservation rendering the atmosphere to remain clean. The present study investigates the diversity of trees that were present in different landscapes such as residential areas, tree avenues, parks, industrial areas, and around the lake in Bengaluru city. A total of 44 tree species belonging to 23 families were found of which, Saraca asoca, Santalum album found among the species are considered as vulnerable and Michelia champaca is endangered in the Karnataka region according to the IUCN red list of tree species. Among the tree species, the highest carbon sequestration per tree was found to occur in Peltophorum pterocarpum and the lowest was in Tabebuia argentea. It is found that dust accumulated on trees present on the roadside due to vehicular movement was more, compared to the roads with less vehicular movement. Similarly, dust produced during pre-monsoon periods was more compared to post-monsoon. Among the dominant tree species found in the urban landscapes, Gravillea robusta recorded the highest photosynthetic rate and the least was recorded in Spathodia companulata. Pongamia pinnata recorded the highest reduction in photosynthesis due to dust deposition while Swietenia mahagoni recorded the least reduction. Based on the physiological response and
pollution tolerance levels of the tree species it is found that Swietenia mahagoni has the highest ability to tolerate stress caused by pollution. Thus, growing appropriate tree species in different parts of the urban areas depending on the pollution rates are necessary. Growing trees not only ameliorate climate but can also help in conserving biodiversity and other ecosystem services.