San Juan Bay Estuary Watershed urban forest inventory / Thomas J. Brandeis [and four others].

Format:

Book

Government document

Author/Creator:

Brandeis, Thomas James, author.

Contributor:

United States. Forest Service. Southern Research Station, issuing body.

Series:

General technical report SRS ; 190.

General technical report SRS ; 190

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Urban forestry--Puerto Rico--San Juan.

Urban forestry.

Watersheds--Puerto Rico--San Juan Bay.

Watersheds.

San Juan Bay (P.R.).

Atlantic Ocean--San Juan Bay.

Puerto Rico--San Juan.

Genre:

technical reports.

Technical reports

Technical reports.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (iv, 44 pages) : color illustrations, color map.

Place of Publication:

Asheville, NC : United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station, March 2014.

Summary:

We present information on the urban forests and land uses within the watershed of Puerto Rico's 21 658-ha San Juan Bay Estuary (SJBE) based on urban forest inventories undertaken in 2001 and 2011. We found 2548 ha of mangrove and subtropical moist secondary forests covering 11.8 percent of the total watershed area in 2011. Average tree cover in the study area was 24.1 percent overall, ranging from 12.2 percent cover on commercial/ industrial/transportation land uses to 69.0 percent on the watershed's mangrove forests. This forest cover was created by approximately 10.1 million trees, which stored 319 737 metric tons of carbon (C) in 2011 and sequester C at a rate of 28 384 metric tons/year. The estimated value of the C storage by trees in the SJBE watershed was $8.1 million with an annual C sequestration value of $718,113 in 2011, up from the 2001 values of $4.0 million in stored C and an annual rate of $349,261. In 2011 approximately 19 000 megawatts of energy required for cooling buildings were avoided due to tree shading and climate effects in residential and commercial areas and equated to 1986 metric tons of avoided C emissions due to building energy effects. The inventories identified 75 tree and shrub species in 2001 and 86 species in 2011. Red, black, and white mangroves (Rhizophora mangle, Avicennia germinans, and Laguncularia racemosa) were the most common species due to the watershed's extensive mangrove forests, while tulipan africano (Spathodea campanulata) and Maria (Calophyllum antillanum) were predominant species in the moist forest patches and developed land uses. The occurrence of tree pests, diseases, and natural or anthropogenic damage was relatively low (12.7 percent) and generally of minor severity. Tree crowns did not show appreciable amounts of dieback or defoliation. Urban forest benefits can be increased by tree-establishment and protection programs as an estimated 16.8 percent of the estuary is potentially plantable. Benefits also can be lost by deforestation of the existing forest canopy caused by urban development and other activities. Proper planning and management can sustain or enhance the existing urban forest to increase the environmental and societal benefits from trees in the SJBE watershed.

Notes:

Title from title screen (viewed on Nov. 13, 2014).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 40-43).

Other Format:

Print version: Brandeis, Thomas James. San Juan Bay Estuary Watershed urban forest inventory

OCLC:

895170694