Right tree, right place, right reason: understanding species- specific benefits and disbenefits of urban trees

At present, there is a global focus on tree planting for climate change mitigation and other environmental benefits, e.g. Defra's 25-Year Environment Plan to plant 1 million urban trees. Urban trees provide critical environmental, health and wellbeing benefits to the growing urban population. The urban forest is unique in its

heterogeneity, comprising ecologically and structurally diverse combinations of individual trees in green and greyspaces, gardens and woodlands. However, major knowledge-gaps exist in i) tree species composition across green and greyspaces, ii) the contribution of different trees species to environmental and health and wellbeing

benefits/disbenefits, and iii) reciprocally how urban pressures (including policy decisions) shape the urban forest and its resulting benefits/disbenefits. Addressing these knowledge-gaps is critical to ensuring a 'right tree, right place, right reason' approach to urban forest management. Objectives

Obj1: Determine composition and structure of the urban forest across green and greyspaces in a case-study city (Sheffield). Obj2: Understand environmental, health and wellbeing benefits/disbenefits delivered across the urban forest at a species-specific scale. Obj3: Explore species-specific scenarios to maintain or

enhance the urban forest. Objectives will be addressed using a combination of: field measurement, GIS, health population modelling and citizen science methods to understand public interactions with trees. It will benefit from data collected as part of the Urban Tree Observatory (established by Edmondson and Croft

with Sheffield City Council-SCC) and epidemiological modelling approaches developed on the NERC IWUN project. The proposed PhD will provide crucial information to support urban forest management and inform the SCC Woodland Creation Strategy. The supervisors combine expertise in urban ecosystem services (Edmondson - Biosciences), digital data and GIS

mapping (Brindley, Landscape), remote sensing (Croft - Biosciences), and public interaction with urban trees (Pillatt - Sheffield City Council). The student will have the opportunity to gain training in a range of techniques and approaches applicable to a wide range of academic and non-academic career paths. By studying the environmental,

health and wellbeing benefits/disbenefits of the urban forest this project will provide an important evidence base to support enhancement and maintenance of the urban forest.