Assessing the Cooling and Air Pollution Tolerance among Urban Tree Species in a Tropical Climate
Arerut Yarnvudhi,
Nisa Leksungnoen,
Tushar Andriyas,
Pantana Tor-Ngern,
Aerwadee Premashthira,
Chongrak Wachrinrat,
Dokrak Marod,
Sutheera Hermhuk,
Sura Pattanakiat,
Tohru Nakashizuka,
Roger Kjelgren
Affiliations
Arerut Yarnvudhi
Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Nisa Leksungnoen
Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Tushar Andriyas
Center for Advance Studies in Tropical Natural Resources, National Research University-Kasetsart University, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Pantana Tor-Ngern
Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Aerwadee Premashthira
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Faculty of Economics, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Chongrak Wachrinrat
Center for Advance Studies in Tropical Natural Resources, National Research University-Kasetsart University, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Dokrak Marod
Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Sutheera Hermhuk
Faculty of Agricultural Production, Maejo University, Chiang Mai 50290, Thailand
Sura Pattanakiat
Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom 73170, Thailand
Tohru Nakashizuka
Forest and Forest Products Research Institute, Tsukuba 300-1244, Japan
Roger Kjelgren
12HE UF/IFAS Dept. Environmental Horticulture, University of Florida, Apopka, FL 32703, USA
We present the results of classifying plants at species level that can tolerate air pollution, provide cooling, and simultaneously survive and thrive in urban environments. For this purpose, we estimated the air pollution tolerance index (APTI) and anticipated performance index (API) of several species growing in a park located in central Bangkok, Thailand. The cooling effect was quantified by calculating the reduction in soil and air temperatures. Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) S.T. Blake, Albizia saman (Jacq.) Merr., Chukrasia tabularis A. Juss. had the highest API score and were able to substantially reduce the temperature and were in a group of highly recommended species which also included other species like A. saman, C. tabularis, Tabebuia rosea (Bertol.) Bertero ex A. DC., Dalbergia cochinchinensis Pierre etc. Species from both evergreen and deciduous habitat were able to provide ambient cooling but were vulnerable to air pollution and included Elaeocarpus grandifloras Sm. and Bauhinia purpurea L. However, there were other species which had a high air pollution tolerance but failed to provide adequate cooling, such as Hopea odorata Roxb. and Millingtonia hortensis L.f. The results would be of interest to urban greenspace landscapers in such climates while selecting suitable species that can provide multiple ecosystem services ranging from air pollution tolerance to temperature reduction without reducing plant vitality.
