Analyzing the health of trees and shrubs of Krasnoyarsk central park

Abstract

Urban environment contains a broad variety of factors and this is where all living organisms are exposed to heavy stresses. Green plant serve as a natural «air filters» and are among the first to respond to negative changes of growth conditions. Crowns are the tree parts first to respond to negative changes of growth conditions by growing thinner, partially defoliated, and leaves’ (needles’) becoming heavily damaged. We presented the 1999 and 2020 inventories of the woody species of Central Park. Our analysis of the inventory results for species composition revealed thirty three species of trees and shrubs, seven conifer and twenty six deciduous. Judging by the condition of the crowns, the health of the majority of the park trees was poor to very poor. Among deciduous, ash-leaved maple Acer negundo L., balsam poplar Populus balsamifera L., aspen Populus tremula L. and Chinese elm Ulmus parvifolia Jacq. exhibited the poorest health. Tree health has improved, as compared to 1999, due to appropriate treatments and planting of young individuals. We also studied species compositions of invertebrate woody plant feeders and pathogenic fungi. We found that the amount of dust accumulated on the leaves of the trees in the park for a short rainless period was 8.6 to 9.8 times that of a background stand. In 2020, dust precipitated on leaves was 1.6–3.4 times less than in 1999. Dust accumulating capability of trees is much dependent on weather conditions. We used the results obtained to word our suggestions for improving the green spaces of the park.

Keywords

• tree stands
• inventory
• the category of condition
• species composition
• living ground cover
• plant diseases and pests
• dust accumulating capacity