INTEGRATION OF HYDROLOGICAL AND GROWTH DATA INTO A GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM.

A geographical information system (GIS) was created, comprising of a digital map of a 0.5 km x 0.5 km square of a suburban area of Chelmsford, a town in South East England.
The map included: information on the size and position of each tree within the surveyed area; the physical make-up of the landscape and the standard soil moisture deficit for the area.
The landscape in a 3 m radius around the position of each tree was described in terms of the amount of hard landscape with less than 95% permeability to water.
The physical information from the GIS was related to local climatic conditions through weather data from the local weather-station.
The effects of the physical environment and the local climate were compared to the growth rate of the trees in the surveyed area.
No relationship between % hard covering and growth of laterals was found when data for all trees were considered together but the genus Tilia showed a possible negative relationship (R²=0.616).

International Symposium on Urban Tree Health

J. Bellett-Travers, W. Wisniewski, T.E. Garlick, D.M. Bellett-Travers

Geographical information system

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1999.496.29