STRESS FACTORS RELATED TO URBAN SOILS

Trees have to find favourable conditions for growth in urban areas.
However, numerous constraints exist in urban environments.
Those related to soils are an important cause of abiotic stresses, that the tree can suffer.

Urban soils are characterised by their high variability in space, their heavy compaction, and their low and imbalanced fertility.
These factors may be responsible for deficiency symptoms and for an increased plant sensibility to diseases.
The useful volume occupied by roots is often limited.
In addition urban soils are often contaminated by de-icing salts and by trace elements (lead for instance) which may give salinity and toxicity symptoms.
The rebuilding of low water reserves is often hard to carry out and may bring about plant stress situations.

International Symposium on Urban Tree Health

F. Lemaire, J. Rossignol

soil compaction, hydraulic properties, chemical fertility, trace elements, tree roots

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1999.496.43