Articles
USING TREE STAND HEALTH INDECES FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AREA IN THE CITY OF KHARKIV, UKRAINE
Article number
496_51
Pages
409 – 420
Language
Abstract
The growing conditions and health of urban tree stands were examined within large industrial district of the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, during the assessment of impact of the joint Ukrainian-German aluminium-bronze plant "UkrGerMet" on the environment in May 1995. The studied area was determined as a circle with the plant in center and calculated radius of 3.2 km.
It included not only the said plant but also several others such as metal recycling and reinforced concrete plants.
Therefore, data obtained to characterize conditions of tree stands actually reflected a cumulative effect of all sources of industrial pollution of ecosystems of the studied area.
Totally, 12 sites were chosen as distributed among three concentric zones: 3 ones near the plant, 5 ones in the central zone, and 4 on the periphery of the studied area.
Among 28 species of trees in the studied area the most abundant species were Acer platanoides, Populus nigra, P. nigra var. pyramidalis, Tilia cordata, Aesculus hyppocastanum. For the assessment of tree stands health in each site 10 model trees were chosen by "nearest neighbour" method.
The following scale was applied to evaluate health condition of each model tree: 1 – healthy trees; 2 – weakened trees; 3 – strongly weakened trees; 4 – drying up trees; 5 – fresh dead standing trees; 6 – old dead standing trees.
A weighed average value of index characterized an integral state of the tree stand in each site.
The comparison of the data obtained from our sites with those obtained by Kharkiv Regional Geological Survey and Exploration Expedition from other parts of the urban area in 1991–94, and thus, the analysis of health state of 636 trees in total has shown that both in separate sites and on the entire studied area tree stands may be ranked as weakened and strongly weakened.
The positive correlation between a level of cumulative contamination of soil and indices of tree health has been found for the entire studied area.
At the same time reliable statistical differences in average tree stand health indices among different concentric zones regarding to distance from the specified source of pollution have not been found (
2-method).
It included not only the said plant but also several others such as metal recycling and reinforced concrete plants.
Therefore, data obtained to characterize conditions of tree stands actually reflected a cumulative effect of all sources of industrial pollution of ecosystems of the studied area.
Totally, 12 sites were chosen as distributed among three concentric zones: 3 ones near the plant, 5 ones in the central zone, and 4 on the periphery of the studied area.
Among 28 species of trees in the studied area the most abundant species were Acer platanoides, Populus nigra, P. nigra var. pyramidalis, Tilia cordata, Aesculus hyppocastanum. For the assessment of tree stands health in each site 10 model trees were chosen by "nearest neighbour" method.
The following scale was applied to evaluate health condition of each model tree: 1 – healthy trees; 2 – weakened trees; 3 – strongly weakened trees; 4 – drying up trees; 5 – fresh dead standing trees; 6 – old dead standing trees.
A weighed average value of index characterized an integral state of the tree stand in each site.
The comparison of the data obtained from our sites with those obtained by Kharkiv Regional Geological Survey and Exploration Expedition from other parts of the urban area in 1991–94, and thus, the analysis of health state of 636 trees in total has shown that both in separate sites and on the entire studied area tree stands may be ranked as weakened and strongly weakened.
The positive correlation between a level of cumulative contamination of soil and indices of tree health has been found for the entire studied area.
At the same time reliable statistical differences in average tree stand health indices among different concentric zones regarding to distance from the specified source of pollution have not been found (
2-method).
Publication
Authors
O.L. Shtepenko, Yu.L. Vergeles
Keywords
environmental impact assessment, industrial areas, urban tree stands, health indices, contamination, Kharkiv, Ukraine
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