Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BioCiTrees (An integrative understanding of the role that urban trees plays for people and nature)
Período documentado: 2024-03-18 hasta 2026-03-17
Cities face increasing pressure to optimise living conditions while ensuring a high quality of life. Urban trees provide multiple benefits, including air quality regulation, recreational opportunities, and habitat for biodiversity. Designing green urban areas that maximise these benefits requires understanding the mechanisms by which trees deliver them. However, these mechanisms remain under debate due to potential trade-offs among ecosystem services. A given vegetation composition may enhance air purification while reducing other benefits. In addition, citizens’ perceptions and preferences for tree species may not align with those that maximise ecosystem services, introducing trade-offs between ecological performance and social acceptance.
The overarching goal of this project was to identify combinations of tree traits that maximise benefits to people while being appreciated by citizens, supporting evidence-based recommendations for co-designing urban green areas. The specific objectives were to: (1) identify mechanisms by which urban trees provide air purification and habitat for insects; (2) test mechanistic models of these benefits under global change; and (3) identify trade-offs between ecosystem service provision and citizens’ preferences.
The overarching goal of this project was to identify combinations of tree traits that maximise benefits to people while being appreciated by citizens, supporting evidence-based recommendations for co-designing urban green areas. The specific objectives were to: (1) identify mechanisms by which urban trees provide air purification and habitat for insects; (2) test mechanistic models of these benefits under global change; and (3) identify trade-offs between ecosystem service provision and citizens’ preferences.
BioCiTrees implemented an integrated set of field, laboratory, and analytical activities over a two-year period to understand the role of urban trees in mitigating air pollution and supporting insect biodiversity. In 2024, air pollution mitigation was quantified through passive deposition on leaf surfaces generating a robust dataset on particulate deposition across 23 species. Arthropod communities were assessed using the branch shaking technique, with specimens collected and identified in the laboratory. Functional traits were measured to link plant strategies with ecosystem services, including leaf area and thickness for pollution retention, and traits related to floral resources and bark structure for habitat provisioning. A social-ecological perspective was incorporated through a questionnaire targeting local residents, gathering information on perceptions of urban green areas and their benefits. Although response rates were moderate, the data provide relevant insights into public awareness and priorities.
In spring 2025, fieldwork was expanded to multiple urban contexts in southern Spain (Seville, Málaga, and Granada), capturing variability across climatic conditions. Sampling campaigns measured the same ecosystem services and plant traits. Data processing is ongoing and will be analysed in the coming months. This multi-city approach strengthens dataset robustness and transferability, enabling comparative analyses across Mediterranean urban environments.
We decided to incorporate urban heat island mitigation in the project, identifying vegetation spatial patterns and priority intervention areas in the metropolitan area of Granada. Temperature measurements beneath canopies of 19 species and in open areas will allow further exploration of traits-temperature relationships. Overall, the project will generate a comprehensive dataset linking plant traits, insect biodiversity, air pollution retention, and heat mitigation, representing a major step toward assessing urban tree multifunctionality.
In spring 2025, fieldwork was expanded to multiple urban contexts in southern Spain (Seville, Málaga, and Granada), capturing variability across climatic conditions. Sampling campaigns measured the same ecosystem services and plant traits. Data processing is ongoing and will be analysed in the coming months. This multi-city approach strengthens dataset robustness and transferability, enabling comparative analyses across Mediterranean urban environments.
We decided to incorporate urban heat island mitigation in the project, identifying vegetation spatial patterns and priority intervention areas in the metropolitan area of Granada. Temperature measurements beneath canopies of 19 species and in open areas will allow further exploration of traits-temperature relationships. Overall, the project will generate a comprehensive dataset linking plant traits, insect biodiversity, air pollution retention, and heat mitigation, representing a major step toward assessing urban tree multifunctionality.
The project advances the state of the art by integrating functional traits, air pollution retention, insect biodiversity, and microclimate regulation into a unified framework. While previous studies addressed these aspects separately, this work provides a holistic understanding of how urban trees deliver multiple ecosystem services simultaneously. By combining trait-based ecology with direct measurements of pollution retention, species-specific capacities for air purification are identified, enabling predictive assessments and supporting evidence-based species selection. A key advancement is the incorporation of biotic interactions, particularly arthropod communities, allowing a more realistic evaluation of ecosystem service provision and associated trade-offs. The integration of microclimatic measurements further improves understanding of mechanisms underlying urban cooling. This multi-layered approach provides novel insights into how tree characteristics influence thermal regulation at fine spatial scales.
The results will have strong implications for urban sustainability and climate adaptation supporting urban greening policies. To ensure uptake, further steps are needed: expanding datasets to other climatic regions, conducting long-term monitoring, and developing decision-support tools. Supportive funding and regulatory frameworks are also essential. Standardising methodologies for ecosystem service assessment would improve comparability and policy relevance. The project will deliver a comprehensive and transferable framework integrating ecological complexity into urban ecosystem service assessment.
Publications:
Silveira et al., (2025). I’m the corresponding author(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)
Pistón et al. Functional traits maximising nature’s contributions in cities (in prep.)
Pistón et al.: Predictions under climate change scenarios (in prep.)
Additional publications not directly related with the project:
Pérez-Girón et al., (2026). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2026.101848(se abrirá en una nueva ventana).
Alcántara et al. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.13177(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)
Silveira et al. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2024.105589(se abrirá en una nueva ventana).
The results will have strong implications for urban sustainability and climate adaptation supporting urban greening policies. To ensure uptake, further steps are needed: expanding datasets to other climatic regions, conducting long-term monitoring, and developing decision-support tools. Supportive funding and regulatory frameworks are also essential. Standardising methodologies for ecosystem service assessment would improve comparability and policy relevance. The project will deliver a comprehensive and transferable framework integrating ecological complexity into urban ecosystem service assessment.
Publications:
Silveira et al., (2025). I’m the corresponding author(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)
Pistón et al. Functional traits maximising nature’s contributions in cities (in prep.)
Pistón et al.: Predictions under climate change scenarios (in prep.)
Additional publications not directly related with the project:
Pérez-Girón et al., (2026). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2026.101848(se abrirá en una nueva ventana).
Alcántara et al. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.13177(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)
Silveira et al. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2024.105589(se abrirá en una nueva ventana).