An artificial intelligence approach for identifying efficient urban forest indicators on ecosystem service assessment

Urban trees provide multiple ecosystem services (ES) to city residents and are used as environmentally friendly solutions to ameliorate problems in cities worldwide. Effective urban forestry management is essential for enhancing ES, but challenging to develop in densely populated cities where tradeo...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Shuo Wei, Su‐Ting Cheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-10-01
Series:Frontiers in Environmental Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.994389/full
_version_ 1811237689551224832
author Shuo Wei
Su‐Ting Cheng
author_facet Shuo Wei
Su‐Ting Cheng
author_sort Shuo Wei
collection DOAJ
description Urban trees provide multiple ecosystem services (ES) to city residents and are used as environmentally friendly solutions to ameliorate problems in cities worldwide. Effective urban forestry management is essential for enhancing ES, but challenging to develop in densely populated cities where tradeoffs between high ES provision and issues of periodic disaster-caused risks or maintenance costs must be balanced. With the aim of providing practical guidelines to promote green cities, this study developed an AI-based analytical approach to systematically evaluate tree conditions and detect management problems. By using a self-organizing map technique with a big dataset of Taipei street trees, we integrated the ES values estimated by i-Tree Eco to tree attributes of DBH, height, leaf area, and leaf area index (LAI) to comprehensively assess their complex relationship and interlinkage. We found that DBH and leaf area are good indicators for the provision of ES, allowing us to quantify the potential loss and tradeoffs by cross-checking with tree height and the correspondent ES values. In contrast, LAI is less effective in estimating ES than DBH and leaf area, but is useful as a supplementary one. We developed a detailed lookup table by compiling the tree datasets to assist the practitioners with a rapid assessment of tree conditions and associated loss of ES values. This analytical approach provides accessible, science-based information to appraise the right species, criteria, and place for landscape design. It gives explicit references and guidelines to help detect problems and guide directions for improving the ES and the sustainability of urban forests.
first_indexed 2024-04-12T12:27:46Z
format Article
id doaj.art-6f7b844510af414cb480fc15f12b59bd
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2296-665X
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-12T12:27:46Z
publishDate 2022-10-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Environmental Science
spelling doaj.art-6f7b844510af414cb480fc15f12b59bd2022-12-22T03:33:07ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Environmental Science2296-665X2022-10-011010.3389/fenvs.2022.994389994389An artificial intelligence approach for identifying efficient urban forest indicators on ecosystem service assessmentShuo WeiSu‐Ting ChengUrban trees provide multiple ecosystem services (ES) to city residents and are used as environmentally friendly solutions to ameliorate problems in cities worldwide. Effective urban forestry management is essential for enhancing ES, but challenging to develop in densely populated cities where tradeoffs between high ES provision and issues of periodic disaster-caused risks or maintenance costs must be balanced. With the aim of providing practical guidelines to promote green cities, this study developed an AI-based analytical approach to systematically evaluate tree conditions and detect management problems. By using a self-organizing map technique with a big dataset of Taipei street trees, we integrated the ES values estimated by i-Tree Eco to tree attributes of DBH, height, leaf area, and leaf area index (LAI) to comprehensively assess their complex relationship and interlinkage. We found that DBH and leaf area are good indicators for the provision of ES, allowing us to quantify the potential loss and tradeoffs by cross-checking with tree height and the correspondent ES values. In contrast, LAI is less effective in estimating ES than DBH and leaf area, but is useful as a supplementary one. We developed a detailed lookup table by compiling the tree datasets to assist the practitioners with a rapid assessment of tree conditions and associated loss of ES values. This analytical approach provides accessible, science-based information to appraise the right species, criteria, and place for landscape design. It gives explicit references and guidelines to help detect problems and guide directions for improving the ES and the sustainability of urban forests.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.994389/fullurban forestryecosystem servicesstreet treesi-Tree Ecoartificial intelligenceself-organizing map (SOM)
spellingShingle Shuo Wei
Su‐Ting Cheng
An artificial intelligence approach for identifying efficient urban forest indicators on ecosystem service assessment
Frontiers in Environmental Science
urban forestry
ecosystem services
street trees
i-Tree Eco
artificial intelligence
self-organizing map (SOM)
title An artificial intelligence approach for identifying efficient urban forest indicators on ecosystem service assessment
title_full An artificial intelligence approach for identifying efficient urban forest indicators on ecosystem service assessment
title_fullStr An artificial intelligence approach for identifying efficient urban forest indicators on ecosystem service assessment
title_full_unstemmed An artificial intelligence approach for identifying efficient urban forest indicators on ecosystem service assessment
title_short An artificial intelligence approach for identifying efficient urban forest indicators on ecosystem service assessment
title_sort artificial intelligence approach for identifying efficient urban forest indicators on ecosystem service assessment
topic urban forestry
ecosystem services
street trees
i-Tree Eco
artificial intelligence
self-organizing map (SOM)
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.994389/full
work_keys_str_mv AT shuowei anartificialintelligenceapproachforidentifyingefficienturbanforestindicatorsonecosystemserviceassessment
AT sutingcheng anartificialintelligenceapproachforidentifyingefficienturbanforestindicatorsonecosystemserviceassessment
AT shuowei artificialintelligenceapproachforidentifyingefficienturbanforestindicatorsonecosystemserviceassessment
AT sutingcheng artificialintelligenceapproachforidentifyingefficienturbanforestindicatorsonecosystemserviceassessment