Research

Ongoing and completed research projects by the Urban and Urbanizing Forests Program staff and their partners.

• Storm Damage Assessment Protocol for Florida Hurricanes
  The project will develop a preliminary assessment model for urban forest damage and debris estimates based on the severity of different windstorm events, remote sensing, and urban forest structure data. The methods and model will provide city, county, and regional authorities, preliminary pre-disaster debris planning tools and post-disaster debris estimates. Utilization of hurricane and urban forest management wood waste will be explored.
  Partners: Christina Staudhammer, UF – IFAS, School of Forest Resources and Conservation and Chris Luley and Jerry Bond, Urban Forestry LLC.
• City of Tampa Urban Ecological Analysis 2006–2007
  This report describes the methodology used to conduct the inventory and assessment; quantifies the change in overall canopy coverage 1996 to 2006; provides a three-dimensional description of the forest structure and composition; and provides a detailed look into some of the economic and ecological values of the City of Tampa’s urban forest. [2.07 MB, PDF]
• Community Perceptions of Tampa’s Urban and Rural Tree Cover
  Specific objectives of the project are to determine the extension and applied research needs of residents in urban and rural Hillsborough County regarding urban trees and urbanizing forests. [ Link ]
• Community Perceptions of Broward County’s Urban Tree Cover
  Specific objectives of the project are to determine the extension and applied research needs of residents in Broward County regarding urban trees and urbanizing forests.
• Gainesville and Miami's Urban Forests — Their Structure and Function
  The primary objective of this collaborative project with the USDA Forest Service and Miami-Dade County is to monitor how Florida urban forests and their services change over time using the Urban Forest Effects model. Quantification of how the urban forest structure affects carbon sequestration, air pollution removal, and building energy effects in each city will be determined.
• Urban Forest Canopy Change and Dynamics in Southeast Florida
  To provide a rapid and cost-effective method to analyze tree cover change and establish permanent hurricane effects and urbanization monitoring sites. Urban tree cover change in Gainesville and Miami-Fort Lauderdale from 1984 to 2004 and 2004 to 2005 is being studied.
• Urbanization Effects on Soil Quality and Tree Cover Characteristics in North and Central Florida
  This work, in partnership with the Plant City campus and the USDA Forest Service, focuses on the soil quality found in Gainesville and Tampa’s urban forest and how these soils influence tree growth and function. By linking urban forests and soils; specific management objectives can be developed to improve the services of urban forests.
• Assessing the Efficacy of Wildfire Mitigation Treatments in Florida’s Wildland-Urban Interface
  A spatial database documenting the types, area treated, locations, dates of implementation, and effectiveness of WUI fuel treatments is being compiled. Working with Dr. Leda Kobziar, we are also identifying locations which can be used as representative examples of WUI fuel treatments and BMPs across Florida.
• Risks to the Mexican Biosphere: Evaluation of Ecosystem Vulnerability to Anthropogenic Emissions
  In partnership with Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, we are developing methods to study the effects of air pollution and urbanization on forest reserves adjacent to Mexico City, Mexico.

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