Date of Graduation

2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Forest Resource Management

Committee Chair

Kathryn G. Arano

Committee Member

Michael P. Strager

Committee Member

Ray R. Hicks Jr.

Committee Member

Timothy Warner

Abstract

Studies on phenology have demonstrated that "Global warming" effect is influencing vegetation phenological processes. In order to accurately predict how climate warming affects vegetation phenology, a clear understanding of vegetation phenology and its relationship to temperature is needed. Although finding the effects of global warming on phenology across larger areas is difficult, heat island phenomena associated with urbanized area presents a unique place to investigate the local effect of warming on phenology. Thus, this study looked at the response of trees to increasing temperatures by comparing the phenological patterns of trees in a highly urbanized New York City (NYC) and less urbanized Ithaca. New York (NY). The objectives of this study were to observe date of budburst (DOB) in NYC and Ithaca, NY through ground observation and to link DOB with the land surface temperature (LST) and fractional vegetation cover (FVC) derived from most recent satellite images of Landsat 5 thematic mapper (TM). Ground observation of tree phenology was conducted by observing the DOB in the sample street London Plane (Platanus x acerifolia) trees of both cities in 2007 and 2008. Data were collected by teachers and students from GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) - affiliated schools in NYC and volunteers recruited by the City Forester under the Department of Public Works in Ithaca. Results obtained from this study indicated that the DOB in the highly urban area was significantly different from that in the less urban area. On average, budburst occurred 3 days earlier (2007) and 4 days earlier (2008) in NYC than in Ithaca. Also, higher LST and lower FVC was found in NYC compared to Ithaca. The results also indicated that as the size and density of the cities increase, intensity of the heat island effect and its subsequent effect on tree phenology also increases. Thus, the DOB was shown to be effectively explained by using temperature as a parameter, which provides a useful means for understanding the effect of climate warming on tree phenology. The finding that urbanization affects tree phenology provides opportunities to make similar inferences on the potential impact of global warming on vegetation communities.

Download

Share

COinS