Heightened Urban Temperatures Good for Trees

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120424154341.htm

A strange phenomenon has been called to tree physiologists attention. They have found that Red Oaks in New York's central park grow faster than in rural areas due to the increased temperatures that are caused by an urban environment. Due to the prevalence of pavement, numerous metal infrastructures, and gas emissions, the temperature in urban areas can be from 4 to 8 degrees higher than in more wide open, country environments. In this heightened temperature, trees are able to photosynthesize at a faster rate, causing for trees in urban areas to have on average 8 times more biomass than their rural counter parts. Another possible contributing factor to this sped up growth is the increased fallout of airborne nitrogen from pollution, which acts as a fertilizer.

Now, of course, this is not to say that urban pollution should be viewed as something that should continue but, this new discovery is interesting because rarely do we see advantageous side effects of urban evniromentents. This new information could change a lot in respects to urban planning pertaining to what vegetation is planted. Who knows, maybe this could be the first step in greening our brownfields.