University of Pennsylvania campus tree inventories, 2003 and 2014

These data represent urban tree inventories from the campus of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), located in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Specifically, these data contain two linked inventories from 2003 and 2014. Data include tree removals (and the causes of those removals) between the two inventories, as well as new trees planted by 2014, genus and species, and diameter at breast height measured in 2003.
Tree mortality studies are critical to understanding how urban forests change over time, but scholarship rarely addresses the human-directed nature of tree removals in cities. We examined tree removals and change over time on a highly urbanized college campus. Tree professionals from the University of Pennsylvania Facilities and Real Estate Office (FRES) and the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania (Morris) collect tree data on campus to proactively manage this natural resource. In partnership with Forest Service researchers, two inventories (2003 and 2014) that were originally collected to aid in campus tree management were linked on a tree-by-tree basis to assess change over time. The process of linking the two inventories is described below. The research objectives for this project were: (1) determine causes of tree removal, (2) assess how well tree size and site type predict mortality, and (3) assess changes in the urban forest system, in terms of removals and planting, as well as taxonomic composition. This research contributes to scholarship on the temporal dynamics of urban forest systems, especially the central component of human decision-making in tree removals.
For more information about these data see Roman et al. (2022). These data were published on 04/04/2022. On 04/14/2023 the metadata was updated to include reference to a newly published article.