Assessing the drought performance of trees
Ness botanist, Tim Baxter, has co-authored a recently published article "Using botanic gardens and arboreta to help identify urban trees for the future".
The multiple benefits of plants especially trees in urban areas from improvements to human health, managing storm water runoff through to wildlife habitats are well researched. Increasing the number of tree species used will enhance the resilience of these urban forests to many challenging conditions these plants face especially water stress.
Working alongside colleagues from Myerscough College and Gothenburg Botanic Gardens, Sweden, the researchers have identified a way of quickly assessing the drought performance of trees using the diverse collections held in botanic collections. Plant collections can play a vital role in the evaluation of plant material for urban environments, provided they are curated with scientific objectives at the forefront of management policy.