Directive analyzes for the management process of the trees planted on sidewalks in São Pedro do Sul, RS state

Abstract

The planning and management of street trees are indispensable for sustainable urban development and requires knowledge of the existing situation. The identification of forest species which are present on streets and their distributions is essential to support the adequate planning of street afforestation. This information enables to carry out the general characterization of the place of interest and identify priority areas for management actions. Thus, the present study aimed to identify priority areas for interventions in urban street trees of São Pedro do Sul and to verify the influence of exotic species on the diversity index. A census was carried out collecting information about the tree species and their geographic positions, checking it with the specialized literature. The frequencies for families and species were obtained, the Shannon-Wiener index (H ') was calculated for species diversity. The spatialization of trees within the limits of neighborhoods and roads was carried out using a Kernel map. Finally, the density of individuals per kilometer of road in each neighborhood was obtained. 3365 trees were cataloged, of which 98 were not possible to be identifiable. The presence of 91 species was registered, distributed in 34 families. The Fabaceae family obtained the highest density of individuals (19.55%). Exotic species concentrated 63.98 % of the population, with Ligustrum lucidum being the most frequent species (15.66%). The municipality obtained average values of 41.18 trees per kilometer of road and a diversity index of 3.22. The attention index made it possible to identify the neighborhoods with the greatest need for adaptation in terms of the density of road afforestation. The Kernel map made it possible to visualize the distribution of the road afforestation. It was also observed that the diversity of tree species measured in each neighborhood is represented essentially by invasive alien species and that as the diversity values increase, the composition of afforestation with invasive species trees stands out.

Keywords:
GIS; Street trees; Diversity index; Heat map; Density