Tropical Community Tree Guide

Book excerpt: Even as they increase the beauty of our surroundings, trees provide us with a great many ecosystem services, incl. air quality improvement, energy conservation, stormwater interception, and carbon dioxide reduction. These benefits must be weighed against the costs of maintaining trees, including planting, pruning, irrigation, admin., pest control, liability, cleanup, and removal. This report presents benefits and costs for representative small, medium, and large trees in the Tropical region based on research carried out in Honolulu, Hawaii. Average annual net benefits increase with tree size and differ based on location:. Two hypothetical examples of planting projects are described to illustrate how the data in this guide can be adapted to local uses.