Pervious vs. Impervious Pavements for Sidewalks: Effects on Soil Characteristics and Physiology of Two Establishing Urban Tree Species — International Society of Arboriculture

Pervious vs. Impervious Pavements for Sidewalks: Effects on Soil Characteristics and Physiology of Two Establishing Urban Tree Species (#10)

Alessio Fini 1 , Piero Frangi 2 , Elena Robbiani 2 , Francesco Ferrini 1
  1. Università di Firenze, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
  2. Centro Mirt, Fondazione Minoprio, Vertemate con Minoprio, Italy

The aim of this experiment was to assess the effects of four sidewalk designs, differing in permeability to water and gases, on some soil chemico-physical parameters and on growth and physiology of newly Celtis australis and Fraxinus ornus. Treatments were: 1) impervious design (asphalt on concrete sub-base); 2) permeable design (curb on crushed rock sub-base); 3) porous design (porous pavement on crushed rock sub-base); 4) control (unpaved soil, kept free of weed by chemical control). Pavements were built in Novembre 2011 and trees were planted in March 2012. Since 2012, soil (temperature, moisture, oxygen content and CO2 efflux) and plant (growth, leaf gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, water relations) parameters were measured. Results showed that soil traits were highly affected by pavements, while plant traits were less affected, probably because of the little time since planting.

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