Urban tree mortality rates for planting cohort monitoring studies.
Time period t is years since planting. Rates were reported directly in the studies, except those with †, which were calculated using data provided in the study. When a range of mortality and time periods were reported, the maximum and minimum values were used in calculations. Cohort studies that provided a range for time since planting are considered multi-year cohorts.
| Citation | Location (City and state) | Sample type(s) and sample size (no) | Time t (yrs) | Annual mortality qannual (%) [cumulative survivorship lt (%)] | Study notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Impens and Delcarte (1979) | Brussels, Belgium | Street trees 1974 (2300) 1975(3710) 1976 (3148) 1977 (2463) | 1 | 6.5 [93.5†] 10.3 [89.7†] 19.7 [80.3†] 8.7 [91.4†] | Mix of species. Newly planted and inventoried one year after stated planting year. |
| Rhoads et al. (1981) | Philadelphia, PA | Street trees (unk.) | 14 | 1.2† [85] | |
| Nowak et al. (1990) | Oakland/Berkeley, CA | Street trees (480) | 2 | 19 [66†] | Paper also provides mortality rates by species. |
| Miller and Miller (1991) | WI Milwaukee, redeveloped Milwaukee, not redeveloped Stevens Point Waukesha | Street trees (311) (692) (368) (677) | 4-6 4-6 4-9 4 | 10.4-15.8† [51.8] 7.7-11.3† [62] 3.2-7.0† [74.9] 6.5† [76.5] | |
| Struve et al. (1995) | Multiple communities, OH | Curb lawn and lawn trees | 2-3 | 7.2-10.6† [80] | Paper also provides mortality rates by species and city. |
| Ip (1996) | Northwest Region, Canada | Mixed 1 yr. old 2 yrs. old 3 yrs. old | 1 2 3 | 10 [90†] 6.7 [87†] 2.7 [92†] | Includes urban, rural, and agricultural trees. |
| Sullivan (2004) | San Francisco, CA | Street trees (1987) (1869) | 5 10 | 2.9† [86.5] 3.8† [67. 9] | |
| Thompson et al. (2004) | IA, 21 communities | Trees in streets, parks, schoolyards (932) | 2-6 | 6 [91] | Average annual mortality rate reported by source was 6%. |
| Gates and Lubar (2007) | Philadelphia, PA | Trees in parks and streets, all species (1326) | 1-2 | 3.9-7.7† [92.3†] | |
| Boyce (2010) | New York City, NY | Street trees in pits With stewardship Without stewardship | ≤ 4 | 1.25 4.17 | |
| Lu et al. (2010) | New York City, NY | Street trees Total (13,405) 3-6 yrs. cohort (2417) 6-8 yrs. cohort (2417) 8-9 yrs. cohort (5935) | 3-9 3-6 6-8 8-9 | 3.2-9.4† [74.3] 4.0-7.9† [78.2] 3.9-5.1† [73] 3.3-3.7† [73.8] | |
| Roman and Scatena (2011) | Philadelphia, PA | Street trees (151) | 2-10 | 2.4-11.2 [78.8†] | Paper also provides survivorship for different planting years, each being its own cohort. |
| Koeser et al. (2013) | Milwaukee, WI | Street trees, 0-10 yrs. (793) No construction (391) Construction (402) 11-25 yrs. (895) No construction (686) Construction (219) | 10 16 | 1.8† [83.6] 2.5† [77.9] 1.3† [81.1] 1.2† [82.6] | |
| Koeser et al. (2014) | FL, various cities | Trees in parking lots, highways, streets, lawns, parks (2354) | 2-5 | 1.3-3.3† [93.6] | Paper also provides survivorship by species. |
| McPherson (2014) | Los Angeles, CA | street trees (84) park trees (225) yard trees (70) | 4-5 3.1 [90.7] 4.6 [77.1] | 4.4 [79.8] | |
| Roman et al. (2014b) | Sacramento, CA | Single-family residential yard trees (370) | 5 | 6.6 [70.9] | |
| Ko et al. (2015a) | Sacramento, CA | Lawn trees (317) | 22 | 3.8 [42.4] | 22-year post-plantin survivorship was 42.4%, taken from survival curve. Proportion of trees surviving out of those actually delivered was 35.3%. |
| Roman et al. (2015) | East Palo Alto, CA Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, PA | Street trees (568) (150) (94) | 5.92 6.25 6.58 | 0.6 [96.3] 1.6 [90.7] 4.6 [73.4] | |
| Vogt et al. (2015) | Indianapolis, IN | Community planted street trees (1345) | 2-6 | 1.9-5.5† [89.4] | |
| Widney et al. (2016) | Detroit, MI Indianapolis, IN Philadelphia, PA | Street trees (4059) | 3-5 | 7 [79] 7 [80] 13 [59] | Authors used half-years to designate the difference between fall and spring plantings. |
| Yang and McBride (2003) | Beijing, China | Street trees | 11 wks. | 68.5† [75†] | Severely pruned prior to transplanting. |