How many tree species make up Tampas urban forest?
Species diversity is the number of species in a given land area. It is an important attribute in the urban forest and can be used as an indication of the forest’s vulnerability or resiliency to such natural disturbances as insect or disease outbreaks. Areas that have low species diversity are likely to be less resilient to disturbances. For example, the Southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) attacks and kills pine trees. When conditions are right, the population of these beetles can rapidly expand, spreading the infestation. The spread of the beetles slows where pines are mixed with other tree species vs. areas that are monocultures of pine (Gara and Coster, 1968). Thus a forest with greater species diversity tends to be at lower risk to total loss from a single insect, disease, or wind damaging event. How many trees are in Tampa’s urban forest? It is estimated that there are over 7.8 million trees in Tampa. For this study, a tree is defined as a woody stem with a diameter of 1
