Start Date
05/15/2024
End Date
05/14/2026
Description
Urban forests are vital to our urban ecosystems. Landscape architects understand the benefits trees provide, with a large canopy reducing the urban heat island effect. Tree canopy can also enhance residents’ overall health and quality of life. However, urban forests face various challenges, including soil degradation, pollution, invasive pests, and changing climate. Most soils in developed sites have organic matter depletion and compaction.
Soil Genomics is a fascinating field that explores how microbes in the soil affect the health and growth of plants and trees. Through testing, analysis, and organic treatments, soil genomics can address these challenges by better understanding the composition and function of the soil microbial communities and how they respond to environmental stressors such as pollution and changing climate. It is like DNA test, but for soil. This knowledge can be used to develop more effective strategies for managing soil health in urban forests, such as promoting the growth of beneficial microorganisms, exopolysaccharides (EPS), and improving soil structure and nutrient availability.
The goal of community trees is to generate a large canopy that improves air quality, shades and reduces temperatures, improves public health, and larger trees sequester more carbon.
This presentation shares cutting-edge knowledge and technologies to the community forestry supporters to improve how we grow trees for the long term where the benefits are realized from mature tree canopies. The effects on soil microbiome of stressors like overwatering, deicing salts, soil compaction, heat island, organic matter, brownfields will be revealed with real-life testing results.
This is the 1-hour version of the 4-hr Soil Genomics Workshop (CourseID=51233) and the 2-hr version (CourseID=54453)
Distance Learning
Yes
Course Equivalency
No
Subjects
Campus Planning & Design
Design-Build
Horticulture / Plants
Parks & Recreation
Remediation / Brownfields
Residential Design
Rural Landscape
Sustainable Development & Design
Urban Planning & Design
Water / Stormwater Management
Health, Safety and Welfare
Yes
Hours
1.0
Learning Outcomes
1. Discuss why trees are essential to people and how people change the environment for trees.
2. Learn what makes native environments best for trees when there is no human being involved. Then discuss the stresses near the built environment, such as soil/water/air interactions, soil compaction, deicing salt, over-and under-watering, pollutants, chemicals, and temperature (heat island effect).
3. Learn what is soil genomics, how can it reveal the secrets of healthy urban forests, and what landscape architects can do to reverse the negative trend of soil microbiome and boost the soil microbiome and the underground microbial community that will ensure the success of urban forests.
4. Study the effects of urban tree stressors on soil microbiome
Instructors
Wei Zhang, Ph.D; Gordon Mann; Lawrence D. Alberty
Course Codes
Provider
Zynnovation LLC