Microclimate Related Ecosystem Services Provided by Street Trees in the Urban Areas: A Case Study of Kayseri

Abstract

Abstract With rapidly increasing urbanization, natural ecosystems are disappearing and the environmental quality of cities is deteriorating. Trees, known as function of ecosystem, are an important component of urban green infrastructure systems. Trees have an important function in reducing the environmental problems caused by urbanization in urban areas. Considered as an element of urban design, trees have come to the fore in recent years with a series of tangible and intangible benefits to the citizens and the urban ecosystem. Climatic research also has an important place among regulatory ecosystem services. In the light of this information, the microclimatic contribution of avenue trees needed to be determined within the framework of regulatory ecosystem services. Climatic simulations were carried out with ENVI-met software on six different main arterial roads that constitute the main transportation network of Kayseri, and the climate regulatory effect of avenue trees was revealed at street scale. As a result of the study, it was observed that the average temperature was 30°C, the average radiation temperature was 15°C, the wind speed was 0.5m/s, and the humidity increased by 10% on average on the roads with high vegetation.