Lucy Hutyra discovered that urban trees are about twice as productive in absorbing carbon dioxide than trees in the country.
Boston University Professor Lucy Hutyra and colleagues Andrew Reinmann and Ian Smith, doing field research on trees and the carbon cycle.
She began her career working in tropical rainforests in Brazil, then switched to studying urban trees in Boston — specifically, how trees in the city interact with the carbon that's emitted from vehicles and buildings.. She's one of 20 winners of a so-called"genius grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, announced this week. She spoke about the achievement with WBUR's Sharon Brody on"I told my husband, who had never heard .
"And the reason for that is ... a tree growing in the city is not competing with other trees for light. ... There's a lot of water, either because humans irrigate them with a sprinkler system, or the trees can also tap sewer lines and water lines — my plumber can attest to this. And there's extra nitrogen coming down in the rainwater that acts as a fertilizer."
"I think that we should have lots of trees in cities. But there's a lot more nuance to that statement. We really need to think about where is there space for trees to actually grow and thrive. Are we going to invest the maintenance budgets to keep these trees alive? ... We should also think about the goals that we're trying to achieve. If we're trying to cool the city, trees are a great way to do it. But they're not the only way to do it.
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