Root damage of street trees in urban environments: An overview of its hazards, causes, and prevention and control measures

Abstract

Root damage from urban street trees represents a substantial concern arising from the conflict between root growth and limited growth spaces. Nonetheless, the phenomenon of root damage, which threatens the safety of urban facilities, appears to have received little scholarly attention. Moreover, the effectiveness of some proposed measures for root damage prevention and control has not yet received consistent evaluation. Accordingly, this review aims to examine root damage, including its causes and available prevention and control measures. Urban trees are found to have a high potential to exert root damage on infrastructures when the following factors exist. These include large and mature tree, fast-growing trees, trees planted in limited soil volumes, shallow-rooted tree with buttress roots, trees whose diameter at breast height exceeds 10 cm, old and cracked road paving, high soil surface moisture content, short distances between trees and sidewalks (<2 to 3 m), and underground pipes that are already broken and made of metals or stones. The phenotypic traits of trees may be the primary factor causing root damage when there is a mismatch between the root-soil requirements of urban street trees and the actual soil environment. The poor effectiveness of root damage prevention and control measures may be attributed to the lack of connection between the development of control measures and the mechanism of root damage.

Keywords: Root characteristics; Root damage; Root-damage control; Root-damage mechanism; Street trees.