Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 46(1): January 2020 effective management decisions (Cowett and Bassuk 2014). One technique used in these assessments has been to collate street tree inventory data from those municipalities in a state possessing an inventory. However, because most municipalities in a state typi- cally do not possess a street tree inventory, and the collated inventories represent a nonrandom sample of the statewide street tree population, additional steps have been taken to correct for possible selection bias (Cowett and Bassuk 2014; McPherson et al. 2016). Statewide street tree diversity has been assessed previously in Massachusetts. Cumming et al. (2006) assessed street tree diversity from a sample of 1,124 trees collected from 296 randomly selected plots dis- tributed between six geographic areas (Berkshires, Boston Area, Cape Cod, Central, Northshore, and Southshore). Freilicher (2010) assessed street tree diversity based on data contained in street tree inven- tories conducted in nine municipalities, six of which were in the Boston area. Cumming et al. (2006) and Freilicher (2010) both found that Acer spp. (maple) and Acer platanoides (Norway maple) were the most prevalent street tree genus and species statewide. This paper takes another look at street tree diver- sity in Massachusetts. Building on an earlier paper assessing street tree diversity in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania (Cowett and Bassuk 2017), it employs a methodology, utilized in that paper, in which street tree inventories were obtained from municipalities in the state. Because these inventories comprised a nonrandom sample with the potential for selection bias that could reduce the accuracy of any findings, inventory data were stratified and weighted with auxiliary information before being analyzed for the abundance, dominance, and evenness of street tree species and genera. An assessment was then made as to statewide street tree species and genus diversity and managing the Massachusetts street tree population for greater resilience and continued provi- sion of ecosystem services and social benefits. METHODS Massachusetts is located in the New England region in the northeastern United States. It has a surface area of 27,336 km2 , making it the seventh smallest state, but it is the third most densely populated state, with a population of 6.86 million people, and the most pop- ulous state in the New England region (United States Census Bureau 2017a). There are two principal 29 metropolitan areas: Greater Boston in the east, where approximately two-thirds of the state’s population lives, and the Springfield metropolitan area in the west. The state’s climate is humid continental (Köp- pen Dfb) and typified by warm, humid summers and cold, snowy winters. About 60% of the state is for- ested and falls within two USFS Ecological Prov- inces: the Eastern Broadleaf Forest (Oceanic) Province (Lower New England Section) and the Adirondack-New England Mixed Forest-Coniferous Forest-Alpine Meadow Province (Green, Taconic, Berkshire Mountains Section)(Bailey 2016). USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) estimates show that central and transition hardwood forests, domi- nated by Quercus (oak) species, cover more area than any other forest type, and northern hardwood forests, dominated by Fagus grandifolia (American beech), Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch), and Acer sac- charum (sugar maple), cover the next largest area (United States Forest Service 2010). Street tree inventory data were obtained from thirty Massachusetts municipalities (Figure 1). All municipalities from which data were obtained are cit- ies or towns, both of which are incorporated bodies with legally defined boundaries. There are 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts (MassGIS 2017). There- fore, street tree inventory data were obtained from 8.6% of Massachusetts cities and towns, and the municipalities in the sample contain 28% of all per- sons statewide (United States Census Bureau 2016). Massachusetts’s Urban and Community Forestry Program divides the state into two administrative regions, central-western Massachusetts (Worcester County west) and eastern Massachusetts (east of Worcester County)(Harper et al. 2017). Ten invento- ries were obtained from central-western Massachu- setts (6.2% of cities and towns in the region) and twenty inventories were obtained from eastern Mas- sachusetts (10.5% of cities and towns in the region). The thirty inventories contain 213,845 street trees, with a mean of 7,128 street trees and a median of 4,216 street trees. Relative abundance percentages of street tree spe- cies and genera were calculated for each inventory. Such percentages are frequently used to assess the diversity of a street tree population and to establish recommended ceilings for species and genera preva- lence. For example, Santamour (1990) posited in the wake of Dutch elm disease that, to guard against ©2020 International Society of Arboriculture
January 2020
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