Urban Heat Island Effect Upside: It Can Be Good for Trees

Cities, with their hard surfaces and black streets, are really good at soaking up solar energy. These sorts of surfaces retain heat, making them markedly warmer than less paved areas, in a process known as the urban heat island effect – a name that calls to mind a hellish slow-roast in an oven of urbanity. It's not exactly deadly, but higher temperatures in cities have been blamed for greater energy use and, by extension, an increase in CO2 emissions and the proliferation of climate change – all of which makes it hard to look at the urban heat island effect as anything but a big problem.

But there may be at least one surprising side-benefit to this urban insulation: higher temperatures in cities have been found to greatly increase the growth of some trees. Red oak seedlings planted in New York City have been found to grow nearly eight times faster than the same trees planted in more suburban and rural areas, according to new research published in the journal Tree Physiology.