Effects of Urban Tree Cover Decline on Capacity of Regulating Ecosystem Services in Edirne, Türkiye

Urban trees and forests play a crucial role in providing ecosystem services (ES) that enhance the well-being of urban residents and environmental sustainability. However, studies on the regulating ES of urban trees and their change under the influence of urbanisation in Türkiye are limited. Thus, in this study, we assessed the regulating ES provided by urban trees in the central neighbourhoods of the Merkez District, Edirne, Türkiye, focusing on their ability to remove air pollutants and sequester carbon using web-based i-Tree Canopy. The results revealed a substantial decline in tree cover in the central neighbourhoods, leading to reduced air pollution removal (5,242 kg in 2023 vs 6,976 kg in 2005) and carbon sequestration (181 tonnes/year in 2023 vs 241 tonnes/year in 2005). Contrarily, in the protected area of the Sarayiçi Tavuk Forest, stable tree cover was maintained; this tree cover exhibited a high ES-provision capacity despite its relatively small size. Our novel findings showed that employing web-based tools provides a rapid, easy geospatial solution for assessing regulating ES that can be reproduced in other cities and is useful when comprehensive analysis is limited by insufficient data, time, and resources. Our novel assessment of current and past information on regulating ES establishes a basis for policymakers, urban landscape planners, and researchers to pursue ES-related research, fulfilling the crucial need for climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in 21st-century cities.