Red-leafed species for urban greening in the age of global climate change

Urban trees provide vital ecosystem services such as mitigating heat island, improving air quality by removing various air pollutants, capturing rainwater, and acting as topsoil carbon storage. The aesthetic value of urban trees is also another feature that has to be considered in the context of urban greening. Classical criteria for the selection of urban trees have to respond to new challenges imposed to the cities in a near future. Global climate change factors increase the harshness of our cities, and thereby the plant resilience to abiotic stresses has also to be seriously considered for planning the urban greening. Red-leafed species, characterized by the permanent presence of foliar anthocyanins, show a greater tolerance to different environmental cues than green-leafed species commonly used in our cities. In addition, red tree species own a great aesthetic value which has been underestimated in the context of urban areas, especially in the harsh Mediterranean cities. In this study, we emphasize the privilege of being red from different point of view, in order to drive the attention to the possibility to increase the use of red-leafed species for urban greening. Some possible negative aspects related to their use are rebutted and the direction of future researches are proposed.

Automated summary

Urban trees play crucial roles in providing ecosystem services and aesthetic value, and the selection of tree species should consider their resilience to climate changes and abiotic stresses. Red-leafed species demonstrate greater tolerance and aesthetic value compared to green-leafed species, suggesting their potential for broader use in urban greening efforts.