Urban Ecosystems (2019) 22:367–384

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-019-0823-9

The effect of urbanization gradients and forest types on microclimatic

regulation by trees, in association with climate, tree sizes and species
compositions in Harbin city, northeastern China
Wenjie Wang 1,2 & Bo Zhang 2 & Wei Zhou 2 & Hailiang Lv 1 & Lu Xiao 1,2 & Hongyuan Wang 1,2 & Hongju Du 1,2 &
Xingyuan He 1,3

Published online: 24 January 2019

# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019

Abstract
Rapid urbanization and climate change require stronger microclimatic regulation by urban trees, and maximizing their cooling, humid-
ifying, and shading functions requires an exact understanding of the underlying mechanisms affected by climatic conditions and the
forest characteristics. By measuring different aspects of microclimate regulation by urban trees in 165 plots in Harbin city and measuring
climaticconditions, treesize,andcompositionaldifferences, we definechanges inpatternsalong variousurban-ruralgradients (ring-road
development and urban history) and for different forest types and decoupling the complex associations among them. We found that the
horizontal cooling (1.7 °C to 4.0 °C) was larger than the vertical cooling (−1.71 °C to 0.33 °C) and soil cooling (0.28 °C to 2.17 °C); The
humidifying effect (ΔRH) ranged from −0.34% to 7.30%, and total radiation intercepted (ΔE) ranged from 11.07 kLux to 45.95 kLux.
We also found higher under-branch height, larger canopy, and higher percentage of Ulmaceae, but lower percentage of Salicaceae in
more urbanized regions. The relative importance of tree compositions and size on microclimatic regulation was shown using redundancy
analysis (RDA), and RDAvariation partitioning showed that tree sizes explained 24.7% of the variations in the microclimate regulations,
and tree composition and their interactions with climatic conditions explained 9.5% and 25.4% of the variations, respectively. Our
findings reveal that maximizing microclimatic regulation by urban forests in northeastern China could possibly be achieved through
specific-function-oriented afforestation and an increase conservation of large existing trees, and the data in this paper could favor policy
decision of urban forest manager and local administration of urban green infrastructure.

Keywords Affiliated forest . Climate differences . Ecological welfare forest . Landscape forest . Ring road urban-rural gradient .
Roadside forest

Highlights
1. Microclimatic regulation by urban trees were measured in a Chinese Abbreviations
city of Harbin. AF affiliated forest. Mainly found in schools
2. Urbanized regions had less microclimatic canopy cooling and radiation institutes
interception.
university and residential areas
3. Tree size and composition and climatic conditions explained most of
the variation of microclimate regulation. RF roadside forest. Mainly along streets in
4. Conserving large trees and careful afforestation can maximize urban regions
the regulation. LF Landscape and relaxation forest. Mainly
in parks and botanical gardens
* Wenjie Wang EF Ecological and public welfare forest.
wangwenjie@iga.ac.cn; wjwang225@hotmail.com;
wwj225@nefu.edu.cn Distributed mainly in urban-rural integra-
tion areas of farmland protection forest,
1
and other protected coastal estuarine or
Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology,
water supply areas
Changchun 130102, People’s Republic of China
2
ΔE outside radiation - under-canopy
Key Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Northeast Forestry
radiation
University, Harbin 150040, People’s Republic of China
3
Shading (%) ΔE/outside radiation × 100%
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,
outside forest Tair - forest floor Tair
People’s Republic of China
368
Horizontal cooling
ΔT1
Vertical cooling canopy Tair - under canopy Tair
ΔT2
Soil cooling outside forest Tsoil - forest floor Tsoil
ΔT3
Humidifying forest floor RH - outside forest RH
effect ΔRH
RDA redundancy analysis
DBH diameter at breast height
Radiation solar radiation outside forest shade
Tair air temperature outside forest shade
RH air relative humidity outside forest shade
Tsoil soil temperature at 5 cm
Introduction
Urbanization is currently a major driver of changes in global
land vegetation (Lorenz and Lal 2015). In the United Sates,
the developed land cover increased by 50% in the last 25 years
(Brown et al. 2012). In China, the rate of urbanization in-
creased from 17.92% of the total population in 1978 to
51.27% in 2011, and the population of urban areas rose from
0.17 billion to 0.69 billion (Yue 2013). It is an established fact
that urban microclimates, including temperature and moisture,
have changed in all cities compared to neighboring natural
sites, and urban trees have been recognized as important for
improving microclimatic comfort (Abreu-Harbich et al. 2015;
Sanusi et al. 2017; Shashua-Bar et al. 2012; Wang et al. 2018c;
Zhang et al. 2017). Some classifications that are used as prox-
ies of the urbanization process, such as urban-rural gradients
related to urban history and the development of ring roads, are
useful for both scientific studies and practical applications (Lv
et al. 2016; Wang et al. 2018d; Xiao et al. 2016a; Zhai et al.
2017). Furthermore, forests related to different land uses (e.g.,
affiliated forests, landscape forests, roadside forests and
ecological-protection forests) have been used widely to eval-
uate and manage urban trees (He et al. 2004; Lv et al. 2016;
Wang et al. 2018d). By uncovering differences in the micro-
climatic regulatory functions and potential underlying mech-
anisms of urban forests using selected urban-rural gradients
and the types of forest in a city, land managers can determine
an appropriate strategy for managing urban forests in response
to rapid urbanization (Wang et al. 2018a, d).
Regulating the microclimate requires consideration of fac-
tors such as humidity, temperature, and solar radiation inter-
ception (Sanusi et al. 2016); different media (such as soil and
air); vertical profiles and horizontal distances (Zhang et al.
2017). Tree species have different regulatory functions in a
microclimate (Abreu-Harbich et al. 2015; Sanusi et al. 2017;
Shahidan et al. 2010); therefore, configuring them properly is
important for the functioning of urban forests (Xiao et al.
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384
2016b). Tree growth characteristics such as leaf angle, leaf
size, canopy density (Sanusi et al. 2017), canopy size, tree
height, and under-branch height (Zhang et al. 2017) may also
shape regulatory functions. Furthermore, dry and sunny
weather is generally correlated with stronger regulatory func-
tions from urban forests in semi-arid regions (Norton et al.
2015; Zhang et al. 2017), which shows the importance of
the background climate in terms of tree-related microclimate
regulation (Wang et al. 2018d). In addition, the geography of
buildings or streets outside urban forests (Sanusi et al. 2016),
the geometry of street canyons (Coutts et al. 2016), and forest
types classified by the land around them, can also shape the
regulatory functions of trees (He et al. 2004; Zhang et al.
2017). Quantifying the pattern of different aspects of urban
microclimatic regulation by trees, and decoupling their asso-
ciations with the various factors noted above, may assist urban
forest management.
Harbin city is the capital of Heilongjiang Province, the
northernmost province in China. Long-term records on urban-
ization process, dating back to the 1900s, are available; this
meant that the urban-rural gradients could be classified by
human disturbance (urban history) (Lv et al. 2016; Xiao
et al. 2016b). The urban-rural gradients could be also charac-
terized by the development of ring roads (Lv et al. 2016; Xiao
et al. 2016b). Urban forests in the city include affiliated forest
(AF; found mainly in schools, institutes, and university and
residential areas), roadside forest (RF; found mainly in street
surroundings), landscape and relaxation forest, (LF; mainly
parks and botanical gardens), and ecological and public wel-
fare forest (EF; distributed mainly in urban-rural integration
areas of farmland protection forest, and other protected coastal
estuarine or water supply areas) (Lv et al. 2016; Xiao et al.
2016b). Harbin is vigorously developing its urban forests and
green spaces (having a green space coverage area of 33.9% of
the total urban area) to provide an environment that promotes
better wellbeing (Ren et al. 2018; Xiao et al. 2016a, b; Zhang
et al. 2017, 2016; Zheng et al. 2017). Urban-tree-related mi-
croclimatic regulations and their association decoupling with
forest characteristics were not well-defined to date, and a sys-
tematic study will favor future management of urban forest
and trees for maximizing their ecological services for both
Harbin and other cities with similar situations (weather, topog-
raphy and coordination).
In this study, a large field survey was conducted in Harbin
to test the hypothesis that the functions of urban trees in reg-
ulating microclimates are vary across urban-rural gradients
and forest types, while tree size, local climatic conditions,
and composition differences (species abundance) are the main
contributors to these variations themselves. The following
questions will be answered: 1) What are the main differences
in the shading, cooling, and humidifying effects of urban for-
ests in two urban-rural gradients and different forest types?
What are the related changes in tree size, climatic conditions,
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384
and composition traits (relative abundance of main species)?
and 2) which factors (tree size, climatic conditions, and com-
positional changes) contribute to differences in regulatory
function? What suggestions can this study recommend for
urban forest management?
Materials and methods
Study sites
The study sites were in Harbin (45.73°N, 126.66°E), the cap-
ital of Heilongjiang Province in northeast China. The average
elevation of Harbin is 151 m above sea level. There were 5.49
million people in the Harbin urban area according to the 2015
census. Its annual precipitation and mean temperature are
524 mm and 3.5 °C, respectively. The main trees in urban
forests include different species of Populus L. (Salicaceae),
Salix L. (Salicaceae), Picea A. Dietr. (Pinaceae), and Pinus
thunbergii Parl. (Pinaceae). Harbin was founded in 1898 with
the arrival of the Chinese Eastern Railway, and the initial
urban area was constructed near the Middle East railway in
1896. After a commercial port was opened in 1907, Harbin
gradually became a single city made up of multiple towns, and
urban areas expanded slowly. The development of ring roads
is another feature of the urban sprawl in Chinese cities;
Fig. 1 The location and sample sites of the study area: a the position of
study site in China mainland, b the map of Harbin administrative regions
and c the map of study area, in which the shading color represented the
369
currently, four ring road roads have been developed in
Harbin. Both urban history and ring roads have been used
to study the changes in urban forests (Lv et al. 2016;
Xiao et al. 2016b).
A stratified random sampling method was adopted to de-
termine sampling plots and secure a balanced survey across all
the urban forests in the city. A total of 165 plots (ca. 660 trees)
were surveyed for this study. Around the ring road urban-rural
gradient, there were 13 plots (52 trees) in ring road 1 region,
23 plots (92 trees) in ring road 2 region, 58 plots (232 trees) in
the ring road 3 region, 66 plots (264 trees) in the ring road 4
region, and 5 plots (20 trees) in the region outside the ring road
4 region. Examining the urban history-related gradient, 5 plots
(20 trees) were in the region of 100-year old, 10 plots (40
trees) were in the region of 80-years old, 15 plots (60 trees)
were in the region of 70-years old, 21 plots (84 trees) were in
the region of 50-years old, 39 plots (154 trees) were in the
region of 10-years old, 44 plots (176 trees) in the new urban-
ized region (0-years old), and 31 plots (124 trees) were in the
non-urbanized region. Areas with trees of a particular age
(for example, 60 years old) have been termed Burban his-
tory regions^ (60 year old region). In terms of forest
types, 120 trees were in AFs (30 plots), 184 in RFs (46
plots), 144 were in LFs (36 plots), and 148 trees were in
EFs (37 plots). The distribution of the plots is shown in
Fig. 1.
regions of different human settlement time and the black lines indicated
the different ring road boundaries. The map was created using ArcGIS
10.3 (Esri, Redlands, CA, USA; http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis)
370
For deciding the measuring trees in each plot, top 4 abun-
dant tree species were selected for the microclimate regulating
measurement. Besides tree abundance, the larger tree in the
plot was also measured, and in general, healthy trees (no pests,
no stent support) with a regular crown shape were selected for
measurement. When in a forest community, tree at forest edge
were preferred for the measurement owing to the ease of mea-
suring tree shade microclimate, and outside forest microcli-
mates. In each plot, microclimate regulations from 4 to 6 trees
were measured in general.
Measurement of microclimate, composition,
and tree-size related parameters
We measured the height and under-branch height (m) of the
trees studied using a Nikon forestry PRO laser tree height
meter (Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, Japan); Diameter at breast
height (DBH) was measured in centimeters, using a regular
soft tape-measure, at 1.3 m above the ground. Canopy size
was measured as the projected area of the canopy, using an
elliptic area formula (m2) with the east-west width and the
north-south width as the radii. For all these measurements, at
least four of each top 4 abundant tree species were measured
(not all trees in the plots were measured because the planted
trees were usually of very similar sizes).
The species, genus, and family names, and the number of
each tree species in the plot were recorded for laboratory cal-
culation and future analysis. These data were used to find their
differences in urban-rural gradients, and the different forest
types were used to find differences in tree sizes and composi-
tions. The compositional traits were described as the relative
abundance of the top abundant species (percentage of the
family at each gradient or forest type with reference to total
trees surveyed). Three main families (Salicaceae, Ulmaceae,
and Pinaceae) were classified and all other species were rec-
ognized as belonging to an Bother species^ group in the rela-
tive abundance calculation.
Climatic factors outside and inside forests (sunlight radia-
tion intensity, air temperature [Tair], air humidity [RH], soil
temperature, under-canopy temperature, and canopy tempera-
ture) were measured during the plot inventory survey during
the summer (July–August) in 2014. These data were used to
compute the cooling, shading, and humidifying effects of ur-
ban trees. Tair and RH were measured with a handheld tem-
perature and humidity meter (Victor231, Shenzhen Victory
Hi-tech Co., Ltd., Shenzen, Guandong, China) in the shade
of the tree canopy and outside forest plot without canopy
shade (approximately 10 m away from the canopy projection
edge of the measured tree). Similarly, solar radiation was mea-
sured with a digital radiation meter (Tes-1330a, Tai Electronic
Industry Co., Ltd.). Air temperature, solar radiation inside and
outside the forests, and forest shadiness were measured by
placing a thermometer and radiometer about 20 cm higher
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384
than the ground for about 5 min to record the final data. Soil
temperature at approximately 5 cm deep was measured with a
thermorecorder with a needle thermometer (Wanyunshan,
Fuzhou, China) for about 5 min. Canopy temperature and
under-canopy temperature were measured with an infrared
hand-held temperature measurement gun (303b Victor,
Shenzhen Victory Hi- tech Co., Ltd.) (Zhang et al. 2017),
and canopy temperature was measured from the middle of
the canopy, and the under-canopy temperature was measured
at the upper stem, just below the live branch (the actual mea-
suring height was different at different plots owing to tree
height difference). Three measurements were averaged for
each parameter. All these data were used to calculate the mi-
croclimate regulatory functions given in the next section; the
outside forest radiation, Tair, and RH were used as climatic
conditions for this study. Local sunrise and sunset times were
4:30 and 19:30 UTC + 08:00, respectively. All the data used in
this study were collected between 8:00 and 18:00 on sunny
days to guarantee its precision (Zhang et al. 2017), and at least
three replications throughout field survey of each parameter,
taken at each plot within about one hour of the field survey,
were averaged for each tree sampled.
Calculating microclimatic regulation by trees
Microclimatic regulation was determined based on the mea-
sured microclimatic data in the previous section above-de-
scribed. The effect of shading was represented by ΔE
(kLux), where ΔE = outside radiation – under-canopy radia-
tion; we also used the relative changes, i.e., the degree of
shading (%) calculated as ΔE/outside radiation × 100%, to
describe the shading effects (both absolute values and relative
values could give a full picture of the urban tree shading ef-
fects). The horizontal cooling difference was represented by
ΔT1 (°C), ΔT1 = outside forest Tair - forest floor Tair and the
vertical cooling difference ΔT2 (°C) was calculated as ΔT2 =
canopy Tair - under canopy Tair. The soil cooling difference
ΔT3 (°C) was computed by using the equation ΔT3 = outside
forest Tsoil - forest floor Tsoil, the humidifying effect was rep-
resented as the ΔRH (%), which was calculated as follows:
ΔRH = forest floor RH - outside forest RH. Details on these
calculations can be found in previous publications (Wang
et al. 2018a; Wang et al. 2018d; Zhang et al. 2017, 2013).
Data analysis
Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and post-hoc
multiple comparisons were performed using SPSS 22.0
(SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) to find the differences in the
microclimatic regulatory functions (horizontal and vertical
cooling, soil cooling, the effects of humidifying and shading),
climatic conditions (radiation, Tair, and RH) and tree size (tree
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384 371

height, under branch height, DBH, and canopy size), at urban-
rural gradients, and for different types of forest.
Regression and correlation analyses of microclimatic reg-
ulation, environmental factors, and tree growth factors were
also performed using SPSS 22.0. RDA was used to graphical-
ly represent the associations of the microclimatic regulating
functions, outside-forest climatic conditions, tree size, and
compositional differences, while partial RDA was used to par-
tition the contribution of different explanatory factors to the
response factors for microclimatic regulation (Braak and
Šmilauer 2012). Canoco 5.0 (Biometrics, the Netherlands)
was used for the RDA analysis.
Results
Differences in microclimatic regulation
For ring road-related urban-rural gradients, the peak ΔT1
(3.32 °C) was found in the ring road 2 region, while the lowest
(1.72 °C) was in the outside ring road 4 region. For forest
types, the ΔT1 ranged from 3.24 °C (AF) to 2.70 °C (RF)
and for urban history regions, the peak value, in the 80 year
history region (ΔT1: 4.00 °C), was approximately 1.7 times
higher than the lowest in the 100 year history region.
However, these differences were not statistically significant
(p > 0.05) (Table 1).
The ΔT2 differed significantly (p < 0.05) between ring
road regions, forest types, and urban history regions. The
ΔT 2 was the lowest in the outside ring road 4 region
(−1.71 °C, indicating a canopy temperature 1.71 °C cooler
than the under-canopy temperature), but the highest was in
the ring road 1 region (0.33 °C, indicating a canopy tempera-
ture 0.33 °C hotter than the under-canopy temperature). For
urban history regions, the new settlement region had the low-
est ΔT2 (0 year, −0.94 °C), while the peak value was found in
the oldest region (100 year). Thus, both urban-rural gradient
analyses showed that more urbanized regions had lower can-
opy cooling effects. In different forest types, the ΔT2 was
lowest in RF (−1.16 °C), while the highest was found in AF
(0.26 °C); thus, afforestation along roadsides is more likely to
provide a cooler canopy atmosphere (Table 1).
The ΔT3 differed significantly (p < 0.05) among forest
types and urban history regions, but no significant differences

Table 1 Microclimate regulation

differences in different ring roads, Groups Cooling effects (°C) Humidifying Shading effects N
and urban history-related urban- effect
rural gradients and different forest
types ΔT1 ΔT2 ΔT3 ΔRH (%) ΔE (kLux) Shading %

Ring road urban-rural gradient (ring)

1 ring 2.05 a 0.33 a 0.99 a 3.27 ab 18.66 a 87.84 a 13
2 ring 3.32 a 0.04 a 1.25 a 6.51 b 32.83 ab 88.29 a 23
3 ring 2.72 a −0.31 a 1.48 a 5.69 ab 27.43 ab 80.96 a 58
4 ring 3.01 a −0.61 a 1.84 a 3.99 ab 34.63 ab 81.41 a 66
Outside 4 1.72 a −1.71 b 1.14 a −0.34 a 45.95 b 89.05 a 5
Urban history urban-rural gradient (yr)
100-yr 2.26 a 0.56 a 1.98 b 7.3 a 11.07 a 86.18 a 5
80-yr 4.00 a 0.05 ab 0.28 a 1.92 a 37.45 b 89.86 a 10
70-yr 2.43 a 0.38 a 1.93 b 5.11 a 25.78 ab 91.29 a 15
50-yr 2.96 a 0.01 ab 0.99 ab 7.28 a 26.77 ab 84.86 a 21
10-yr 2.41 a −0.4 ab 1.61 ab 4.77 a 26.63 ab 79.1 a 39
0-yr 2.97 a −0.94 a 1.62 ab 5.64 a 33.09 b 77.63 a 44
nonurban 3.03 a −0.45 ab 1.91 b 2.06 a 39.72 b 87.25 a 31
Forest types
AF 3.24 a 0.26 a 0.97 a 5.78 b 29.79 a 89.96 c 45
RF 2.7 a −1.16 b 1.75 c 3.77 a 28.46 a 76.88 a 47
LF 2.97 a −0.54 b 1.57 b 5.36 b 32.72 a 89.33 bc 36
EF 2.89 a −0.5 ab 2.17 c 3.3 a 35.39 b 87.76 ab 37

Different letters in the same group and the same parameter indicate significant differences among urban-rural
gradients or forest types (p < 0.05); while the same letters showed non-significant differences (p > 0.05)
ΔT1 horizontal cooling difference, ΔT2 vertical cooling difference, ΔT3 soil cooling difference, ΔRH humid-
ifying effect, ΔE radiation intercepted by forest canopy, Shading % the percentage of radiation under canopy
relative to outside forest radiation, AF affiliated forests, RF roadside forests, LF landscape forests, EF ecological
welfare forests
372 Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384

(p > 0.05) were found in ring road regions. LF and RF showed
the largest ΔT3 (1.75–2.17 °C), while AF had the lowest soil
temperature difference of 0.97 °C. In the different urban his-
tory regions, ΔT3 ranged from 0.28 °C (80 year region) to
1.98 °C (100 year region). For the ring road regions, the ΔT3
ranged from 0.99 °C to 1.84 °C (Table 1).
The ΔRH between the ring road regions and forest types
differed significantly (p < 0.05), while no differences were
found with different urban history regions (p > 0.05). In the
ring road regions, the highest ΔRH was in ring road 2 region
(6.51%), while the lowest was found in the outer ring road 4
region (−0.34%). For the different forest types, the highest
△RH were found in the AF and LF, each 1.6 times higher than
the lowest, which were found in the RF and EF. For the urban
history regions, the △RH ranged from 2.06% to 7.30%
(Table 1).
Shading effects were expressed as two parameters: ΔE and
percent (%) shade. MANOVA showed that the ring road re-
gions, urban history regions, and forest types differed signif-
icantly (p < 0.05) in the ΔE while the percent shaded was
significantly different (p < 0.05) for forest types. Ring road 5
region had the highest value, while the lowest was found in the
ring road 1 region. Of the forest types, EF had the highest
shading % (35.39 kLux), while RF had the lowest shading
effects (28.46 kLux, 76.88%). Of the urban history regions,
the nonurban region had the highest shading effect (39.72
kLux and 87.25%) (Table 1).
Linear regression showed that two parameters of microcli-
matic regulation showed linear changes at urban-rural gradi-
ents. The first parameter is the ΔE; the ΔE increased in a
linear manner with the urban-rural gradient (y = 5.638x +
14.986; R2 = 0.7927) (raw data is in Table 1). The other pa-
rameter is the ΔT2. Linear decreases were also found in the
urban history gradient (y = −0.2068x + 0.7143; R2 = 0.7402)
and ring road gradient (y = −0.473x + 0.967; R2 = 0.9017)
(raw data is in Table 1). Linear regression between raw data
and urban-rural gradients further confirmed this. Significant
(p < 0.01) linear decreases in ΔT2 were observed at the ring
road gradient and the urban history gradient (Appendix
Fig. 4). Similarly, the ΔE was found to increase in a linear
manner along the ring road gradient (p < 0.05) (Appendix
Fig. 4).
Differences in climatic conditions
For different ring road regions, the Tair ranged from 29.11 °C
to 31.68 °C (p > 0.05). For the urban history regions, the low-
est Tair value was found in the 10 year region (29.0 °C), while
the highest was found in the 0 year region (31.02 °C). For
different forest types, no significant different Tair was ob-
served in the four types of forest (Table 2). The ring road 5
region and the new settled urban region (non-urban and
0 year) had the peak radiation, while the lowest value was
found in oldest urbanized regions (such as the 114-year old

Table 2 climatic conditions (RH,

Tair and radiation) and tree size Climatic differences Tree size differences
(tree height, DBH, underbranch
height, and canopy size) Tair (°C) Radiation RH (%) Height DBH (cm) Underbranch Canopy
differences at different forest (kLux) (m) Height (m) size (m2)
types, urban history and ring road
regions Ring road urban-rural gradient (ring)
1ring 29.1 a 20.3 a 62.8 b 9.0 a 26.0 b 2.4 b 59.6 ab
2ring 30.1 a 36.2 ab 56.8 b 8.4 a 23.2 ab 2.5 b 70.5 b
3ring 30.1 a 32.7 ab 56.6 b 7.5 a 17.0 a 2.1 b 36.7 ab
4ring 30.1 a 40.7 ab 54.8 b 9.2 a 21.9 ab 2.2 b 49.5 ab
Outside 4 31.7 a 50.7 b 40.2 a 11.7 b 34.0 c 1.4 a 23.3 a
Urban history urban-rural gradient (yr)
100-yr 29.4 a 12.6 a 57.9 a 7.6 a 23.4 bc 2.2 a 58.8 ab
80-yr 30.6 a 40.0 b 61.9 a 9.0 a 26.0 bc 2.6 a 50.9 ab
70-yr 29.3 a 27.8 ab 58.6 a 9.2 a 22.7 abc 2.6 a 70.7 b
50-yr 30.5 a 31.1 ab 55.0 a 8.5 a 22.1 abc 2.1 a 61.8 ab
10-yr 29.0 a 32.2 ab 58.9 a 7.7 a 18.2 ab 2.4 a 39.9 ab
0-yr 31.0 a 40.2 b 52.5 a 6.9 a 14.9 a 2.0 a 29.7 a
Nonurban 30.0 a 44.3 b 54.0 a 11.6 b 29.9 c 2.0 a 61.1 ab
Forest types
AF 30.03 a 33.8 a 56.1 a 7.4 a 19.4 a 2.0 ab 55.0 a
RF 30.04 a 35.5 a 55.2 a 7.6 a 18.5 a 2.4 ab 37.0 a
LF 29.92 a 33.7 a 58.9 a 8.4 a 19.7 a 2.4 b 42.6 a
EF 30.01 a 38.7 a 54.4 a 10.6 b 26.2 b 2.0 a 57.9 a

Different letters in the same group and the same parameter indicate significant differences among urban-rural
gradients or forest types (p < 0.05); while the same letters showed non-significant differences (p > 0.05)
Tair air temperature, RH air relative humidity DBH diameter at breast height, AF affiliated forests, RF roadside
forests, LF landscape forests, EF ecological welfare forests
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384 373

region and the ring road 1–3 regions) (Table 2). For the dif-
ferent forest types, radiation ranged from 38.72 kLux in EF to
33.74 kLux in LF (Table 2). The highest RH was found in the
ring road 1 region (62.75%), while the lowest was found in the
outside ring road 4 region (40.24%) (p < 0.05). The RH for
urban history regions ranged from 52.45% to 61.88%, and
those for the different forest types ranged from 54.37% to
58.95% (Table 2).
Linear regression showed that the Tair, radiation, and RH
values changed linearly at the ring road urban-rural gradients,
but weak relationships were found in the urban history gradi-
ent. Radiation and Tair increased as urbanization became more
intense, from the ring road 1 region to the ring road 5 region
(radiation: y = 6.552x + 16.456, R 2 = 0.8618; Tair : y =
0.516x + 28.65, R2 = 0.7757), and from the oldest to the youn-
gest history region (radiation: y = 16.651 × 0.499, R2 = 0.6436;
Tair: y = 16.651 × 0.499, R2 = 0.6436). The RH value decreased
in a linear manner at the ring road urban-rural gradient (y =
−4.709x + 68.359; R2 = 0.7894) and urban history gradient
(y = −1.0786x + 61.266, R2 = 0.5051) (raw data is in Table 2).
Differences in tree size
The tree size parameters differed significantly among the ring
road regions, urban history regions, and forest types (Table 2).
The highest tree heights were found in outside the ring road 4
region and the non-urban region, while the lowest heights
were found in regions with medium levels urbanization, such
as the newly urbanized region and the ring road 3 region. For
the ring road urban-rural gradients, there were linear decreases
under-branch height on the urban-rural gradient (y =
−0.211x + 2.749; R2 = 0.6861); canopy size showed a similar
tendency (y = −9.338x + 75.942; R2 = 0.6343) (raw data is in
Table 2). However, there was no such tendency in the urban-
history urban-rural gradients (raw data is in Table 2).
The data showed that the different forest types had different
patterns of height, DBH, under-branch height, and canopy
size. For forest types, the DBH value was the highest in the
EF and the lowest value was found in the RF. The under-
branch height was highest in the LF and lowest in the EF.
There were non-marked differences in canopy size (Table 2).
Differences in family composition
The changes in tree family relative abundance, evident at ring
road regions, regions with different urban histories, and forest
types, are shown in Table 3. In both urban-rural gradients,
there were linear decreases in the percentage of Ulmaceae in
the forest (y = −9.2225x + 62.579, R2 = 0.8466 for the urban
history gradient; y = −15.766x + 70.756, R2 = 0.9094 for the

Table 3 Family-related relative

abundance at different ring road Relative abundance of trees from different family
regions, urban history regions and
forest types Pinaceae (%) Salicaceae (%) Ulmaceae (%) Other spp. (%)

Ring road urban-rural gradient (ring)

1ring 0 15.38 61.54 23.08
2ring 17.39 34.78 39.13 8.7
3ring 13.79 43.11 12.07 31.03
4ring 9.09 77.27 4.55 9.09
Outside 4 0 100 0 0
Urban history urban-rural gradient (yr)
100-yr 0 0 60 40
80-yr 20 40 30 10
70-yr 6.67 33.33 46.67 13.33
50-yr 14.29 38.1 23.8 23.81
10-yr 17.95 51.28 10.26 20.51
0-yr 11.36 54.55 9.09 25
Nonurban 0 100 0 0
Forest types
AF 11.1 37.8 33.3 17.8
RF 4.3 61.7 10.6 23.4
LF 27.8 27.8 16.7 27. 8
EF 2.7 97.3 0 0
Whole city
Average 10.91 55.76 15.76 17.58

AF affiliated forests, RF roadside forests, LF landscape forests, EF ecological welfare forests

374
ring road gradient) (raw data is in Table 3). The percentage of
Salicaceae showed the opposite tendency (y = 21.173x -
9.411, R2 = 0.9668 for the ring road gradient; y = 12.395x -
4.2557, R2 = 0.7983 for the urban history gradient) (raw data
is in Table 3). For Pinaceae, a middle-peak pattern was ob-
served in the ring road gradient (y = −3.8614 × 2 + 22.339x -
16.486; R 2 = 0.8596) and urban history gradient (y =
−0.0733 × 3–0.6798 × 2 + 9.2571x - 5.1814, R2 = 0.5242)
(raw data is in Table 3). Other species showed no generalized
patterns in the two urban-rural gradients (Table 3).
For the different types of forest, AF had the highest per-
centage of Salicaceae (37.8%); there was also a peak number
of Salicaceae in RF (61.7%) and EF (97.3%). In LF,
Salicaceae, Pinaceae, and other species made up the same
percentage (27.8%) of the total (Table 3).
City-level analysis showed that Salicaceae had the highest
percentage (55.76%), followed by other species (17.58%) and
Ulmaceae (15.76%), while Pinaceae made up 10.91% of the
total, in terms of percentage (Table 3).
Associations between microclimatic regulation,
climatic conditions, tree sizes, and tree compositions
Analysis using Pearson’s correlation showed that the ΔRH
was negatively correlated with radiation (p < 0.05), while
ΔE was positively correlated with radiation and Tair (and neg-
atively with RH) (p < 0.05). The ΔT2 was negatively correlat-
ed with radiation and Tair but positively correlated with RH
(p < 0.05). However, non-significant associations were found
between other cooling effects and climatic conditions
(Appendix Table 5). The larger canopy size and higher un-
der-branches, along with the lower tree height and DBH, were
usually accompanied by a larger ΔT1 and ΔT2 but not a larger
ΔT3 (p > 0.05). The taller tree heights, DBH, and larger can-
opy sizes linearly increased the effect of shade in terms of the
ΔE and the percentage shade (p < 0.05) (Appendix Table 5).
The ΔRH was negatively correlated with tree height and DBH
(p < 0.05), but positively correlated with canopy size and
under-branch height (non-significant, p > 0.05) (Appendix
Table 5). Tree family relative abundance also significantly
correlated with microclimatic regulatory functions
(Appendix Table 5). Examples of these relationships include
those between the ΔT1 and percentage Pinaceae (positive);
ΔT2 and percentage Salicaceae (negative, p < 0.05); ΔT2
and percentage Ulmaceae (positive, p < 0.05); ΔT3 and per-
centage Pinaceae and Ulmaceae (positive) and Salicaceae
(negative) (Appendix Table 5).
The results of stepwise regression analysis (Appendix
Table 6) confirmed the findings of the Pearson’s correlation
test (Appendix Table 5). For three cooling differences, the
parameters with the peak coefficients in Appendix Table 5
were entered into the stepwise models shown in Appendix
Table 6. For the percentage shade, the DBH (the peak
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384
coefficient of the Pearson’s correlations in Appendix
Table 5) was the first parameter in the model for percentage
shading, indicating that a larger tree size when a relatively
lower percentage of Salicaceae were present was usually ac-
companied with a higher percentage shade. For the ΔE, a
higher outside forest radiation, larger tree size, and higher
percentage of Pinaceae accompanied the higher ΔE
(Appendix Table 6). For the ΔRH model, tree height, canopy
size, and under-branch height were the three parameters used;
in general, lower tree heights and larger tree canopies accom-
panied higher ΔRH (Appendix Table 6). The standardized
coefficient of the stepwise models was used to compare the
relative contributions of the climatic conditions, tree sizes, and
family compositions to microclimatic regulatory functions
(Appendix Table 6). Climatic conditions showed the highest
influences on the ΔT2 (RH, beta = 0.678) and ΔE (radiation,
beta = 0.903). The family composition showed the highest
influences on percentage shade (Salicaceae, beta = −0.958)
and ΔT1 (Pinaceae, beta = 0.571). Tree size had the highest
influences on the ΔRH (height, beta = −0.980) (Appendix
Table 6).
RDA visually showed the complex relationships among
microclimatic regulation, tree size, outside forest climatic con-
ditions, and family compositions (Fig. 2a). Two axes in Fig. 2a
explained approximately 64.7% of the total variations in mi-
croclimatic regulation. For the ΔT1, larger ΔT1 and ΔE
values were accompanied by higher percentages of Pinaceae
and larger tree sizes (e.g., DBH, canopy size). These were also
confirmed by the Pearson’s correlation test and stepwise re-
gressions (Appendix Tables 5 & 6). Forests in the 80-year
region and ring road 2 region had much higher ΔT1 and ΔE
values than the RF forest or the 10 year region did (Fig. 2b).
For the ΔT2, positive correlations were found in the percent-
age of Ulmaceae, RH, canopy size, and under-branch height,
while negative correlations were found for percentage of
Salicaceae. For ΔT3, the smaller tree sizes and lower percent-
age of Pinaceae were usually accompanied by a larger ΔT3
(Fig. 2a).
The ΔE showed positive correlations with outside forest
radiation, Tair, tree height, and negative correlations with per-
centages of other species present (Fig. 2a). Some forests, such
as those in the outer ring road 4 region, usually had a higher
ΔE than areas such as the 100-year region, ring road 1 region,
and 70-year region (Fig. 2b). The ΔRH was higher in forests
with a higher percentage of Ulmaceae, larger canopy sizes, a
lower percentage of Salicaceae, lower tree height, Tair, and
radiation (Fig. 2a). Some forests, such as the 100-year region
and the ring road 1 region, had a larger ΔRH while other
forests (such as the outer ring road 4 region) had a much lower
ΔRH (Fig. 2b).
RDA results for each group of explanatory factors (climatic
conditions, tree sizes, and compositional traits) (Appendix
Fig. 5) showed results similar to the conditional-effects-
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384 375

0.8 ∆T1 indicates the selection of proper tree species at suitable sites
Shadi% is important for microclimatic regulation (Fig. 3).
∆T2 CanpSize Pinaceae
RDA2=27.1%

RH UndBrnHe
DBH
∆E
Ulmaceae Tair Discussion
Radiatio
Height
∆RH Functions regulating microclimates: urbanization
Salicace
effects and forest-type differences
Otherspp
The urban green infrastructure is currently managed according
to its location and forest type, and the characterizing the dif-
-0.8

ferences in microclimatic regulation at different sites may fa-

∆T3
vor administration and management related to urban forests.
-1.0 RDA1=37.6% 1.0
Previous studies of the environmental benefits of urban forests
a
mainly examine their role in regulating air temperature and
1.5

80-yr
relative humidity through shading, transpiration, and evapora-
tive cooling (Mo et al. 2007; Zhou et al. 2005), or compare
2ring
tree species and community types (Lee et al. 2006; Shahidan
et al. 2010; Shashuabar et al. 2010; Zhang et al. 2013). In this
AF
study, through a large-scale field survey of 165 sites in a
50-yr
1ring
592 km2 urban region, we found that the microclimatic regu-
LF Nonurban

EF
latory functions of urban trees are different at varying urban-
70-yr 4ring
0-yr outer 4ring rural gradients and forest types, and that these patterns are
3ring
100-yr
different for cooling, shading, and humidifying effects.
10-yr
Firstly, our data defined the range of multiple aspects of
-1.0

RF microclimatic regulation from urban trees in the middle of the

-1.5 2.0 summer season around 45o north latitude, while previous stud-
b ies in general only focused on one aspect (e.g., horizonal
Fig. 2 Ordination of microclimate regulations, outside forest climates, cooling effect). The horizontal cooling (ΔT1) was 1.7 °C to
tree size and compositions (a) and differentiation of the study sites (b)
4.0 °C, which was higher than the vertical cooling (ΔT2:
by the redundancy analysis. Full names of the abbreviations in the figures
could be found from Tables 1, 2, and 3 −1.71 °C to 0.33 °C) and soil cooling (ΔT3: 0.28 °C to
2.17 °C). The humidifying effect (ΔRH) ranged from
−0.34% to 7.30%, while total radiation intercepted (ΔE)
tested results, where colinearly effects among different factors
were excluded in the analysis (Fig. 2).
By using the partial RDA of ‘Var-part-3groups-
Conditional-effects-tested’ in Canoco 5.0, we partitioned the
variations in microclimatic regulation into three groups of
explanatory factors: climatic conditions (Group1: Tair, RH,
radiation), tree size (Group 2: height, DBH, under-branch
height, canopy size), and composition (Group 3: Pinaceae,
Salicaceae, Ulmaceae, other species). The climatic conditions
(the unique effect of group 1) and traits of tree compositions
(the unique effect of group 3) could explain 12.7% (a) and
9.5% (c) of the variation, while tree size (Group 2 unique
effect) could explain about 2-fold higher of the variations (b:
Fig. 3 Microclimate regulation variation partitioning into 3 groups
24.7%), showing the importance of tree size in regulating the explaining factors of climatic conditions, tree sizes and composition
microclimate. Furthermore, interactions between the parame- traits in partial RDA Analysis of ‘Var-part-3groups-Conditional-effects-
ters of the three groups could explain 53.1% of the variation in tested’ in Canoco 5.0. a unique explaining power from first group; b
microclimatic regulations (d + e + f + g). Of these, the interac- unique explaining power from second group; c unique explaining
power from third group; d interaction explaining power from first and
tion between compositional traits and climatic conditions (f) second groups; e interaction explaining power from second and third
could explain 25.4% of the variations. As the climatic condi- groups; f interaction explaining power from third and first groups; g
tions on-site were not controlled, this strong interaction interaction explaining power from first, second and third groups
376
ranged from 11.07 kLux to 45.95 kLux (79.1% to 91.3% in
terms of percentage shade). These ranges were different from
the values reported in other regions but similar to the ranges
reported in Harbin. For example, the maximum cooling and
humidifying effects were approximately 24% and 41%, re-
spectively, in urban parks (Georgi and Zafiriadis 2006), and
a long-term study also found that forests could decrease daily
maximum temperature by at most 5.1 °C (overall average:
1.8 °C), and increase daily minimum RH up to 12.4% (overall
average: 5.1%) (von Arx et al. 2012). The air temperature
reduction by urban trees was greater for streets running east-
west (2.1 °C) than for those running north-south (0.9 °C)
(Sanusi et al. 2016). Model calculations showed
transpiration-related latent heat absorption of 0.40 °C–
1.22 °C in urban Harbin (Chen et al. 2012), and an urban
botanical garden showed a 2 °C–4 °C lower air temperature
and a 6.2%-–14.2% higher RH with reference to neighboring
downtown regions (Li et al. 2008); others also found 77%–
90% increase in sunlight interception, 3%–6% increase in hu-
midity, a 3 °C increase in horizontal cooling, and a 1 °C–2 °C
change in soil cooling from averages of various urban trees at
different locations of roadsides, urban parks, universities and
urban-rural interaction regions (Zhang et al. 2017).
Secondly, microclimatic regulating functions were found to
largely differ in different forest types, and inter-city differ-
ences were found in northeastern China. In China, urban for-
ests and trees are classified as AF, EF, AF, and LF according to
land use differences outside forests (Xiao et al. 2016b; Zhou
et al. 2017). This study found much evident soil cooling in all
forest types (0.97 °C–2.17 °C). Harbin has a slight canopy
heating effect, such as from AF at 0.26 °C, while under-
canopy cooling was found in RF, LF and EF (−0.5 °C to
−1.16 °C). In other city, canopy cooling was found at all forest
types (−0.7 °C to −1.4 °C) (Wang et al. 2018a). For the hor-
izontal cooling effect in Harbin, there were no differences in
the different forest types (2.7 °C–3.24 °C), which was similar
to the finding in other cities (about 3 °C on average among
four forest types) (Wang et al. 2018a). Previous studies found
that street segments with trees had temperatures 5.6 °C lower
than the afternoon ambient air temperature and 27.5 °C lower
than road surface temperatures (Vailshery et al. 2013), and
these horizontal cooling effect strongly associated with land-
scape patterns (Ren et al. 2013) and urbanization intensity
(Wang et al. 2018d). In the case of humidifying effect in
Harbin, RF and EF had a lower effect (about 3%) than AF
and LF (about 5.5%). A similar tendency was found in another
city in northeastern China, i.e., the humidifying effects of the
AF and LF (5%–7%) were better than that of the RF and EF
(3%–4%) (Wang et al. 2018a). For the effect of shading, we
found RF in Harbin had the lowest value, while values at AF,
LF, and EF were 1.15–1.17 times higher than that from RF, on
average. Different patterns were found in Changchun city
(about 300 km south): EF and RF had 1.5–2.7 times the value
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384
of intercepted radiation and 4% higher relative shading than
other cities (Wang et al. 2018a). Comparing the data between
the two cities showed that different types of forest may per-
form microclimatic regulation differently, and that different
cities have shown varying patterns related to this.
Thirdly, urbanization affected various aspects of the micro-
climate regulating functions of trees differently, and different
cities showed a similar pattern in terms of the effect of shad-
ing. Urban-rural gradient sampling is a typical method used in
studies on the effects of urbanization on various functions of
forests, such as soil organic carbon accumulation (Lv et al.
2016) and changes in tree diversity (Xiao et al. 2016b). In this
study, more urbanized regions had weaker canopy cooling
effects and lower amounts of radiation intercepted by cano-
pies, however there were no linear changes in horizontal
cooling, soil cooling, and the humidifying effect at the
urban-rural gradients. In Changchun (300 km south of
Harbin), linear increases in the shading effects were observed
from central urban regions to rural ones (Wang et al. 2018d),
showing the general pattern of urbanization on the shading
effects of trees. Vertical cooling is becoming more important
for urban regions, due to utilization of sky space by high
buildings (Perini et al. 2012; Zhang et al. 2017); the urbaniza-
tion of Harbin has declined the vertical cooling (canopy
cooling) effects. We also found that tree size (under-branch
height and canopy size) and percentage of Ulmaceae de-
creased linearly along the urban-rural gradient, while there
was a linear increase in percentage Salicaceae, showing ur-
banization linear effect’s on forests and trees, and possibly
associated with the microclimate regulation services. These
findings can assist scientists with choosing possible indicators
with which to estimate the effects of urbanization on tree com-
position and microclimatic regulation. In the future, more at-
tention should be paid to differences in both horizontal and
vertical air cooling and the differences in cooling of other
media (e.g., soil), aiming to improve the functional effects of
urban forests (Shashua-Bar et al. 2012; Wang et al. 2018a, d;
Zhang et al. 2017).
Associations between microclimate regulations,
and tree and composition and climatic conditions:
statistical analysis and variation partitioning
In this study, the importance of climatic conditions, tree sizes,
and tree composition in the regulation of microclimates was
made manifest by their close associations; their relative con-
tribution to shaping microclimatic regulations were quantified
by RDA ordination-variation partitioning, stepwise regres-
sion, and Pearson’s correlations. It is well known that climatic
conditions may shape the microclimatic regulatory functions
of trees (Shashuabar et al. 2010) and that this is usually stron-
ger in dry and sunny weather (Shashuabar et al. 2010; Zhang
et al. 2017). Different scientists found that plants play a great
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384
role in cooling during periods of high solar radiation (Jim and
Zhang 2015), and the cooling effects of trees on hot, clear days
were two times higher than that on cold, cloudy days (Wang
et al. 2015). Larger trees in urban regions usually had stronger
regulating functions in terms of both the magnitudes and dis-
tances affected (Barro et al. 1997; Dwyer et al. 1991); their
diameter, height, and canopy size have been used to charac-
terize these associations (Zhang et al. 2017). Tree species also
differed in their capacity to regulate the microclimate (Abreu-
Harbich et al. 2015) due to transpiration-related characteristics
(Mo et al. 2007; Wang et al. 2015; Zhou et al. 2005) and
factors related to tree architecture, including leaf area index,
foliage aggregation, average leaf inclination angle, vertical
distribution of foliage (Sampson and Smith 1993), canopy
cover ratio (Yan et al. 2012), foliage cover and branching habit
(Shahidan et al. 2010), and plant area index (including leaf
angle, leaf size, and canopy architecture or simply canopy
density) (Sanusi et al. 2017). These studies have provided a
basis for future studies; however, there has been no definite
statistically significant quantification of the relative impor-
tance of tree size, composition, and climate in regulating
microclimates.
In Harbin, three statistical methods cross-checked the im-
portance of local climate, tree size, and composition on regu-
lating multiple aspects of microclimates; these findings are
similar to those from the previously mentioned studies. In
general, the higher the Tair and radiation values, the lower air
humidity usually was, in line with lower vertical cooling;
however, higher amounts of radiation were intercepted.
Despite this, there were no significant relationships between
horizontal cooling, soil cooling, and the humidifying effects in
terms of climatic conditions. Thus, different aspects of micro-
climatic regulation were associated differently with climate
conditions outside the forests. In this study, tree size parame-
ters including height, canopy size, under-branch height, and
diameter played a role in microclimatic regulation. Large trees
generally have a stronger impact on microclimatic regulation,
while different microclimate regulating aspects (horizontal
cooling, vertical cooling, soil cooling, humidification and
shading effects) are expressed in different patterns. For exam-
ple, taller tree heights and larger DBH are usually accompa-
nied by a higher effect of shading but lower humidifying ef-
fect. High under-branch height and a large canopy size are
usually accompanied by larger differences in vertical cooling.
However, no significant associations were found between hor-
izontal cooling, soil cooling, and tree sizes. The impact of
species composition on regulating microclimatic features such
as temperature, shade, and humidity were also observed in
Harbin. In general, the greater the percentage of Pinaceae in
a forest, the higher the horizontal cooling, while a higher per-
centage of Salicaceae was usually matched with a high value
of radiation intercepted and the lower humidifying and differ-
ences in vertical cooling. A higher percentage of Ulmaceae are
377
usually accompanied by a higher vertical cooling but a lower
value of radiation intercepted.
RDA is a direct gradient analysis technique that summa-
rizes the linear functions between components of response
variables that are Bredundant^ with (i.e., explained by) a set
of explanatory variables (Legendre and Legendre 2012).
Partial RDA analysis provides a method with which to parti-
tion the explanatory power of different groups of variables in
terms of the variations in response variables (Braak and
Šmilauer 2012). In this study, the elements of the microclimate
(ΔT1, ΔT2, ΔT3, ΔE, percentage shade, and ΔRH) are the
response variables while climatic conditions (radiation, Tair,
and RH), tree size (DBH, height, under-branch height, and
canopy size), and family composition (four family-related dif-
ferences) were used as three groups of explanatory variables.
A total of 92.7% of the variations in microclimatic regulation
(forest types and urban-rural gradients) could be accounted for
by all the explanatory factors (Appendix Table 4; total shared
effects). Of these, the explanatory power of unique tree size is
at least twofold higher than those from climatic conditions and
composition traits. Furthermore, the interaction between cli-
matic conditions and composition explained 25.4% of the var-
iations, which is 1.15 times larger than the sum of the unique
climatic conditions and unique compositional traits. Tree fam-
ily relative abundance showed a specific pattern in the urban-
rural gradients and different forest types (Table 3); similarly,
there were significant variations in climatic conditions in dif-
ferent urban regions (Table 2). A positive interaction between
them should indicate a suitable place to plant tree species to
maximize microclimatic regulation. Thus, our result indicates
that proper tree species selection for afforestation, and the
conservation of larger trees, are very important in terms of
increasing the ecological services of microclimatic regulation.
Furthermore, traits related to the family, genus, and species
composition of trees have been long recognized as indicators
of the health of urban forests, such as the 10/20/30 rule of
thumb (Kendal et al. 2014) which states that municipal forests
should comprise no more than 10% of any particular species,
20% of any one genus, or 30% of any single family
(Santamour Jr 2004). In Harbin, a total 66 tree species from
34 genera, and 18 families were observed; most abundant
species, genus, and family are Populus alba (13.5%),
Populus (37.6%), and Salicaceae (45.5%), respectively.
Therefore, with reference to the 10/20/30 rule, the species
configuration of urban trees in Harbin was reasonable, but
unreasonable in terms of genus and family (Xiao et al.
2016b). The findings of this paper indicate that family com-
position is possibly also important in indicating microclimatic
regulation. The reason could possibly be related to leaf phe-
nology and lifespan (conifer and broadleaf; evergreen and
deciduous, respectively), branching features (e.g., the wide-
open branches of Ulmaceae form broad and short canopies
while the thin and compact branches of Pinaceae form a
378
narrow but high canopy), physiological traits (Salicaceae uti-
lize more water than Pinaceae), and growth habits (Salicaceae
species are pioneers that usually grow fast; Fabaceae or
Leguminosae are nitrogen-fixing families capable of self-
fertilizing underground soil; Rosaceae are famous worldwide
for their flowers). These differences could impact microcli-
matic regulation through their interaction with water efflux
from leaf photosynthesis-transpiration (Mo et al. 2007; Yan
et al. 2012). However, until now very little research has fo-
cused on microclimatic regulation at the family level, a diver-
sified family composition stabilizes the supply of various eco-
system services (Kendal et al. 2014; Londe et al. 2017;
Santamour Jr 2004; Zhang et al. 2018). In the future, inter-
species comparison data can assist urban planners in design-
ing urban tree landscapes that maximize microclimate regula-
tion functions of green trees (Lee et al. 2006; Norton et al.
2015; Wang et al. 2017).
Implications
Many previous studies have suggested that urban forest man-
agement is an effective way to maximize ecological services
(Khosropour et al. 2018; Li et al. 2018; Ren et al. 2018; Sanusi
et al. 2016; Xiao et al. 2016b; Zheng et al. 2017). Forests in
northeast China is very important for environmental security,
but sharp fragmentation in the past 2 decades has badly affect-
ed possible ecological services for local regions (Dai et al.
2018). The findings of this study can show urban planners
how to design urban tree landscapes to maximize the micro-
climate regulation functions of green trees in the following
ways.
Firstly, the protection of larger trees is important, particu-
larly given the fast pace of urbanization in China. Harbin had a
low percentage of large trees; those taller than 10 m accounted
for less than 30% of the total, and those with a diameter larger
than 100 cm for less than 20%. Less than 5% of the trees were
wider than 200 cm at DBH (Zhang et al. 2016). Currently,
urbanization and the development of buildings are always
accompanied with direct deforestation or damage to the re-
maining large trees. As shown in this study, trees with smaller
canopy sizes and lower under-branch heights are generally
found in newly urbanized regions (such as the outer ring road
region and regions with a shorter urban history). Thus, in the
future urban development of Harbin, the conservation of larg-
er trees (including providing a good growth environment and
avoiding direct damage or clear-cutting) and new afforestation
practices should be fully considered together to maximize
their microclimate regulation functions.
Secondly, tree species suitable to afforestation practices
should be planted and managed in future. In northeastern
China, studies have been carried out on the relationships be-
tween tree diversity, the presence of alien species and urban-
ization (Xiao et al. 2016a), the potential risk from over-
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384
utilization of poplars (Xiao et al. 2016b), and tree growth
status (Zhang et al. 2016). Other works have focused on the
effects of urbanization on urban forest structure, carbon accu-
mulation, and carbon stability (Lv et al. 2016; Zhai et al.
2017). In Harbin, the higher percentage of Salicaceae and
lower percentage of Ulmaceae usually matched higher values
of intercepted radiation; the same compositions were accom-
panied by a lower vertical cooling effect. Currently, the per-
centage of Ulmaceae has decreased in a linear manner while
the percentage of Salicaceae in the city showed linear increase
(Table 3), indicating possible higher shading effects but lower
vertical cooling effects in newly urbanized regions. The pres-
ence of greater numbers of Pinaceae in the forests was in line
with higher horizontal cooling, and the highest percentage of
Pinaceae was found in medium urbanized regions. These re-
sults indicate that different trees may be beneficial for different
aspects of microclimatic regulation. Considering landscape
patterns importance and remote sensing technique, and spe-
cies difference in ecological services highlighted by different
scientists (Lv et al. 2018; Ozkan et al. 2017; Ren et al. 2018;
Wang et al. 2017, b), during future afforestation practices, a
balanced effort with various species in different urbanization
regions is recommended; our data provide a basis for maxi-
mizing ecological services via species configuration.
Thirdly, the methods used in this paper (RDA ordination
and variation partitioning, stepwise regression, and Pearson
correlations) were possibly favored over other ecological
complexity decoupling methods. Many ecological functions
in field studies (such as carbon sequestration and pollution
removal) can be affected by various groups of parameters like
the climatic conditions, tree sizes, and tree compositions in
this study. By using this method, the main controlling factor
could be extracted favoring the exact evaluation ecological
services and also proposing effective measures to maximize
the same (Wang et al. 2018d).
Conclusions
The effects of microclimate regulation functions such as
cooling, shading, and humidifying varied over both urban-
rural gradients and land uses outside forests. In addition, there
were also clear changes in climatic conditions, tree size, and
family composition and their variations could possibly have
been responsible for the variations in the microclimate regu-
lation functions. Of these, tree size differences and the way
changes in family composition affected climatic conditions
could explain about half the variations in the microclimatic
regulation. This shows the importance of the characteristics of
urban forests in regulating microclimates. Our data provide a
basis for the improvement of urban forests, and the maximi-
zation of their microclimate regulatory functions, in Harbin
city.
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384 379

Acknowledgements This study was supported financially by the

National Science Foundation of China (3167069; 41730641), Basic-
research fund for Central Universities (2572017DG04), Longjiang
Scholar fund from Northeast Forestry University (T201702).

Appendix

Fig. 4 Linear relations between

urban-rural gradients and micro-
climate regulations. Left: ringroad
gradient; right: urban history gra-
dient. Line in the figures are linear
regression. Dash lines are lines of
p > 0.05; solid lines are lines of
p < 0.05
380 Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384

0.4 RH

ΔT2

Shadi%
ΔT3
ΔT1

ΔE ΔRH
Radiatio

Tair
-0.6

-0.6 0.6
a)
0.4

Shadi%

ΔT2
HeightDBH
CanpSize

ΔRH ΔT1
ΔE

ΔT3

UndBrnHe
-0.4

-0.6 0.4
b)
0.3

Ulmaceae

Shadi% ΔT2 Salicace

ΔT3
ΔE

Otherspp
ΔT1

ΔRH
-0.5

Pinaceae

-0.6 0.4
c)
Fig. 5 RDA results on the relations between microclimate regulations
and climatic conditions (a), between microclimate regulations and tree
sizes (b) and between microclimate regulations and tree compositional
traits (c)
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384 381

Table 4 Results of seven steps for the analysis BVar-part-3groups-Conditional-effects-tested^

1. Analysis ‘Var-part-3groups-Conditional-effects-tested’, step ‘SharedEffect’

Method: RDA
Total variation is 96.00000, explanatory variables account for 92.7%
(adjusted explained variation is 78.2%)
Statistic Axis 1 Axis 2 Axis 3 Axis 4
Eigenvalues 0.376 0.271 0.1717 0.0691
Explained variation (cumulative) 37.6 64.7 81.87 88.79
Pseudo-canonical correlation 0.995 0.9717 0.9848 0.8036
Explained fitted variation (cumulative) 40.55 69.77 88.28 95.73
Permutation Test Results:
On All Axes pseudo-F = 6.4, P = 0.002
2. Analysis ‘Var-part-3groups-Conditional-effects-tested’, step ‘Group1Unique’; Method: partial RDA
Partial variation is 16.23987, explanatory variables account for 57.1%
(adjusted explained variation is 31.3%)
Statistic Axis 1 Axis 2 Axis 3 Axis 4
Eigenvalues 0.0776 0.0171 0.0018 0.0432
Explained variation (cumulative) 45.9 56 57.09 82.63
Pseudo-canonical correlation 0.9487 0.8425 0.4044 0
Explained fitted variation (cumulative) 80.4 98.1 100
Permutation Test Results:
On All Axes pseudo-F = 2.2, P = 0.082
3. Analysis ‘Var-part-3groups-Conditional-effects-tested’, step ‘Group2Unique’;Method: partial RDA
Partial variation is 23.66837, explanatory variables account for 70.6%
(adjusted explained variation is 47.0%)
Statistic Axis 1 Axis 2 Axis 3 Axis 4
Eigenvalues 0.1087 0.0349 0.0278 0.0026
Explained variation (cumulative) 44.07 58.23 69.5 70.56
Pseudo-canonical correlation 0.9584 0.8119 0.7353 0.3764
Explained fitted variation (cumulative) 62.47 82.53 98.51 100
Permutation Test Results:
On All Axes pseudo-F = 3.0, P = 0.01
4. Analysis ‘Var-part-3groups-Conditional-effects-tested’, step ‘Group3Unique’; Method: partial RDA
Partial variation is 14.94550, explanatory variables account for 53.4%
(adjusted explained variation is 25.4%)
Statistic Axis 1 Axis 2 Axis 3 Axis 4
Eigenvalues 0.066 0.0169 0.0003 0.0432
Explained variation (cumulative) 42.37 53.21 53.37 81.12
Pseudo-canonical correlation 0.906 0.9241 0.0924 0
Explained fitted variation (cumulative) 79.39 99.69 100
Permutation Test Results:
On All Axes pseudo-F = 1.9, P = 0.118
5. Analysis ‘Var-part-3groups-Conditional-effects-tested’, step ‘Group1Over3’; Method: partial RDA
Partial variation is 41.37589, explanatory variables account for 42.8%
(adjusted explained variation is 23.7%)
Statistic Axis 1 Axis 2 Axis 3 Axis 4
Eigenvalues 0.1087 0.0591 0.0166 0.1206
Explained variation (cumulative) 25.22 38.94 42.8 70.77
Pseudo-canonical correlation 0.8681 0.721 0.5205 0
Explained fitted variation (cumulative) 58.94 91 100
382 Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384

Table 4 (continued)
Permutation Test Results:
On All Axes pseudo-F = 2.2, P = 0.032
6. Analysis ‘Var-part-3groups-Conditional-effects-tested’, step ‘Group2Over1’,Method: partial RDA
Partial variation is 43.83822, explanatory variables account for 65.9%
(adjusted explained variation is 48.9%)
Statistic Axis 1 Axis 2 Axis 3 Axis 4
Eigenvalues 0.1606 0.1033 0.0362 0.0008
Explained variation (cumulative) 35.18 57.8 65.72 65.91
Pseudo-canonical correlation 0.8566 0.8728 0.7523 0.2381
Explained fitted variation (cumulative) 53.38 87.7 99.72 100
Permutation Test Results:
On All Axes pseudo-F = 3.9, P = 0.002
7. Analysis ‘Var-part-3groups-Conditional-effects-tested’, step ‘Group3Over2’,Method: partial RDA
Partial variation is 41.53015, explanatory variables account for 60.9%
(adjusted explained variation is 46.2%)
Statistic Axis 1 Axis 2 Axis 3 Axis 4
Eigenvalues 0.177 0.0689 0.0175 0.0876
Explained variation (cumulative) 40.93 56.85 60.9 81.15
Pseudo-canonical correlation 0.8491 0.9158 0.8766 0
Explained fitted variation (cumulative) 67.21 93.36 100
Permutation Test Results:
On All Axes pseudo-F = 4.2, P = 0.002

In this table, SharedEffect is total effect from all 3 groups, i.e. a + b + c + d + e + g in Fig. 3; Group1Unique is the unique effect from group1
(group1 is the climatic condition, a in Fig. 3); Group2Unique is the unique effect from group2 (group2 is the tree size group, b in Fig. 3);
Group3Unique is the unique effect from group3 (group3 is the forest composition group, c in Fig. 3); Group1Over3 is the interaction effect from
group 1 and group 3(f in Fig. 3); Group2Over1 is the interaction effect from group 2 and group 1(d in Fig. 3); Group3Over2 is the interaction
effect from group 3 and group 2(e in Fig. 3)

Table 5 Pearson correlations between microclimate regulating functions and tree sizes, compositional changes and climatic conditions outside forests

Climatic condition
Tair 0.151 -0.659** -0.325 -0.023 0.719** -0.395
Radiation 0.269 -0.752** -0.11 -0.053 0.98** -0.628**
RH 0.373 0.756** -0.138 0.077 -0.6* 0.424
Tree size
Height m -0.199 -0.304 0.1 0.491 0.596* -0.746**
DBH perimeter cm -0.245 -0.128 -0.135 0.609* 0.408 -0.701**

U branch H m 0.417 0.594* -0.112 0.059 -0.436 0.362

Canopy size m2 0.259 0.796** 0.054 0.536* -0.35 0.358

Family composition
Pinaceae 0.571* 0.091 -0.366 -0.017 0.119 0.358
Salicaceae -0.019 -0.729** 0.275 -0.134 0.802** -0.674**
Ulmaceae -0.113 0.815** -0.258 0.407 -0.749** 0.427
Otherspp -0.162 0.341 0.018 -0.363 -0.792** 0.692**
Regulating function ∆T1 ∆T2 ∆T3 Shading % ∆E ∆RH
The more in red color, the higher negative coefficient, while the more in green color, the higher positive coefficient. **: p < 0.01; *: p < 0.05
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384 383

Table 6 Stepwise regressions between climatic regulation functions and various factors related with family compositions, tree sizes and outside-forest
climatic conditions

Model Nonstandardized coefficient Standardized coefficient T Sig.

B SE Beta

ΔT1 (constant) 2.434 0.180 13.533 0.000

Pinaceae 0.037 0.014 0.571 2.602 0.021
ΔT2 (constant) −4.116 0.707 −5.821 0.000
Ulmaceae 0.012 0.003 0.391 3.455 0.005
Canopy size 0.019 0.005 0.429 3.968 0.002
RH 0.082 0.023 0.678 3.585 0.004
Under branch H −0.908 0.387 −0.423 −2.342 0.039
Shading % (constant) 87.582 7.130 12.284 0.000
DBH 0.154 0.064 0.504 2.400 0.034
Salicaceae −0.153 0.040 −0.958 −3.807 0.002
Otherspp −0.311 0.122 −0.777 −2.552 0.025
ΔE (constant) −7.182 1.573 −4.566 0.001
Radiation 0.819 0.030 0.903 27.363 0.000
DBH 0.112 0.020 0.213 5.578 0.000
Pinaceae 0.142 0.036 0.146 3.997 0.002
ΔRH (constant) 18.026 3.413 5.281 0.000
Height −1.413 0.207 −0.980 −6.829 0.000
Canopy size 0.097 0.022 0.661 4.383 0.001
Under branch H −2.757 1.203 −0.377 −2.291 0.041

Stepwise regression criterions: F-to-enter p < = 0.05 and F-to-remove p > = 0.10

References He X, Liu C, Chen W, Guan Z, Zhao G (2004) Discussion on urban forest

Abreu-Harbich LVD, Labaki LC, Matzarakis A (2015) Effect of tree
planting design and tree species on human thermal comfort in the
tropics. Landsc Urban Plan 138:99–109
Barro SC, Gobster PH, Schroeder HW, Bartram SM (1997) What makes a
big tree special? Insights from the Chicagoland Treemendous trees
program. J Arboric 23:239–249
Braak CJFT, Šmilauer P (2012) Canoco reference manual and user's
guide: software for ordination, version 5.0. Ithaca, USA, 496 pp.
Brown S, Miltner E, Cogger C (2012) Carbon sequestration potential in
urban soils. In: Lal R, Augustin B (eds) Carbon sequestration in
urban ecosystems. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, pp 173–196.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2366-5_9
Chen S, Zhuang Q, Guo T, Dai X, Wang Y (2012) Study on carbon
fixation, oxygen release, humidity increase and temperature reduc-
tion of landscape trees in Changchun City. Hubei Agric Sci 51:750–
756
Coutts AM, White EC, Tapper NJ, Beringer J, Livesley SJ (2016)
Temperature and human thermal comfort effects of street trees
across three contrasting street canyon environments. Theor Appl
Climatol 124:55–68
Dai L, Li S, Lewis BJ, Wu J, Yu D, Zhou W, Zhou L, Wu S (2018) The
influence of land use change on the spatial–temporal variability of
habitat quality between 1990 and 2010 in Northeast China. J
Forestry Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-018-0771-x
Dwyer JF, Schroeder HW, Gobster PH (1991) The significance of urban
trees and forests: toward a deeper understanding of values. J Arboric
17:276–284
Georgi NJ, Zafiriadis K (2006) The impact of park trees on microclimate
in urban areas. Urban Ecosyst 9:195–209
classification. Chi J Ecol 5:175–178
Jim CY, Zhang H (2015) Urbanization effects on spatial-temporal differ-
entiation of tree communities in high-density residential areas.
Urban Ecosyst 18:1081–1101
Kendal D, Dobbs C, Lohr VI (2014) Global patterns of diversity in the
urban forest: is there evidence to support the 10/20/30 rule? Urban
For Urban Green 13:411–417
Khosropour E, Attarod P, Shirvany A, Pypker TG, Bayramzadeh V,
Hakimi L, Moeinaddini M (2018) Response of Platanus orientalis
leaves to urban pollution by heavy metals. J For Res. https://doi.org/
10.1007/s11676-018-0692-8
Lee YK, Lee DK, So W, Abraham ERG, Carandang WM, Yeo US, Park
C (2006) Differences of tree species composition and microclimate
between a mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King) plantation and a
secondary forest in Mt. Makiling, Philippines. For Sci Technol 2:1–
12
Legendre P, Legendre L (2012) Numerical ecology, vol 24, 3rd edn.
Elsevier, Amsterdam
Li H, Liu X, Xing J (2008) Functions of carbon fixation, oxygen release,
temperature reduction, and humidity increase for the plants in
Heilongjiang Forest botanical garden. J Northeast For Univ 36:39–
40
Li J, Zhang Z, Wang H, Wang S, Chen Q (2018) Urban land-use impacts
on composition and spatiotemporal variations in abundance and
biomass of earthworm community. J Forestry Res. https://doi.org/
10.1007/s11676-018-0807-2
Londe V, de Sousa HC, Kozovits AR (2017) Exotic and invasive species
compromise the seed bank and seed rain dynamics in forests under-
going restoration at urban regions. J For Res 28:1019–1026. https://
doi.org/10.1007/s11676-017-0370-2
384
Lorenz K, Lal R (2015) Managing soil carbon stocks to enhance the
resilience of urban ecosystems. Carbon Manag 6:35–50
Lv H, Wang W, He X, Xiao L, Zhou W, Zhang B (2016) Quantifying tree
and soil carbon stocks in a temperate urban forest in Northeast
China. Forests 7:e200
Lv H, Wang W, He X, Wei C, Xiao L, Zhang B, Zhou W (2018)
Association of urban forest landscape characteristics with biomass
and soil carbon stocks in Harbin City, northeastern China. PeerJ 6:
e5825
Mo J, Wang L, Qin J, Huang J, Hu Y (2007) Transpiration-related cooling
and humidifying effects of common garden trees in Shanghai Anhui
Agicultural Science 35:9506–9507
Norton BA, Coutts AM, Livesley SJ, Harris RJ, Hunter AM, Williams
NSG (2015) Planning for cooler cities: a framework to prioritise
green infrastructure to mitigate high temperatures in urban land-
scapes. Landsc Urban Plan 134:127–138
Ozkan UY, Ozdemir I, Demirel T, Saglam S, Yesil A (2017) Comparison
of satellite images with different spatial resolutions to estimate stand
structural diversity in urban forests. J For Res 28:805–814. https://
doi.org/10.1007/s11676-016-0353-8
Perini K, Ottelé M, Haas EM, Raiteri R (2012) Vertical greening systems,
a process tree for green façades and living walls. Urban Ecosyst 16:
265–277
Ren Z, He X, Zheng H, Zhang D, Yu X, Shen G, Guo R (2013)
Estimation of the relationship between urban park characteristics
and park cool island intensity by remote sensing data and field
measurement. Forests 4:868–886. https://doi.org/10.3390/f4040868
Ren Z, Du Y, He X, Pu R, Zheng H, Hu H (2018) Spatiotemporal pattern
of urban forest leaf area index in response to rapid urbanization and
urban greening. J For Res 29:785–796. https://doi.org/10.1007/
s11676-017-0480-x
Sampson DA, Smith FW (1993) Influence of canopy architecture on light
penetration in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifola) forests.
Agric For Meteorol 64:63–79
Santamour FS Jr (2004) Trees for urban planting: diversity, uniformity,
and common sense the Overstory book: cultivating connections with
trees permanent agriculture resources, Permanent Agriculture
Resources, Holualoa, 396–399
Sanusi R, Johnstone D, May P, Livesley SJ (2016) Street orientation and
side of the street greatly influence the microclimatic benefits street
trees can provide in summer. J Environ Qual 45:167–174
Sanusi R, Johnstone D, May P, Livesley SJ (2017) Microclimate benefits
that different street tree species provide to sidewalk pedestrians re-
late to differences in plant area index. Landsc Urban Plan 157:502–
511
Shahidan MF, Shariff MKM, Jones P, Salleh E, Abdullah AM (2010) A
comparison of Mesua ferrea L. and Hura crepitans L. for shade
creation and radiation modification in improving thermal comfort.
Landsc Urban Plan 97:168–181
Shashuabar L, Potchter O, Bitan A, Boltansky D, Yaakov Y (2010)
Microclimate modelling of street tree species effects within the var-
ied urban morphology in the Mediterranean City of Tel Aviv, Israel.
Int J Climatol 30:44–57
Shashua-Bar L, Tsiros IX, Hoffman M (2012) Passive cooling design
options to ameliorate thermal comfort in urban streets of a
Mediterranean climate (Athens) under hot summer conditions.
Build Environ 57:110–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.
2012.04.019
Vailshery LS, Jaganmohan M, Nagendra H (2013) Effect of street trees on
microclimate and air pollution in a tropical city. Urban For Urban
Green 12:408–415
von Arx G, Dobbertin M, Rebetez M (2012) Spatio-temporal effects of
forest canopy on understory microclimate in a long-term experiment
in Switzerland. Agric For Meteorol 166–167:144–155
Urban Ecosyst (2019) 22:367–384
Wang YF, Bakker F, Groot RD, Wortche H, Leemans R (2015) Effects of
urban trees on local outdoor microclimate: synthesizing field mea-
surements by numerical modelling. Urban Ecosyst 18:1305–1331
Wang W, Lu J, Du H, Wei C, Wang H, Fu Y, He X (2017) Ranking
thirteen tree species based on their impact on soil physiochemical
properties, soil fertility, and carbon sequestration in northeastern
China. For Ecol Manag 404:214–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
foreco.2017.08.047
Wang W, Wang H, Xiao L, He X, Zhou W, Wang Q, Wei C (2018a)
Microclimate regulating functions of urban forests in Changchun
City (north-East China) and their associations with different factors.
iForest 11:140–147
Wang W, Wang Q, Zhou W, Xiao L, Wang H, He X (2018b) Glomalin
changes in urban-rural gradients and their possible associations with
forest characteristics and soil properties in Harbin City, northeastern
China. J Environ Manag 224:225–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jenvman.2018.07.047
Wang W, Xiao L, Zhang J, Yang Y, Tian P, Wang H, He X (2018c)
Potential of internet street-view images for measuring tree sizes in
roadside forests. Urban For Urban Green 35:211–220. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.ufug.2018.09.008
Wang W, Zhang B, Xiao L, Zhou W, Wang H, He X (2018d) Decoupling
forest characteristics and background conditions to explain urban-
rural variations of multiple microclimate regulation from urban
trees. PeerJ 6:e5450. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5450
Xiao L, Wang W, He X, Hailiang L, Wei C, Zhou W, Zhang B (2016a)
Urban-rural and temporal differences of woody plants and bird spe-
cies in Harbin city, northeastern China. Urban For Urban Green 20:
20–31
Xiao L et al (2016b) Urban forest tree species composition and arrange-
ment reasonability in Harbin, Northeast China. Chin J Ecol 35:
2074–2081
Yan H, Wang X, Hao P, Dong L (2012) Study on the microclimatic
characteristics and human comfort of park plant communities in
summer. Procedia Environ Sci 13:755–765
Yue W (2013) Research on China's new urbanization development.
Doctorial thesis, Wuhan University
Zhai C, Wang W, He X, Zhou W, Xiao L, Zhang B (2017) Urbanization
drives SOC accumulation, its temperature stability and turnover in
forests, northeastern China. Forests 8:e130
Zhang Z, Lv Y, Pan H (2013) Cooling and humidifying effect of plant
communities in subtropical urban parks. Urban For Urban Green 12:
323–329
Zhang B, Wang W, Zhou W, Xiao L, Lv H, Wei C (2016) Correlations of
growth index and growth status of urban trees in Harbin City. J
Anhui Agric Sci 44:127–128
Zhang B, Wang W, He X, Zhou W, Xiao L, Lv H, Wei C (2017) Shading,
cooling and humidifying effects of urban forests in Harbin city and
possible association with various factors. Chin J Ecol 36:951–961
Zhang J et al (2018) Differences in community characteristics, species
diversity, and their coupling associations among three forest types in
the Huzhong area, Daxinganling Mts. Acta Ecol Sin 38:4684–4693
Zheng W, Zhou Y, Gu H, Tian Z (2017) Seasonal dynamics and impact
factors of urban forest CO2 concentration in Harbin, China. J For
Res 28:125–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-016-0300-8
Zhou L, Shi W, Xue W, Wang T, Ge Z, Zhou H, Zhong K (2005)
Relations between greenspace structure and temperature-humidity
in Shanghai. J Ecol 24:1102–1105
Zhou W, Wang W, Zhang B, Xiao L, Lv H, He X (2017) Soil fertility
evaluation for urban forests and green spaces in Changchun City.
Acta Ecol Sin 37:1211–1220