Open AccessOxygen Production by Urban Trees in the United States
Author(s) -
David J. Nowak,
Robert E. Hoehn,
Daniel E. Crane
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
arboriculture and urban forestry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 2155-0778
pISSN - 1935-5297
DOI - 10.48044/jauf.2007.026
Subject(s) - oxygen , environmental science , population , tonne , production (economics) , geography , atmospheric oxygen , environmental protection , environmental health , chemistry , economics , medicine , organic chemistry , archaeology , macroeconomics
Urban forests in the coterminous United States are estimated to produce ≈61 million metric tons (67 million tons) of oxygen annually, enough oxygen to offset the annual oxygen consumption of approximately two-thirds of the U.S. population. Although oxygen production is often cited as a significant benefit of trees, this benefit is relatively insignificant and of negligible value as a result of the large oxygen content of the atmosphere. Other benefits of the urban forest are more critical to environmental quality and human health than oxygen production by urban trees.