Rocco PaceKarlsruhe Institute of Technology | KIT · Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research
Rocco Pace
PhD (Dr. rer. nat.)
Urban Forestry & Ecosystem Services Modeling
About
39
Publications
10,407
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201
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
My research interests are in urban forest modeling and tree ecophysiology. I study the ecosystem services of urban trees to improve air quality and microclimate. The aim is to find suitable nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change and air pollution effects improving the environmental sustainability of cities.
Additional affiliations
May 2020 - May 2022
Position
- Research Fellow
Description
- Implementation and validation of a model for the estimation of leaf depositions of air pollutants based on the morphological and physiological characteristics of trees as well as on microclimatic conditions considering also extreme climatic events
November 2016 - February 2020
Position
- PhD Student
Description
- The aim of "Green2clean" project is to determine the impact of green infrastructures on temperature and air quality in three European cities (Munich, Berlin and Rome) using a model-based investigation.
April 2016 - August 2016
Position
- Fellow
Description
- Definition of the "Green City" concept and analysis of environmental sustainability indicators.
Education
November 2016 - December 2020
Field of study
- Urban Forestry, Ecological Modelling, Ecosystem services
December 2013 - February 2016
September 2010 - December 2013
Publications
Publications (39)
Extremely high temperatures, which negatively affect the human health and plant performances, are becoming more frequent in cities. Urban green infrastructure, particularly trees, can mitigate this issue through cooling due to transpiration, and shading. Temperature regulation by trees depends on feedbacks among the climate, water supply, and plant...
Trees and urban forests remove particulate matter (PM) from the air through the deposition of particles on the leaf surface, thus helping to improve air quality and reduce respiratory problems in urban areas. Leaf deposited PM, in turn, is either resuspended back into the atmosphere, washed off during rain events or transported to the ground with l...
Urban forests can provide essential environmental and social functions if properly planned and managed. Tree inventories and measurements are a critical part of assessing and monitoring the size, growth, and health condition of urban trees. In this context, the parameters usually collected are diameter at breast height (DBH) and total height, but a...
The growing population in cities is causing a deterioration of air quality due to the emission of pollutants, causing serious health impacts. Trees and urban forests can contribute through the interception and removal of air pollutants such as particulate matter (PM). The dry deposition of PM by vegetation depends on air pollutant concentration, me...
Cities host more than half of the world's population and due to global warming and land use change their vulnerability to deadly heat waves has increased. A healthy vegetated landscape can abate heat wave severity and diminish the related urban heat island through the process of evapotranspiration. This research aimed to develop a methodology for c...
L’aumento della popolazione nelle città a livello mondiale sta provocando un progressivo peggioramento della qualità dell’aria, a causa dell’emissione di inquinanti derivanti da attività antropiche. Gli effetti sono il superamento dei limiti imposti a livello europeo e l’esposizione dei cittadini ad alte concentrazioni nell’aria, provocando gravi c...
Le foreste urbane possono svolgere importanti funzioni ambientali e sociali, e se adeguatamente pianificate e gestite, apportano benefici rilevanti per il miglioramento della qualità della vita dei cittadini. A tal fine, l'inventario e le analisi dendrometriche assumono un ruolo essenziale per valutare e monitorare le dimensioni, la crescita e le c...
We developed a novel approach in the field of spatiotemporal modeling, based on the spatialisation of time, the Timescape algorithm. It is especially aimed at sparsely distributed datasets in ecological research, whose spatial and temporal variability is strongly entangled. The algorithm is based on the definition of a spatiotemporal distance that...
We developed a novel approach in the field of spatiotemporal modelling, based on the spatialisation of time: the Timescape algorithm. It is especially aimed at sparsely distributed datasets in ecological research, whose spatial and temporal variability is strongly entangled. The algorithm is based on the definition of a spatiotemporal distance that...
Urban forests can provide essential environmental and social functions if properly planned and managed. Tree inventory and measurements are a critical part of assessing and monitoring the size, growth, and health condition of urban trees. In this context, the parameters usually collected are DBH and total height, but additional data about crown dim...
All cities globally are growing considerably as they are experiencing an intensive urbanization process that leads to high soil consumption and pollution of environmental components. For this reason, cities are required to adopt measures to reduce these impacts and tree planting has been suggested as a cost-effective strategy. In our study, we impl...
Gli alberi e le foreste urbane svolgono forniscono numerosi servizi ecosistemici che contribuiscono al miglioramento della qualità ambientale e della vita dei cittadini. Un’importante funzione svolta dalla vegetazione in ambiente urbano è quella di favorire la deposizione del particolato atmosferico (PM), che in molte città spesso supera le concent...
- Servizi ecosistemici (SE) degli alberi e foreste urbane
- Il modello i-Tree Eco
- Valutazione e validazione del risultati del modello (Casi studio e misure sperimentali)
- Valore economico dei SE
- Il valore delle foreste urbane di Londra
- L’iniziativa MillionTreesNYC
- Mitigare l’impatto delle ondate di calore
- Prospettive (e Ricerca)
This analysis highlights the key role of urban forests in improving the environmental sustainability of the city of Tbilisi (Georgia) and provides important decision support for tree species selection in this geographic area.
Background
All cities globally are growing considerably as they are experiencing an intensive urbanization process resulting in significant economic, social, and environmental challenges. One of the major risks is the deterioration of living environment in urban areas due to the high soil consumption and pollution of environmental components. For t...
All cities globally are growing considerably as they are experiencing an intensive urbanization process resulting in significant economic, social, and environmental challenges. One of the major risks is the deterioration of living environment in urban areas due to the high soil consumption and pollution of environmental components. For this reason,...
1. Sensitivity to input parameters (species classification, CLE)
2. Soil water limitation effect on ES (pollution uptake, transpiration)
3. Deposition, resuspension and PM removal (broadleaves – conifers)
Cities host more than half of the world’s population and are responsible for 70% of total energy and greenhouses gas emissions. Air pollutants and soil sealing are worsening the environmental quality of cities causing serious health issues. Increasing green spaces of cities can improve the air quality and the microclimate. Models allow to maximize...
According to projects and practices that the Italian botanists and ecologists are carrying out for bringing “more nature in the city”, new insights for a factual integration between ecological perspectives and more consolidated aesthetic and agronomic approaches to the sustainable planning and management of urban green areas are provided.
Nitrogen oxides (NO x), mainly a mixture of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), are formed by the reaction of nitrogen and oxygen compounds in the air as a result of combustion processes and traffic. Both deposit into leaves via stomata, which on the one hand benefits air quality and on the other hand provides an additional source of nit...
The lead was one of the main elements in the glazes used to colour ceramic tiles. Due to its presence, ceramic sludge has been a source of environmental pollution since this dangerous waste has been often spread into the soil without any measures of pollution control. These contaminated sites are often located close to industrial sites in the peri-...
Magazine article on tree species selection for cities using models as decision-support tools, published by "Il Giardiniere" n° 022 (in Italian).
With increasing realization that particles in the air are a major health risk in urban areas, strengthening particle deposition is discussed as a means to air-pollution mitigation. Particles are deposited physically on leaves and thus the process depends on leaf area and surface properties, which change throughout the year. Current state-of-the-art...
Trees can remove particles from the air through the physical deposition on the leaf surface. This process depends on pollution concentration and weather conditions as wind speed and precipitation, in addition to leaf characteristics. Wind speed increases at the same time the deposition velocity and the resuspension of PM deposited, instead, the rai...
Extremely high temperatures are getting more frequent in cities and their potential impacts on human health and plant performance are increasingly worrying. Implementing urban green infrastructure, particularly trees, can mitigate this development due to cooling from evapotranspiration and shading. However, the effect is not linearly scaling with t...
Quantifying ecosystem services is one of the most important issues in decision support for planning and managing urban green spaces, and mitigation of climate change and air
pollution impacts are among the most prominent of such ecosystem services. However, pollution removal, carbon sequestration and cooling effect of trees in the city are difficul...
Parks provide important ecosystem services for the city environment and people as for example the improvement of air quality or opportunity for recreation. Environmental benefits are strongly related to the species physiological properties, which however depend on the individual dimension and competition situation of a plant, in particular for a tr...
Ecosystem modeling can help decision making regarding planting of urban trees for climate change mitigation and air pollution reduction. Algorithms and models that link the properties of plant functional types, species groups, or single species to their impact on specific ecosystem services have been developed. However, these models require a consi...
Urban forests play an important role in mitigating the effects of climate change and atmospheric pollution in the city. This action strongly depends on the species and the climate. In this context, the Mediterranean region is peculiar both in terms of biodiversity and climate, and it is often characterized by a long period of summer drought. The mo...
More than half of the world’s population currently lives in the cities and consequently urbanization has been among the major drivers of global environmental change. The fast urban growth, likely to result in a share of 75% of people living in cities by 2050, has resulted in development of cities which are unfriendly to people as well as to the env...
Urban development is triggered by the demand for climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as for air pollution reduction strategies. Green infrastructure has been identified as a means to achieving this goal, often with synergistic impacts and high economic efficiency. Algorithms and models have been developed that link the properties of pl...
Until the late ’70, the lead was the main component of the enamels used to color the ceramic tiles; the presence of this compound in the ceramic sludge has been a source of environmental pollution as consequence of the spread of these dangerous waste in the soil, without any containment measures. These contaminated soils, are often found close to i...
More than half of the world’s population currently lives in cities and, consequently, urbanization has been among the major drivers of global environmental change. The fast urban growth, likely to result in a share of 75 % of people living in cities by 2050, has resulted in the development of cities which are unfriendly to people as well as to the...
Il piombo è stata la componente principale della maggior parte degli smalti usati per la colorazione delle piastrelle; la presenza di questo composto nei fanghi ceramici ha rappresentato un problema rilevate sotto il profilo dell’inquinamento ambientale perché le aziende hanno spesso interrato questi pericolosissimi rifiuti in prossimità degli stab...
Gli idrocarburi sono i composti organici più studiati come inquinanti dell’ambiente a causa dell’elevato uso industriale dei prodotti del petrolio in tutto il mondo. Il petrolio ed i suoi prodotti sono particolarmente studiati come fonte d’inquinamento a causa della loro complessità strutturale, della scarso potenziale di biodegradabilità e sopratt...
Projects
Projects (5)
The main goal of this research project is the study of air quality and climate-related ecosystem services, which the green spaces of Tbilisi (shown by the example of Tbilisi’s public parks) deliver to the city of Tbilisi and its dwellers. The findings of the study will allow us to learn and evaluate the potential of ecosystem services, which the urban parks (as the integral parts of Tbilisi urban ecosystem) provide to the city and contribute to the sustainable development and well-being of the city inhabitants.
More than half of the world’s population currently lives in the cities. The world population is to increase to 75% by 2050. Urbanization has been among the major drivers of the global environmental change. Fast urban growth has resulted in development of cities, which are unfriendly to people as well as to environment. To revert this trend, various institutions organized competitions between cities ranking their degree of their “greenest”. These competitions were based on indicators accessing social, environmental, and economic performances of cities. The objective of this project is to synthesize information on these indicators in order to better define and evaluate "Green City" concept.
