Module 1 Urban Tree Management -A Tree Survey Report (45%)
1. Background
The data shown in Appendix 1 below come from “The Roadside Tree SurveyandCommunity Participation Project” co-organized by the Conservancy Association andtheWorking Group of Urban Greening and Tree Management of ShamShui Po District
Council. The project was funded by the District Council. The project was conductedinearly 2021 and the main purpose of this project was to establish a roadside tree inventory. By understanding the conditions of the trees, long-term management plans and strategiescould be prepared for the trees in a more holistic way. A sustainable urban forest couldthen be established in Sham Shui Po. The survey was conducted from January to February2021 and covered 2,388 trees planted along the major roads and streets in the ShamShui
Po District (SSPD). Trees inside parks, housing estates, private premises and trees onStonecutters Island were not included in this survey. 2. Assessment Objectives
Part of the survey data from the above project was extracted for this assessment. The
objectives of this assessment are to: – Describe the situation of the roadside trees in SSPD; – Identify the problems of existing trees; – Suggest the potential causes for the above problems; and
– Provide constructive and practical solutions for the trees’ long-termsustainability andassociated benefits. 3. Task
Write a fully referenced tree survey report of between 1,200 and 1,500 words (excludingthe
references). The report should include: • Introduction – a brief literature review on urban tree management in Hong Kong. Theobjectives of the study should be put at the end of the introduction. • Method – a simple description of the survey method by looking at the data and workbackon what information were collected during the survey. • Results – you may organize and present the data in your own way. You may include
quantitative or qualitative analysis of the data as you see fit. • Discussion – discuss the results obtained and support your arguments with the literature. • Recommendations – make practical recommendations from the study to the ShamShui
Po District Council. 3.1 Format and Editing
As a professional report, simple English is preferred. Writing in simple sentences couldalso avoid making mistakes. Here are a few notes: • All scientific names must be in italic fonts with the first letter of the genus name incapital letter e.g., Bombax ceiba. Cross check all species name andinformation usingthe Hong Kong Plant Database of the Hong Kong Herbarium.
• For in text citation, put the authors’ surnames followed by the year of the publication.For
references with more than three authors, use the first author’s surname followedby“et al.” and then year. Examples:
For urban biodiversity, plants, birds and butterflies are often the dominant taxa (Hau, 2020). Roadside trees are often found planted in compacted soil with poor soil nutrients (Soet al., 2015). • In Hong Kong Government’s reports, numbered section headings and sub-headings arealways preferred. Sometimes, each paragraph is numbered e.g., in EIAreports (seethe EIA Register). • Tables and figures are used to help illustrating the points you are making in the text. They should all be numbered in a sequence with independent titles. They shouldbereferred to in the text. Example:
Thirty-two tree species were recorded on Cheung Sha Wan Road (Table 1). Table 1. The tree species recorded on Cheung Sha Wan Road in this study.
• For the references cited, avoid citing web-based materials of obscure sources. Official
websites of government, well-known organisations or NGOs are fine. For mediamaterials, citing facts such as the date of an accident are ok but avoidcitinginterpretation by the reporter. Peer-reviewed scientific papers, conferenceproceedings, and books or book chapters published by well-known publishers arehigh quality reference materials. • For the reference list at the end of the report, you may follow any style and format of ascientific paper. Consistency is formatting is the key. Example:
Pang C.C., Lo W.F., Yan R.W.M. and Hau B.C.H. 2019. Plant community compositiononlandfill sites after multiple years of ecological restoration. Landscape Researchhttps://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2019.1674266
Jim C.Y. 1990. Trees in Hong Kong: Species for landscape planning. HongKongUniversity Press, Hong Kong. Hau B.C.H. 2019. Biodiversity conservation planning and case studies in Hong Kong. InRen, C. (Editor). Exploring the Sustainable Development of HighDensity Cities: ThePlanning and Design of Contemporary Hong Kong. China Architecture &BuildingPress, Beijing. ISBN: 978-7-112- 22923-9
• Conduct a “spell and grammar” check of the essay as the last step before submission.
Species Height (m) Number Origin
Acacia confusa 15-20 10 Exotic
Bombax ceiba 20-30 20 Exotic
etc…

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