How are the benefits calculated?
Moderators: i-Tree Support, i-Tree Team
How are the benefits calculated?
Are the benefits calculated for every individual tree that is put into the system or is it based on the total canopy that is taken of an area that you are analyzing? We are trying to see how the benefits change over time when the canopy is decreasing and are wondering if it's possible to extrapolate from the model.
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Jason.Henning
- i-Tree Team
- Posts: 340
- Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 7:45 am
Re: How are the benefits calculated?
Hi,
I am assuming you are using i-Tree Eco. In that case, most benefits are calculated on a per tree basis. In large part the benefits in Eco depend on the leaf surface area and not the canopy cover. You could potentially extrapolate data measured on some trees to the whole city but you would be making a lot of assumptions outside of the intended uses of i-Tree Eco. These assumptions include that the trees you measured are similar to the trees you extrapolating too, that the density of trees is identical, and that the canopy cover estimated in i-Tree Eco is accurate. If you are just looking for estimates based on something like square meter of canopy and you don't have individual tree data you may want to look at i-Tree Canopy. i-Tree Canopy has benefit multipliers that are per acre of canopy. You could use those multipliers even if you don't want to use the i-Tree Canopy tool.
Thanks,
Jason
I am assuming you are using i-Tree Eco. In that case, most benefits are calculated on a per tree basis. In large part the benefits in Eco depend on the leaf surface area and not the canopy cover. You could potentially extrapolate data measured on some trees to the whole city but you would be making a lot of assumptions outside of the intended uses of i-Tree Eco. These assumptions include that the trees you measured are similar to the trees you extrapolating too, that the density of trees is identical, and that the canopy cover estimated in i-Tree Eco is accurate. If you are just looking for estimates based on something like square meter of canopy and you don't have individual tree data you may want to look at i-Tree Canopy. i-Tree Canopy has benefit multipliers that are per acre of canopy. You could use those multipliers even if you don't want to use the i-Tree Canopy tool.
Thanks,
Jason
A member of the i-Tree Team