Mission
CSI Trees develops and shares scientifically based knowledge to select climate-resilient trees for healthy and livable cities.
Vision
The cities of the future are green and resilient, with trees that are adapted to a changing climate and continue to contribute to the quality of life. That is what we strive for.
Approach
Climate change poses growing challenges for trees in urban and rural areas. Heat stress, drought, flooding, and soil salinisation collectively exert complex pressures on tree species. The CSI Trees project is developing an empirically grounded framework to identify which species will perform robustly under future climate conditions through 2100—with the core hypothesis that sustainable tree vitality can only be ensured by species with multiple, proven tolerances to changing abiotic stress factors.
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The methodology combines physiological phenotyping of tree species with climate, hydrological, and atmospheric modeling within an integrated soil–plant–atmosphere framework. Morphophysiological traits—including water use efficiency, carbon assimilation, critical wilting points, and recovery capacity after stress—are simultaneously measured under controlled conditions using “whole plant” phenotyping facilities (NPEC). This enables comparable and reproducible measurement of stress response.
The empirically derived tolerance values are linked to future climate scenarios (KNMI) and urban hydrological models that describe changes in precipitation patterns, soil moisture availability, evaporation, and heat island effects. Through forward and backcasting, the expected urban climate is linked to the natural ranges of tree species, enabling the identification of genetically suitable but underutilized species and provenances.
All datasets will be integrated into an automated search system with species- and habitat-specific search profiles. In addition, high-resolution habitat maps will be developed for spatial visualization. An ecological assessment will be conducted in advance for each potential introduced species, including a risk analysis—going beyond legal requirements—regarding unwanted spread.
The results are made accessible through practical tools, maps, and digital applications—which can be directly applied as decision-support tools for green space management, urban planning, and policy development. This framework thus provides a reproducible, scalable, and empirically grounded basis for the future-proof design and management of green infrastructure.
Team
More information about the research team will follow.