Comparison of Chilean and foreign formulae for urban tree appraisal

Abstract

The appraisal of urban trees is a practice adopted in diverse cities of world. This survey compared international formulae: Council of Tree Landscape Appraiser (CTLA), Burnley, Helliwell and Standard Tree Evaluation Method (STEM) and three Chilean methods applied in municipalities of Concepción, La Pintana, Maipú (COPIMA), Ñuñoa and Peñalolén, in 14 different trees located in Talca city (Chile). The objective was to identify the differences and similarities of the monetary result in the application of these formulae, which was realized by a professional. These were analyzed using a non parametric variance test of Kruskal – Wallis and the multiple comparisons Duncan test. It was possible to determine that the Chilean formulae did not present statistically significant differences with the international formulae of Burnley and CTLA; whereas Peñalolén and COPIMA formulae did not present any difference when contrasted with Helliwell. In addition, the STEM formula presented differences with all the Chilean analyzed formulae. In the valuation by tree, statistically significant differences were obtained, which showed the independence of the used formula. The exception was when being applied to emblematic species or to species that stand-out in some amenity. Likewise, it was observed that the basic value continues having a high impact in the appraisal final result and the use of the statistical test applied allows extending this type of analyses.