The Impact of Anthropopressure on the Health Condition of Ancient Roadside Trees for a Sustainable City: Example of the Silver Maples (Acer saccharinum L.) Alley in Łódź (Central Poland)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This article titled "The impact of anthropopressure on the health condition of ancient roadside trees for a sustainable city: Example of the Silver Maples (Acer saccharinum L.) Alley in Łódź (Central Poland)" presents a comprehensive interdisciplinary study on the ecological condition of the Silver Maples Alley (SMA) in Łódź, Poland, combining landscape architecture and environmental microbiology methods. The research aims to evaluate the health of the century-old silver maples and the environmental quality of the area through soil and microbiological analyses, as well as air quality assessments. Nevertheless, there are certain sections and sentences that require clarification and some questions that demand answers.

Introduction

1. Lines 110-127: The article mentions the health issues of silver maples (Acer saccharinum L.) in the current environment but does not delve into the adaptability of the species itself. It is recommended to supplement the study with the biological characteristics and ecological requirements of this species, and analyze whether it is suitable for planting along busy urban roads. This would help better explain the underlying causes of its health problems.
2. The article emphasizes the historical and cultural significance of the silver maples (Acer saccharinum L.) avenue but does not clarify how these values are integrated with current conservation strategies. It is suggested to elaborate on how the historical significance of the avenue affects its conservation priority, and how to balance the protection of historical heritage with ecological and environmental sustainability.
3. Lines 90-94: The article mentions the importance of old trees for biodiversity but lacks a specific assessment of biodiversity within the silver maples (Acer saccharinum L.) avenue. It is recommended to add surveys and analyses of plant, animal, and microbial biodiversity within the avenue, including species that depend on silver maples for survival, and compare the biodiversity with other control areas (such as the Kaszubski Landscape Park) to more comprehensively demonstrate its ecological value.

Materials and Methods

2.3. Methods

1. Lines 181-206: The article mainly focuses on the detection of Bacillus bacteria, but the impact of soil microbial community structure on ecosystem functions and tree health is more complex. It is suggested to use high-throughput sequencing technology (such as 16S rRNA gene sequencing) to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the soil microbial community structure.

Results

3.3. Extended tree health research

1. Lines 277-284: The soil sampling in the article is only concentrated in the western part of the silver maples (Acer saccharinum L.) avenue, and the sample size is limited. It is recommended to expand the sampling range to cover the entire avenue and its surrounding areas, and increase the number of samples to enhance the representativeness of the results.
2. Lines 277-284: It is suggested to use stratified random sampling to ensure that the samples reflect the characteristics of different depths and locations of the soil, so as to more accurately assess soil quality.

Table 1. There is inconsistent use of terminology and units in the article. For example, when describing soil pH, some places use “pH range” while others use “pH value.”

Discussion

1. The study is a one-time survey and lacks long-term monitoring of the environment and tree health of the silver maple avenue.
2. The analysis of results in the discussion section is relatively limited and does not fully integrate the research findings with practical forest conservation and environmental management. It is suggested to more deeply explore the implications of the study results for urban forest conservation and sustainable development in the discussion section.

Author Response

Comments 1: “This article titled "The impact of anthropopressure on the health condition of ancient roadside trees for a sustainable city: Example of the Silver Maples (Acer saccharinum L.) Alley in Łódź (Central Poland)" presents a comprehensive interdisciplinary study on the ecological condition of the Silver Maples Alley (SMA) in Łódź, Poland, combining landscape architecture and environmental microbiology methods. The research aims to evaluate the health of the century-old silver maples and the environmental quality of the area through soil and microbiological analyses, as well as air quality assessments. Nevertheless, certain sections and sentences require clarification and some questions that demand answers.

Introduction. 1. Lines 110-127: The article mentions the health issues of silver maples (Acer saccharinum L.) in the current environment but does not delve into the adaptability of the species itself. It is recommended to supplement the study with the biological characteristics and ecological requirements of this species, and analyze whether it is suitable for planting along busy urban roads. This would help better explain the underlying causes of its health problems.”

Response 1: Thank you very much for your suggestions. Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) is a species with ornamental function (often used because of the original cut and silver-sealed in leaf color) and poor pollutant, and for this reason, it is not currently chosen in city alley plantings (Borowski et al. 2016).

 

Comments 2: „The article emphasizes the historical and cultural significance of the silver maples (Acer saccharinum L.) avenue but does not clarify how these values are integrated with current conservation strategies. It is suggested to elaborate on how the historical significance of the avenue affects its conservation priority, and how to balance the protection of historical heritage with ecological and environmental sustainability.”

Response 2: The protection of SMA species is nature protection, not conservation protection, as we will strongly emphasize in the corrected text. The trees are protected because they are old, and the city authorities decided in the 1990s that they needed to protect them because they have historical natural values. This was influenced by the creation of forms of protection of the Łódź agglomeration, such as the Łódz Landscape Park (Park Krajobrazowy Wzniesień Łódzkich) or two nature reserves in the territory of Łódź. However, in the 30 years before that, the trees were not taken care of properly, which led to their progressive degradation against the background of road transport development, the road infrastructure's modernization, and the increase of pollution. In the past, the silver maple species was very popular, especially in the 19th century, in urban areas and essential transit routes. In the case of SMA, it was planted in part of Poland's regaining independence (Długoński & Lisowska, 2025). We wrote the information developing this watch in the text of the paper to justify the selected species of our research better.

 

Comments 3:„Lines 90-94: The article mentions the importance of old trees for biodiversity but lacks a specific assessment of biodiversity within the silver maples (Acer saccharinum L.) avenue. It is recommended to add surveys and analyses of plant, animal, and microbial biodiversity within the avenue, including species that depend on silver maples for survival, and compare the biodiversity with other control areas (such as the Kaszubski Landscape Park) to more comprehensively demonstrate its ecological value.”

Response 3: In our study, we do not analyze the species biodiversity of forests but focus on the selected species of trees planted by roads in cities, their characteristics, and their adaptive capabilities. We have improved this approach in our work in the revised manuscript to further emphasize the issues of selected species and anthropopressure. The characteristics of Bacillus samples for forest areas in Kashubian Landscape Park (KAS) and other rural areas, including urban areas, provide a background for imaging the diversity of strains of different environments, both healthy and polluted with strong anthropopressure.

 

Comments 4:“Materials and Methods, 2.3. Methods. Lines 181-206: The article mainly focuses on the detection of Bacillus bacteria, but the impact of soil microbial community structure on ecosystem functions and tree health is more complex. It is suggested to use high-throughput sequencing technology (such as 16S rRNA gene sequencing) to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the soil microbial community structure.”

Response 4: Thank you for your valuable attention. Unfortunately, we cannot perform rRNA, gene, and sequencing analysis. This proposal is very interesting, and after consultation with the team, we conclude that it will form the basis for the development of further interdisciplinary research from the intersection of microbiology, urban ecology, and landscape architecture.

 

 

Comments 5: „Results. 3.3. Extended tree health research:1. Lines 277-284: The soil sampling in the article is only concentrated in the western part of the silver maples (Acer saccharinum L.) avenue, and the sample size is limited. It is recommended to expand the sampling range to cover the entire avenue and its surrounding areas and increase the number of samples to enhance the representativeness of the results”.

Response 5: The study is a pilot study, and we plan to continue testing for the western section of the avenue, repeating a series of tests and monitoring. Information about the study has been included in the corrected text.

 

Comments 6: „Results. 3.3. Extended tree health research: 2.Lines 277-284: It is suggested to use stratified random sampling to ensure that the samples reflect the characteristics of different depths and locations of the soil, so as to more accurately assess soil quality.

Response 6: Thank you for your valuable suggestions. We plan to expand the research to larger soil samples as part of the centers' collaboration, which will largely depend on funding and grants from the NCN.

 

Comments 7: “Table 1. There is inconsistent use of terminology and units in the article. For example, when describing soil pH, some places use “pH range” while others use “pH value.”

Response 7: Thank you for checking the correctness of the terminology. The corrections have been incorporated directly into the corrected text.

 

Comments 8: “Discussion. 1: The study is a one-time survey and lacks long-term monitoring of the environment and tree health of the silver maple avenue.”

Response 8: The research will continue for further microbiological and dendrological analyses in connection with the application for the scientific grant and extension of the scope of the research to the monitoring of the avenue and further recommendations and expertise for the city authorities.

 

Comments 9: “The analysis of results in the discussion section is relatively limited and does not fully integrate the research findings with practical forest conservation and environmental management. It is suggested to more deeply explore the implications of the study results for urban forest conservation and sustainable development in the discussion section”

Response 9: Thank you for your valuable suggestions. In the corrected text, we paid more attention to integrating our research with environmental protection. However, we do not focus on the issues of forest conservation and environmental management that we refer to in the research, i.e., in Kashubian Landscape Park (KAS) and Łagiewnicki Forest (Łódź), as it is currently the subject of separate research master's and doctoral theses (Walaszczyk, 2024; Tucholska, 2022; Pawlicka, 2022).

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The work seems well articulated and very comprehensive. However, it needs further investigation and greater accuracy both in the descriptive part of the materials and methods and in the presentation of the results.

Within the study, the Bacillus bacterium plays an important role in characterizing the health of Acer saccharinum L. trees and soil quality. The species of the bacterium should be better described, rather than generalized.

In general, the results part reads a bit thinly. I suggest accompanying the descriptive part of the text with summary tables.

Lines 351-355 and paragraph 3.5: move to discussion

Line 385: the comparison of data between the various sites is rightly mentioned; I suggest describing the surroundings of the sites studied in more detail, and carrying out a statistical analysis of the data, a correlation in support of the theses put forward, so as to provide robustness to the results obtained.

Lines 432-434: This statement seems rather obvious, given the origin of the two compared species: Acer saccharinum L. is a species native to the eastern regions of the North American continent and introduced to Europe for ornamental purposes in the late 1700s; it is also considered a long-lived species, living to be around 100-150 years old. Is it possible that the health status observed is also due to the age of the individuals? In contrast, Acer campestre L. is a native species of the Eurasian continent that can live up to 250-350 years.

Author Response

Comments 1: “The work seems well articulated and very comprehensive. However, it needs further investigation and greater accuracy both in the descriptive part of the materials and methods and in the presentation of the results.”

Response 1:Thank you very much for your valuable insights. We have improved the presentation of parts of the method and the results in the revised manuscript.

 

Comments 2:“Within the study, the Bacillus bacterium plays an important role in characterizing the health of Acer saccharinum L. trees and soil quality. The species of the bacterium should be better described, rather than generalized.”

Response 2: Thanks for the clue. We expanded the study description to include better characterization of Bacillus bacteria and links to tree studies, including maples such as Acer saccharinum.

 

Comments 3:“In general, the results part reads a bit thinly. I suggest accompanying the descriptive part of the text with summary tables.”

Response 3: Thank you for your valuable attention. We again summarized the results in the corrected text, combining the discussed wafers. However, due to the multi-threaded nature and extensive risk of the summary table, we have decided to gather the key questions of anthropopressure and pollution in one accompanying illustration. In turn, we have included some relevant additional statistical data in three tables, Table s2, Table s3 and Table s4 (supplemental data).

 

Comments 4:“Lines 351-355 and paragraph 3.5: move to discussion”

Response 4: We moved  Paragraph 3.5 to the end of the discussion section.

 

Comments 5:“Line 385: the comparison of data between the various sites is rightly mentioned; I suggest describing the surroundings of the sites studied in more detail, and carrying out a statistical analysis of the data, a correlation in support of the theses put forward, so as to provide robustness to the results obtained.”

Response 5: Thank you for your valuable suggestions. We plan to expand the research to larger soil samples as part of the collaboration centers, largely dependent on NCN funding and/or other scientific grant applications. However, we also added information on statistical analyses that show the properties of Bacillus strains taken for the research and AQI correlation.

 

Comments 6: “Lines 432-434: This statement seems rather obvious, given the origin of the two compared species: Acer saccharinum L. is a species native to the eastern regions of the North American continent and introduced to Europe for ornamental purposes in the late 1700s; it is also considered a long-lived species, living to be around 100-150 years old. Is it possible that the health status observed is also due to the age of the individuals? In contrast, Acer campestre L. is a native species of the Eurasian continent that can live up to 250-350 years.”

Response 6: The characteristics of tree dendrology were included directly in the text. Acer saccharinum (L.) is a less resistant species to harsh urban conditions, and its health is further worsened by pollution and poor sanitation, as we have observed in the studies. In addition, with the age of the individuals, their health is worse than those living in a healthy environment e.g. in the countryside - Kolnica (Kol) or Kashubian Landscape Park (KAS). Acer campestre is a recommended replacement species for this first species (Acer saccharinum L.) for cities in replacement alleys due to its better adaptive properties. We described this topic in more detail in the corrected text.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript is interesting and reflects a current problem in cities, where there is a lack of awareness about green infrastructure and the consequences suffered by these types of trees.

A main question is why the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizae, which provide significant benefits to these trees, was not considered as an essential part of their microhabitat. It would be helpful to consider this variable to strengthen the study.

The document includes observations that will serve to improve the study.  The requested changes are shown below:

1. It is necessary to include specific examples of the species when mentioning the provision of habitats for various organisms.
2. The information regarding the time of year when the study was conducted, along with the justification for this timing, should be clearly stated.
3. It is recommended to include subheadings for each method described to enhance the clarity and structure of the Methods section.
4. Please specify the methodology used to determine the age and health of the trees.
5. There appears to be a typographical error in the Literature Query box; the word "histiory" should be corrected to "history"
6. Please correct the word "reseach" to "research" in the box of Figure 4.
7. It is recommended to clarify which type of bacteria is being mentioned in the manuscript.

 

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The manuscript is interesting and reflects a current problem in cities, where there is a lack of awareness about green infrastructure and the consequences suffered by these types of trees.

A main question is why the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizae, which provide significant benefits to these trees, was not considered as an essential part of their microhabitat. It would be helpful to consider this variable to strengthen the study.

The document includes observations that will serve to improve the study.  The requested changes are shown below:

1. It is necessary to include specific examples of the species when mentioning the provision of habitats for various organisms.
2. The information regarding the time of year when the study was conducted, along with the justification for this timing, should be clearly stated.
3. It is recommended to include subheadings for each method described to enhance the clarity and structure of the Methods section.
4. Please specify the methodology used to determine the age and health of the trees.
5. There appears to be a typographical error in the Literature Query box; the word "histiory" should be corrected to "history"
6. Please correct the word "reseach" to "research" in the box of Figure 4.
7. It is recommended to clarify which type of bacteria is being mentioned in the manuscript.

 

 

Author Response

Comments 1:“The manuscript is interesting and reflects a current problem in cities, where there is a lack of awareness about green infrastructure and the consequences suffered by these types of trees.”

Response 1: Thank you very much for your valuable insight.

 

Comments 2:„A main question is why the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizae, which provide significant benefits to these trees, was not considered as an essential part of their microhabitat. It would be helpful to consider this variable to strengthen the study.”

Response 2: We are very grateful for your valuable comment. This research is not apparent and is more generally shaped by environmental microbiology studies than by landscape architects or dendrologists. We find that Bacillus bacteria thrive very poorly in maple trees because they prefer healthy habitats, and there are far more of them in forests or rural areas where they improve tree function. We plan to develop this research in the future through research and grants, as well as collaborations between centers and an interdisciplinary team.

 

Comments 3:„The document includes observations that will serve to improve the study.  The requested changes are shown below: 1.It is necessary to include specific examples of the species when mentioning the provision of habitats for various organisms”

Response 3: Thank you for the clue. In addition to the Bacillus bacteria, another species with similar properties is the Pseudomonas bacteria. In turn, both soil samples were collected for trees such as maples and others such as spruce, linden, and poplar from the analyzed areas with control samples. However, these observations are the subject of separate studies and have been discussed more broadly in the master's and doctoral theses (Walaszczyk, 2024; Tucholska, 2022; Pawlicka, 2022).

 

Comments 4:„…2.The information regarding the time of year when the study was conducted, along with the justification for this timing, should be clearly stated.”

Response 4:Thank you for your valuable suggestions. Information and rationale for the research were included in the corrected text of the paper.

 

Comments 5:“…3.It is recommended to include subheadings for each method described to enhance the clarity and structure of the Methods section”.

Response 5: Thank you for your valuable comment. We have improved part of the method to increase the transparency of the work.

 

Comments 6:“…4.Please specify the methodology used to determine the age and health of the trees.”

Response 6: Thank you for your suggestion. The methodology for determining the age of trees was strongly emphasized in the paper.

 

Comments 7:

“ …5.There appears to be a typographical error in the Literature Query box; the word "histiory" should be corrected to "history"

Response 7: Thank you for reviewing the terminology. We have corrected the errors directly in the corrected text.

 

Comments 8:“…6.Please correct the word "reseach" to "research" in the box of Figure 4.”

Response 8:Thank you for reviewing the terminology. We have corrected the errors directly in the corrected text on the figure.

 

Comments 9: “…7.It is recommended to clarify which type of bacteria is being mentioned in the manuscript”

Response 9:Thank you for your clue. We specified the type of bacteria used in our study throughout the corrected paper text.

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I believe the observations were addressed, and it will be important to consider those that were merely commented on and not added to the document. This can serve as a reflection for future projects.