One author responds to the other

Text 1 Urban ecologist Elena Moravec compared pavement beneath tree canopies with pavement beneath fabric structures that cast equally dense shade. At midday, the structures lowered pavement temperature by 5 degrees Celsius, while the canopies lowered it by 6 degrees. Because the reductions were similar, Elena Moravec concludes that shade accounts for most of trees’ daytime surface-cooling effect. Text 2 Urban ecologist Nia Foster agrees that tree-lined streets are generally cooler. However, Nia Foster compared equally leafy, well-watered and drought-stressed trees: air temperature fell by 5 degrees near the watered trees but by only 1 degree near the stressed trees. Nia Foster argues that water released by leaves also contributes substantially and that shadow comparisons alone cannot isolate every cooling mechanism.