Subject: Any studies~Damage to Denver trees autumn '95 ?

From: [email-masked] (Snarzlak)
Date: 5 Sep 1996 11:08:43 -0400

Last autumn,  Denver got hit with an early snowfall in about
mid-September. Because most of the trees had not yet lost their leaves,
the heavy snow accumulation caused many trees to break. Literally tens of 
thousands of trees were damaged as a result.
It seemed to me there were visually more trees broken in landscaped areas
such as parks, public places, and people's yards than there were in the
surrounding woodlands. 
 The question that came to mind was this:  Because there seemed to be less
damage to woodland (native) trees than the ones used in landscaping, is
there a (genetic) selective advantage that allowed the (native) woodland
trees to withstand the pressures of an early, wet snowfall? Have there
been any studies on this?

I have been curious about this question since last year.  I will also post
in some biology newsgroups.  Any theories??
                                                          [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Toney Lowery)
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 23:01:42 -0500

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Snarzlak)
wrote:
.
> such as parks, public places, and people's yards than there were in the

Two ideas...

1) You can't see the trees for the forest. :) Damage to trees in the
forest may be less apparent than those in more open areas.

2) Trees planted in open areas like parks, lawns and the like usually have
a relatively large crown. This can be due to less competition for light,
water, etc. 

Trees in wooded areas often times have relatively fewer branches and
leaves. This may be hard to see in wooded areas because of the mixing of
branches from different trees. They all blend into a single overhead
canopy. 

A good place to see this is in a newly developed property that has been
cut out of a wooded area. Sometimes the developer will try to save a
trees. Most of these trees will be tall spindley looking things with
branches and leaves mainly near the top. Compare these trees to ones in
open areas.

Trees in wooded areas then have a lower crown surface area and are can't
hold as much snow. And therefore less likely to have overburdens of snow.

2a) Trees in the open are also subject to greater wind force. In wooded
areas only those trees near the edges are subject to a lot of wind.

-- 
Toney Lowery
Soon to be graduating (MS Landscape Architecture)...
and Sooner to be a Dad! (begging for congrats)
SCRATCH THAT....Say 'Hi' to Michael Anthony Lowery...July 25, 1996
[email-masked]
[email-masked]
http://www.intersurf.com/~tlowery

"Easily Distracted by Shiny Objec... Hey! What's That!?!?"