Tree root compaction - Foundation Degree Personal Project help

[showoffsummer]

Hi all, Im now on the final year of my foundation degree and have been loving every minute of it!

 

start of this year I was set the personal project (6000 words) where I could finally research anything I wanted to, over the summer I started to plan that I wanted to research whether or not one handed chainsaw use should be taught at colleges (found some interesting posts about it on here to!)

 

After a few discussions with my lecturers they talked me against using this topic as a main part of the project is a literature review which I couldn't really do for the chosen topic.

 

So today I have been racking through my brain and forestry journals etc looking for something else and i'm wanting to research about tree compaction and why if there are all these products that can prevent it e.g. geosynthetics, why do not all councils use this if in the long run it saves on replanting costs etc.

 

I am just now struggling to think of a title so if I could please have your comments on my initial draft ideas that would be great!

 

Tree compaction, if the problem has been solved with cell webbing why are they not being used nationwide?

 

Cell web - dose it really work?

 

Any thoughts or further ideas would be kindly appreciated.

 

cheers Ciaran Glyde

[oslac]

Be aware that soil compaction is not just a surface thing. If you mean that soil compaction is the reduction of pore spaces between soil particles, then soil compaction can occur deeper in the soil if that soil is adjacent to roads or railway lines. Certain vibrations will consolodate soil at deeper levels.

 

Cellweb and similar products are or appear to be good for the short term reduction surface compaction but I am not sure if there is any evidence that there are long term benefits.

 

I have not come across any research that cellweb (et al) has any long or even short term beefits in shrub planting areas.

 

I think the subject area is an excellent choice but you need to home in tighter as to what aspect of soil compaction and geotextile systems you want to look at.

 

How many words to you need to write?

[showoffsummer]

Be aware that soil compaction is not just a surface thing. If you mean that soil compaction is the reduction of pore spaces between soil particles, then soil compaction can occur deeper in the soil if that soil is adjacent to roads or railway lines. Certain vibrations will consolodate soil at deeper levels.

 

Cellweb and similar products are or appear to be good for the short term reduction surface compaction but I am not sure if there is any evidence that there are long term benefits.

 

I have not come across any research that cellweb (et al) has any long or even short term beefits in shrub planting areas.

 

I think the subject area is an excellent choice but you need to home in tighter as to what aspect of soil compaction and geotextile systems you want to look at.

 

How many words to you need to write?

 

Hi thank you for your reply, its 6000 words, so I can be quite in depth, my initial thoughts, just of today was now alot of the geotextyle systems have been in place for a while how are the trees that were planted with the system around it coping etc, but if you have a suggestion along those lines I would love to hear it.

 

cheers ciaran glyde

[Paul Barton]

With only 6000 words to play with, I think you will need to focus the project on one particular use of cellweb. For example, temporary use on a construction site as part of tree protection measures, or permanent use for a new road/footpath.

 

There have been several articles in the AA magazine about this topic recently - a report from Geosyn with some fairly simple research and some responses from tree officers etc.

[oslac]

I agree with Paul. Try and limit yourself to a single area. Temporary porous surfaces on development sites is a good one as is the use of crate systems and such adjacent to new tree planting areas or even no-dig construction of pathways and/or roadways. The underlying study will probably be the same for each. There is plenty of literature and research out there for each.

 

If you get stuck, pm me for a reading list as I completed a disertation a while back on hard surfaces adjacent to retained trees on development sites.

[showoffsummer]

With only 6000 words to play with, I think you will need to focus the project on one particular use of cellweb. For example, temporary use on a construction site as part of tree protection measures, or permanent use for a new road/footpath.

 

There have been several articles in the AA magazine about this topic recently - a report from Geosyn with some fairly simple research and some responses from tree officers etc.

 

I agree with Paul. Try and limit yourself to a single area. Temporary porous surfaces on development sites is a good one as is the use of crate systems and such adjacent to new tree planting areas or even no-dig construction of pathways and/or roadways. The underlying study will probably be the same for each. There is plenty of literature and research out there for each.

 

If you get stuck, pm me for a reading list as I completed a disertation a while back on hard surfaces adjacent to retained trees on development sites.

 

Thank you both for your help, just got out my old arb magazines and going to have a good read through them, really appreciate your guidance.

 

Cheers Ciaran Glyde