(Arboricultural-styled) 'Fact of the Day'

[Kveldssanger]

Busy today - no fact. Some tomorrow and Sunday to make up for it.

[Pete Hart]

This is a fantastic thread, Thank you for sharing.

[daltontrees]

As I understand the trees role in particulate capture, the particulates aren't filtered by the tree but adhere to the leaves/needles/twigs/bark etc. then are washed off and adsorbed into the underlying soil. They act as a filter that is continually being cleaned. I've seen some figures that showed, I think, that they are particularly good in this respect of 'capturing' the smaller sized particulates - those most harmful to health and can be located miles downwind of the source and still be affective.

 

That appears to be the right answer, I found myself in a situation yesterday in Edinburgh while surveying trees when a few neighbours came out to make sure the trees weren't getting chopped down and someone asked whether trees are good for an area. I bet they wished they hadn't asked, but among other things I mentioned was the volume of air trees filter and how they turn tiny particles into bigger clumps that get washed into the soil. It was good to share the understanding.

[daltontrees]

Would the air not be taken up for photosynthesis, and predominantly released back as waste products (oxygen primarily, though also VOCs)?

 

Yes, but I was thinking of solid particles in the air.

[Kveldssanger]

That appears to be the right answer, I found myself in a situation yesterday in Edinburgh while surveying trees when a few neighbours came out to make sure the trees weren't getting chopped down and someone asked whether trees are good for an area. I bet they wished they hadn't asked, but among other things I mentioned was the volume of air trees filter and how they turn tiny particles into bigger clumps that get washed into the soil. It was good to share the understanding.

 

I can share this experience. I was inspecting an Acer platanoides earlier this week and a young family walking past immediately asked "oh, are you chopping down the tree?" I said no, and explained I was just looking at the tree with the intent of getting some crown lifting done over the pathway. I asked them if they looked fondly upon trees and they said yes, as would be expected if you asked most people, though the stance people have on trees tends to stop there in most cases (as in, it's either "yes, I like them" or "no, I don't like them").

 

Always good to give people a little school lesson on the benefits of trees, as schools definitely don't do it these days! As long as you show passion and love for what you do, most people will be drawn in and at least have a degree of genuine interest. You never know when they remember what you told them about the benefits of trees, thereby triggering their intent to protect them or plant more - it could even be when the last tree in the entire country is about to be felled, or they see a small self-set growing in their garden (which would probably be an ash...!) and look to retain it and allow it to develop.

[Gary Prentice]

My wife nudges me when I start lecturing about the benefits of trees to others.

[Kveldssanger]

Keep letting her nudge you, Gary! You keep bringing up the benefits to all and sundry.

[Gary Prentice]

Just spent an enjoyable half hour with a perspective client explaining 'amenity values' and the intrinsic benefits of trees. I stopped talking when I observed the glazed look in her eyes, yawning and the look suggesting that she wished she hadn't asked:biggrin:

[Kveldssanger]

22/08/15. Fact #12.

 

The survival of any sentient system requires for it to recognise and respond to a stimulus that is challenging its current mode of existence, and subsequently respond in a manner that is both swift and effective.

 

Such response is facilitated by the availability of (stored) energy, and how quickly the stimuli is recognised and then responded to. These two aspects are in turn governed by both vigour and vitality. Vigour is genetic and involves the capacity to resist strain, whereas vitality is situational and involves the tree's ability to grow within the system in which it exists.

 

To illustrate this point (in a crude manner), imagine there are two oak trees (better inherent vigour) and two willows (poorer inherent vigour) with identical genetic traits. One oak and one willow are in optimal environments, whilst the other oak and willow are in sub-optimal environments. All four trees have an identical pathogen infect identical areas of their structure in response to identical wounding extents.

 

The oak, regardless of environment, will be able to respond more effectively than the willow, given the species' better inherent vigour. With regards to vitality however, the oak in the optimal environment will perform more effectively than the oak in the sub-optimal environment, because it will have more stored energy - the same applies to the willow faring better in optimal conditions when compared to less than optimal conditions.

 

Slightly beyond the scope of this post, but something worth considering, is how a willow in an optimal environment would fare when compared to an oak in a sub-optimal environment. Depending on the severity of sub-optimal site conditions, the willow may be able to out-perform the oak, though conversely the oak may be able to out-perform the willow. Ultimately, it would likely depend at where on the continuum of optimal to sub-optimal the oak resides, if assessing ability to response effectively on vitality alone (as genetically the oak is pre-disposed to be in a better position).

 

Source: Shigo, A. (1991) Modern Arboriculture. USA: Shigo & Trees, Associates.

[Kveldssanger]

Just spent an enjoyable half hour with a perspective client explaining 'amenity values' and the intrinsic benefits of trees. I stopped talking when I observed the glazed look in her eyes, yawning and the look suggesting that she wished she hadn't asked:biggrin:

 

Hah - sounds about right...!

 

Make sure to explain the benefits of trees as an allegory of an Eastenders episode. That'll do the trick.

 

(is that even possible??)