mrtree

If you back a large chipper or a truck against the doors they cannot be opened outwards. A large dog is also very useful. While the determined can get around most issues, detering everyone else is easier.

Only a little about the Falklands. Saw the most amazing showing of Commerson's Dolphins. Oh and the Victory does a pretty good curry.

Falklands are an amazing place to visit. Lots of introduced trees and plants in general. I wonder if there are introduced lichens with them. One of the keys to finding and describing the lichen diversity is to search strange or unusual locations. Since most lichenologists are not goinf to be climbing trees I think there may be the potential to find something interesting in the trees tops.

Oh if you want the Falkland's lichen flora project you should speak to Dag Øvstedal (University of Bergen) or Alan Fryday (Michigan State University).

Start with the British Lichen Society website. Good place to make some contacts.

The last photo shows a Ramalina and is indicative of nitrogen rich communities.

Lichens are truely fascinating and a field in which amatuers can make a real contribution. In terms of trees, arborist can climb and catalogue aerial lichens over time etc. to collect valuable distribution data on live trees as oppossed to those that have fallen. If you are really keen the Lichen Flora of the Falklands Islands is being wotked on and collections are needed. Interestingly there are no native tree to the Falklands so again climbing and collecting would be an interesting passtime.

Afridi is the class of the tournment. A great bowler and an incredible batsman and not too shabby in the field. From batting a century in his second ODI (debut at bat) to the fastest 50 ever to bowling something crazy like 4-8 against the Canadians this past week. Just wait.

OH if you want some gripping reads about lichen discovery and trees get The Lichen Hunters by Oliver Gilbert.

I don't think we are talking about decisions but rather possibilites for the tree. Nobody to my knowledge ever tried to influence the client we are simply discussing what could have been done with the tree and a little about VTA, risk assessment etc. While many have taken offense that some people have read, learnt and thought about trees and they use an actual method for tree assessment, others have at least been informed that Mattheck's VTA, Tree Statics group SIA and SIM, and SHigo's CODIT are available to read and learn from. Clearly Stephen did what the owner wanted. Not what anybody else wanted or suggested. The decision was made without any input from this forum.

Your language, grammer and logic skills are truly something to behold.

Absolutely. Certain lichens are very closely associated with certain trees. Nitrogen is also a large factor. Trees near fertilized fields often are yellow/orange from Xanthoria lichens. Unfortunately I do not know of a single volume that discusses lichens and trees. THere are loads of articles and chapters in books though. I would recommend reading William Purvis's Lichen book first and then branching out into other literature.

I cannot identify the pink organism but I am willing to bet it is producing a chemical that has killed the underlying lichen. Just as there is succesion in forests their is succesion on tree bark and often a battle between organism for dominance.

Bark pH varies between tree species, ie. pines and oak are acidic and maples and elms are basic. Bark pH also varies with age and growing conditions (high rain fall can leach nutrients from bark and move pH towards basic). Lichens have certain preferences and pH is one preference we can easily identify.

You must surely be joking or completely deluded. To equate people discussing on this board whether a tree could be saved or not as fascists is highly indicative of you.

I doubt I can pull the picture off and add info but what we know is that the fungi is moving quickly along the lines of least resistantce (essentiially up and down) and then spreading out from the pith across growth rings. We can expect the decay to be stopped in its lateral spread at a wall or layer of metabolites that the tree has laid down to protect itself. Read some of Shigo's CODIT to learn more.

Stephen I reread the initial post and looked at the photos and still do not see cause for alarm. Your longitudinal slab is very interesting and instructive that the decay is not extensive.

Read your own statement and you can see what the underlying basis is.

No it is not worse, I believe that the large limb removal and associated decay was never mentioned previously. Now that we see the decay I think it gives some idea why some (non arborist) people may be worried. It helps to see what the factors creating the climate of fear amongst the owners are neighbours are. Threads on forum never show the whole story. Often bits of information come out long after the initial post. While we can use all the tree assessment knowledge available we must still look at factors other than the tree itself to inform our decisions about the tree's fate. For example it we have a big old tree next to a proposed (definite) building site, we may know that the tree will not collapse on the new building but the damage done to the roots may be such that the tree will decline over the years. The decision on the tree may be that it should be removed prior to building and new trees, suitable to the site, be installed. Thus the fate of the tree is based on something other than risk. With your tree Stephen I can see why the owner may have decided to remove it and no amount of information would change that. Your decision then becomes do you want the work and publicity that comes with it or not.

What a waste even discussing this. The whole point of tree risk assessment is to understand the probablities, not what will happen only every couple hundred years. The storm of October 16 1987 was unlike anything seen in 250+ years. Since this seems to be what you base you risk assessment on then yes every tree will fail.

I think that the current view is that all species of lichenizing fungi cannot survive in a free state in any form other than as a spore, thus they do not grow into mycelium or fruiting body. The phtosynthezing organism can be in a free state and many are extrememly common in nature.

Yes trees may be exposed to extreme winds over their life times. So MattF's response is that all trees are dangerous and should be removed. A massive storm, unlike any in that last couple of centuries means that all trees are now dangerous. Oh and summer limb drop, remove all the beeches. Not only is it fear mongering it is ignorance.

What do you find odd Josbarb? That people are learning and applying knowledge about trees? Or a numerical represention is one method to discuss a portion of a complex problem? Or that some people can give an answer beyond I know and feel that that tree is not safe? If anybody thinks it strange that formulas and percentages are applicable to trees they really should start to read on the subject of tree rick assessment. You will see that since the time of MAttheny and Clark's Tree Hazard Evaluation Form, through VTA, QTRA, Brian Kane's woork, SIA and SIM etc., many people have been tying to encourage a standardization of tree risk assessments that produce an answer that can be repeated by different individuals and is more than based on a feeling or some knowledge that cannot be expressed. Of course the smart arborist will know that these formulas are not usable by those without some training and alot of knowledge. Just as we do not expect somebody off the street to do statistical analysis you cannot expect just anybody to do modern tree risk analysis.

3% is storms? Well what storms? What wind speeds? You clearly know what storm will destroy the tree is you know 3%. Lets hear your specific answer rather than just saying that there will always be a storm that can destroy the tree. The fact is that the storm that will break the stem of this tree, in its current condition will destroy the home next to it. So yes you are fear mongering with the normal tree cutter's histronics of THE STORMS THE STORMS.

Hamadryad will be interested I am sure The bulk of the mycobionts are ascomycetes with only a few species of basidiomycetes. About one in five fungi species are lichenized. This lichenization has occurred at least three seperate times in evolutionary history and has also been lost so we see species of fungi today that were once lichenized.