PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Facing the wind: How trees behave across various forest settings and weather events

Researchers in Japan and France identify two primary tree movement patterns that help them survive high winds and prevent damage

Facing the wind: How trees behave across various forest settings and weather events
2024-11-12
(Press-News.org)

Destructive winds during storms and cyclones often cause tree failures, especially through uprooting and stem breakage. However, how trees respond to wind under various forest configurations and weather conditions remains unclear. A recent study on Cryptomeria japonica plots shows that trees dissipate wind energy by switching between two swaying behaviors at specific wind speeds, offering insights that may help in improved forest management to minimize damage caused by storms.

Extreme weather events, such as tropical and extratropical cyclones and tornadoes, can cause widespread damage to forests, leading to environmental and financial losses. When trees fall during these storms, ecosystems might be disrupted, increasing forest management costs. As climate change worsens, severe storms are expected to become more frequent, making it crucial to understand how forests respond to wind stress.

Grasping the mechanisms behind tree failure is key to developing strategies for mitigation. While previous studies have explored how trees react to wind, it is unclear whether these responses remain consistent across different forest configurations—characterized by tree spacing and density—and weather conditions.

In this vein, a team of researchers led by Associate Professor Kana Kamimura from the School of Science and Technology at Shinshu University, Japan, investigated tree movements under various forest configurations and weather conditions, including how trees resist winds. The research team included Kazuki Nanko, Asako Matsumoto, and Saneyoshi Ueno from the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Japan, and Barry Gardiner from the University of Freiburg, Germany, and the Institut Européen de la Forêt Cultivée, France. This paper was made available online on August 27, 2024, and was published on November 1, 2024, in Volume 571 of Forest Ecology and Management.

Explaining their motivation behind the study, Prof. Kamimura says, “Several techniques have been developed to predict wind damage. However, they largely depend on empirical data and parameters, and overlook how wind damage occurs. Our research aims to shed light on how winds directly impact trees and how trees reduce the stress from winds to survive.”

To achieve this, researchers set up two experimental plots of Cryptomeria japonica trees, commonly known as the Japanese cedar, in November 2017 in the experimental forests operated by the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Kasumigaura City, Japan. In the first plot, P-100 consisted of 3,000 trees per hectare, creating a dense forest. In the second plot, P-50, half of the trees were removed for this research, leaving 1,500 trees per hectare to mimic thinning practices. Over two years, the team monitored 24 trees in the dense plot and 12 in the thinned plot, using trunk-mounted sensors to track tree sway during various wind conditions. The monitoring period included multiple typhoons, such as Typhoon Trami, in 2018, which caused significant damage to the thinned plot.

The researchers found that cedar trees exhibit two distinct swaying patterns depending on wind speed. In light winds, the trees swayed at around 2 to 2.3 cycles per second, with their branches absorbing much of the wind energy, protecting the trunks and roots from wind stress. However, at higher wind speeds, the trees shifted to a slower swaying pattern of 0.2 to 0.5 cycles per second. In this phase, the whole tree swayed together, transferring force across the trunk and roots, increasing the probability of breakage or uprooting.

Interestingly, the transition between these two swaying modes occurred at different wind speeds, depending on the forest density. In the dense plot, the trees switched patterns at wind speeds between 1.79 and 7.44 meters per second. In contrast, in the thinned plot, the transition occurred at slightly lower wind speeds, ranging from 1.57 to 5.63 meters per second.

Using an uprooted tree as a reference, researchers assessed the resistance to damage in the thinned P-50 over a 10-minute period during Typhoon Trami. They found that the actual resistance was only 48% of the expected resistance estimated through controlled tree-pulling experiments.

Prof. Kamimura elaborates, “The 52% difference between actual and expected resistance values was likely due to the roots weakening because of strong winds, even before the winds became more severe. This root fatigue occurred because the trees moved more due to less support from nearby trees and more wind penetrating the plot.” This also explains why the trees in the dense P-100 were not damaged during Typhoon Trami.

This study offers valuable insights for balancing thinning with wind resistance in forest management to support sustainable forestry practices, and help forests withstand extreme climate changes. While thinning promotes tree growth, it can also make forests more vulnerable to storms, especially soon after thinning. Prof. Kamimura concludes, "With more frequent storms in a changing climate, forest management practices must adapt to maintain resilience.”

 

###

 

About Shinshu University

Shinshu University is a national university founded in 1949 and located nestling under the Japanese Alps in Nagano, known for its stunning natural landscapes. Our motto, "Powered by Nature—strengthening our network with society and applying nature to create innovative solutions for a better tomorrow," reflects the mission of fostering promising creative professionals and deepening the collaborative relationship with local communities, which leads to our contribution to regional development by innovation in various fields. We are working on providing solutions for building a sustainable society through interdisciplinary research fields: material science (carbon, fiber, and composites), biomedical science (for intractable diseases and preventive medicine) and mountain science, and aiming to boost research and innovation capability through collaborative projects with distinguished researchers from the world. For more information, visit https://www.shinshu-u.ac.jp/english/ or follow us on X (Twitter) @ShinshuUni for our latest news.

 

About Associate Professor Kana Kamimura from Shinshu University

Dr. Kana Kamimura is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Life Sciences at Shinshu University, Japan. Her research focuses on wind damage in forests based on spatial, biomechanistic, and statistical approaches. Currently, she is leading a project of exploring alternative approaches to understanding trees’ dynamic behavior in forests. With over 6,290 reads and 813 citations to her name, Kamimura has made significant contributions to understanding forest resilience and sustainability. Her work aims to support effective forestry practices in the face of climate change and extreme weather events.

END


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Facing the wind: How trees behave across various forest settings and weather events Facing the wind: How trees behave across various forest settings and weather events 2 Facing the wind: How trees behave across various forest settings and weather events 3

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

High-performance inkjet print head enhances bioprinting productivity

High-performance inkjet print head enhances bioprinting productivity
2024-11-12
Bioprinting is a technology used to create three-dimensional structures, such as human tissues or organs, using bio-inks made of cells and hydrogels. However, conventional inkjet technology has difficulty dispensing bio-inks that are sensitive to temperature due to the heat generated during operation. Furthermore, conventional 3D bioprinting mainly utilizes simple syringe-type printing devices with a single needle, making it time-consuming to produce artificial organs like the brain, lungs, and heart. The Bionics Research Center team, led by Dr. Byung Chul Lee at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Sang-Rok Oh), in ...

Opioid use disorder: Updated clinical practice guideline

2024-11-12
La version française suit Opioid use disorder: updated clinical practice guideline An updated evidence-based guideline aimed at helping clinicians and other health care providers manage patients with opioid use disorder recommends buprenorphine and methadone as first-line treatments. The guideline is published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.241173 Opioid use and opioid use disorder are the leading causes of drug-related deaths worldwide, and Canada ...

Microneedle sensors for dermal interstitial fluid analysis

Microneedle sensors for dermal interstitial fluid analysis
2024-11-12
The rapid advancement in personalized healthcare has driven the development of wearable biomedical devices for real-time biomarker monitoring and diagnosis. Traditional invasive blood-based diagnostics are painful and limited to sporadic health snapshots. To address these limitations, microneedle-based sensing platforms have emerged, utilizing interstitial fluid (ISF) as an alternative biofluid for continuous health monitoring in a minimally invasive and painless manner. The team led by Wei Gao from California Institute of Technology providea a comprehensive overview of microneedle sensor technology, covering microneedle design, fabrication methods, ...

‘Sleepy cannabis’: first study to show cannabinol increases sleep

‘Sleepy cannabis’: first study to show cannabinol increases sleep
2024-11-12
Research by scientists at the University of Sydney has identified a constituent in the cannabis plant that improves sleep. Their report is the first to use objective measures to show the component, known as cannabinol (CBN), increases sleep in rats.  The study has been published in the leading journal Neuropsychopharmacology. “For decades, cannabis folklore has suggested that aged cannabis makes consumers sleepy via the build-up of CBN, however there was no convincing evidence for this,” said lead author on the study Professor Jonathon Arnold, ...

Mount Sinai team shows AI can detect serious neurologic changes in babies in the NICU using video data alone

Mount Sinai team shows AI can detect serious neurologic changes in babies in the NICU using video data alone
2024-11-12
A team of clinicians, scientists, and engineers at Mount Sinai trained a deep learning pose-recognition algorithm on video feeds of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to accurately track their movements and identify key neurologic metrics. Findings from this new artificial intelligence (AI)-based tool, published November 11 in Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine, could lead to a minimally invasive, scalable method for continuous neurologic monitoring in NICUs, providing critical real-time insights into infant health that have not been possible before. Every year, more than 300,000 ...

Jeffrey Popma, MD, joins CRF as Chief Scientific and Strategic Officer

2024-11-11
NEW YORK – November 11, 2024 – The Cardiovascular Research Foundation® (CRF®) proudly announces the appointment of Dr. Jeffrey Popma as Chief Scientific and Strategic Officer. A world-renowned leader in cardiovascular research, Dr. Popma will drive forward pivotal programs and initiatives that will shape CRF’s future and fuel innovation at the CRF® Clinical Trials Center (CTC). His leadership will be instrumental in the development of the recently launched Real-World Data and Outcomes Center, advancing CRF’s commitment to impactful ...

Seiber elevated to IEEE senior member

Seiber elevated to IEEE senior member
2024-11-11
Larry Seiber, an R&D staff member in the Vehicle Power Electronics group at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been elevated to senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE.  Senior member status requires extensive experience that reflects professional accomplishments. Only 10% of IEEE’s more than 450,000 members achieve this level.  Seiber has conducted decades of cutting-edge research in power electronics and electric machinery. He developed the hardware ...

Study sheds light on how BRCA1 gene mutations fuel breast cancer

2024-11-11
People inherit two copies of each gene — one from each parent — an evolutionary fail-safe to ensure survival even when one of them doesn’t function. For cancer-suppressor genes like BRCA1, researchers have long hypothesized that a single healthy copy could still guard against tumor development. Yet women with one harmful BRCA1 mutation are far more likely to develop breast cancer — a risk traditionally explained by a second mutation that arises later in life, damages the healthy copy of the gene, ...

A new wrinkle in turtles: Their genomes fold in a unique way, Iowa State researchers find

2024-11-11
AMES, Iowa – In their long strings of nucleotides, DNA molecules hold massive troves of genetic data providing instructions for how living organisms should function – the blueprint of life. How the blueprint is stored, however, impacts how it is read and used. As cells divide and replicate, DNA strands coiled around proteins – chromatin – are in tightly bundled chromosomes. After division, the chromosomes loosen and chromatin is less compact. How and where the chromatin fiber folds and ...

Adequate sleep significantly reduces the risk of hypertension in adolescents, according to new study

2024-11-11
Adolescents who meet the recommended guidelines of nine to 11 hours of sleep per day were shown to have a significantly lower risk of hypertension, according to a new study from UTHealth Houston.   Recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the research revealed that adolescents had a 37% lower risk of developing incidents of high blood pressure by meeting healthy sleep patterns, and underscoring the importance of adequate sleep behavior. The research further explored the ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Discovery explains kidney damage caused by blood pressure drugs

NYU Langone performs world’s first fully robotic double lung transplant

APSS accepting sleep and circadian research abstracts and session proposals for SLEEP 2025 in Seattle

DNA repair: A look inside the cell’s ‘repair café’

Astronomers take the first close-up picture of a star outside our galaxy

Here’s something Americans agree on: Sports build character

Engineering nature’s blueprint: Dendron-based assemblies for chlorophyll’s materials

Study reveals how cell types shape human brain networks

New genetic explanation for heart condition revealed

Poor mental health linked to browsing negative content online

People with migraine at high risk of depression during pandemic

Climate-driven hazards increases risk for millions of coastal residents, study finds

Females sleep less, awaken more frequently than males

Most Americans want primary care providers to address mental health

Millions of Americans hurt by others’ drinking, drug use: study

Plasma-derived atomic hydrogen advances low-temperature CO2 methanation at high yield

Photon qubits challenge AI, enabling more accurate quantum computing without error-correction techniques

Single gene causes embryo notochord deformity in zebrafish

Sylvester Cancer Tip Sheet - Nov 2024

AI speaks volumes when it comes to detecting Parkinson’s disease

Signals of inflammation during pregnancy linked to aging and memory changes 50 years later

Two million ex-smokers currently vape in England

When trees 'talk:' Researchers probe ancient wood for clues about massive solar storms

High nurse and doctor turnover linked to increased patient deaths in NHS hospitals

History of endometriosis and fibroids linked to heightened risk of early death

High nurse and doctor turnover rates linked to increased patient deaths in NHS hospitals

Research highlights the pressures human activities place on tropical marine ecosystems

New research sets out how to make free internet access a human right

Argonne plays critical role in assessing small modular reactor applications to rebuild a clean economy in post-war Ukraine

In the ‘Wild West’ of AI chatbots, subtle biases related to race and caste often go unchecked

[Press-News.org] Facing the wind: How trees behave across various forest settings and weather events
Researchers in Japan and France identify two primary tree movement patterns that help them survive high winds and prevent damage