Modelling the vulnerability of balsam fir forests to wind damage

Achim, Alexis; Ruel, Jean‐Claude; Gardiner, Barry; Laflamme, G.; Meunier, S.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2004.07.072

Cited by 95 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The point of stem rupture is still used as the rotation point. For additional details, see Achim et al (2005b). MOR values were taken from tables published by Jessome (1977) for the main commercial species of Canada.…”

Section: Three-point Bending Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, no study is available to estimate its value and different values have been used in various studies: 1 (Ruel et al 2000), 0.85 (Achim et al 2005b;Ancelin et al 2004;Gardiner et al 2000), 0.7 (É lie andRuel 2005). Looking at trees that broke during a winching study, Achim et al (2005b) estimated that they broke at value corresponding to 0.6. However, these trees may not be representative of the whole population since most of the trees overturned in that study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relating mechanical strength at the stem level to values obtained from defect-free wood samples

Ruel

Achim

Herrera

et al. 2010

Trees

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Stem or branch failure is a recurrent problem in silviculture and arboriculture. The risk of rupture varies with species in relation to the inherent mechanical properties of the species and the presence of defects. In general, calculations of critical loads for breakage are based on mechanical properties determined from defect-free samples and adjustment factors that try to scale up to full trees that include defects. This study aims at developing an objective method to scale up mechanical resistance to breakage from defect-free samples to full trees, including different types of defects. It combines two approaches. In the first one, a correction factor is determined from a meta-analysis of various tree-pulling studies involving balsam fir [Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.], white spruce [Picea glauca (Moench) Voss], jack pine [Pinus banksiana Lamb.], and black spruce [Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.]. The second approach consists in obtaining empirical data from threepoint bending tests using 8-foot (2.44 m) logs with various amounts of decay. Results show that the correction required varies according to the species and the presence of some defects. For balsam fir, which was the species showing the most important difference between whole log and small sample values, differences in correction factors were found between tree-pulling tests and three-point bending tests. Data from winching tests tend to underestimate the stem's resistance to breakage since they likely represent the weakest trees among those tested. No relationship was found between the adjustment factors and different indices used in arboriculture to account for decay, showing the complexity of mechanical resistance at the stem level.

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Section: Three-point Bending Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relating mechanical strength at the stem level to values obtained from defect-free wood samples

Ruel

Achim

Herrera

et al. 2010

Trees

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“…However, using winching data from other regions is standard within the global set of hybrid-mechanistic windthrow prediction models [42], and where these models have been validated, has been shown to be reasonable [43]. We also believe the use of surrogate species is reasonable since often species from the same genus show similar relationships [15,[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] between stem mass and critical turning moment. However, as local data on windthrow outcomes become available, in particular data from thunderstorms (summer wind storms), simulated outcomes can be checked, parameter values updated, and the simulations re-run.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The resulting localized wind speeds are sometimes in excess of 40 m/s [11,12]. While wind speed is the main determinant of the severity of wind damage [13], other factors such as soil [14], stand demography [15,16], and management [17] could modify the impact.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Windthrow Dynamics in Boreal Ontario: A Simulation of the Vulnerability of Several Stand Types across a Range of Wind Speeds

Anyomi

Mitchell

Perera

et al. 2017

Forests

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Abstract:In Boreal North America, management approaches inspired by the variability in natural disturbances are expected to produce more resilient forests. Wind storms are recurrent within Boreal Ontario. The objective of this study was to simulate wind damage for common Boreal forest types for regular as well as extreme wind speeds. The ForestGALES_BC windthrow prediction model was used for these simulations. Input tree-level data were derived from permanent sample plot (PSP) data provided by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. PSPs were assigned to one of nine stand types: Balsam fir-, Jack pine-, Black spruce-, and hardwood-dominated stands, and, Jack pine-, spruce-, conifer-, hardwood-, and Red and White pine-mixed species stands. Morphological and biomechanical parameters for the major tree species were obtained from the literature. At 5 m/s, predicted windthrow ranged from 0 to 20%, with damage increasing to 2 to 90% for winds of 20 m/s and to 10 to 100% for winds of 40 m/s. Windthrow varied by forest stand type, with lower vulnerability within hardwoods. This is the first study to provide such broad simulations of windthrow vulnerability data for Boreal North America, and we believe this will benefit policy decisions regarding risk management and forest planning.

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“…In general, the conclusions that can be derived from Fig. 4a-c are that root architecture and type of planting substrate may be more important than root plate size in defining the overall root anchorage strength (Peltola et al 2000;Achim et al 2005).…”

Section: Static Tree Pullingmentioning

confidence: 96%

Tree-pulling experiment: an analysis into the mechanical stability of rain trees

Harnas

Indrawan

et al. 2010

Trees

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Tree-pulling experiments were conducted in Singapore involving 20 rain trees (Samanea saman) growing in four different soil types (1) structural soil with 80% granite chips and 20% sandy loam soil, (2) structural soil with 50% granite chips and 50% sandy loam soil, (3) in situ soil and (4) top soil. The trees were pulled over with a winch attached to the stem at a standard height of 1.3 m and the force required to uproot or break the trees were recorded. The physical above and below ground characteristics of the trees were also measured. All 20 trees in this study failed via uprooting without any stem fracture. Analysis of the data showed that the maximum resistive bending moment (BM max ) was positively correlated with the overall size of the root plate, the size (diameter) of the individual roots and the extent of crown spread. The dry mass of crown was significantly greater in the 80:20 structural soil treatment while no significant difference was found between the other soil types. The trunk diameter was not significantly different between treatments. Significant differences were observed in the depth of root plates where those grown in top soil had significantly deeper root plates as opposed to the other treatments but though deeper, the vast majority of trees planted in top soil exhibited fibrous rather than structural roots. The cross-sectional area of roots which is indicative of the size of the individual roots showed a significantly greater value in the 80:20 structural treatment while the 50:50 structural and top soil treatments had the lowest values. Significant differences in BM max were only observed in the in situ soil type while the rest of the planting substrates exhibited values that were comparable and not significantly different.

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Modelling the vulnerability of balsam fir forests to wind damage

Cited by 95 publications

References 33 publications

Relating mechanical strength at the stem level to values obtained from defect-free wood samples

Relating mechanical strength at the stem level to values obtained from defect-free wood samples

Windthrow Dynamics in Boreal Ontario: A Simulation of the Vulnerability of Several Stand Types across a Range of Wind Speeds

Tree-pulling experiment: an analysis into the mechanical stability of rain trees

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