Wind and Trees [Hardcover]

Covers wind behaviour, mechanical physiological responses of trees and forest management.Wind profoundly effects tree growth and form and can cause extensive forest damage. This book covers the whole subject: from behaviour of wind to mechanical and physiological responses of trees. New approaches are detailed for predicting damage and exploring the ways forest management copes on wind-prone sites.Wind profoundly effects tree growth and form and can cause extensive forest damage. This book covers the whole subject: from behaviour of wind to mechanical and physiological responses of trees. New approaches are detailed for predicting damage and exploring the ways forest management copes on wind-prone sites.Winds over topography and inside forests produce mechanical reactions in trees, and eventually failure in stems and roots when stressed by storms. The mechanics of these reactions and the physiological responses to wind in leaves, stems and root systems, and the important ecological consequences of wind-throw are described in this book. Management techniques of forests in windy climates are detailed, including the use of models predicting risk of wind damage. It is clear that the whole field of wind effects on trees has benefited from recent multi-disciplinary research, and significant advances in knowledge of most parts of the subject have been made in the last decade. This book brings the up-to-date theories, methodologies and results together, and gives the reader a sense of coherence in this complex but fascinating field.Part I. Airflow over Topgraphy and in Forests: 1. Turbulent airflow in forests on flat and hilly terrain; 2. The interaction of the wind and tree movement in forest canopies; 3. Edge effects on diffusivity in the roughness layer over a forest; 4. A wind tunnel study of turbulent airflow in forest clearcuts; 5. Testing of a linear airflow model for flow over complex terrain and subject to stable, structured stratification; 6. Predicting windspeedsl³³