Forest Research: Open Access
Open Access

A Brief Note on Tree Health

Van Lantz^{* *}Correspondence: Van Lantz, Department of Environmental Sciences, St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, Canada, Email:

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Description

Trees can live for a long period but eventually die, either naturally or as a consequence of anthropogenic intervention. Tree diagnosis can be confirmed, and early treatment, pruning, or felling to halt the spread of the disease can conserve timber stocks and amenity trees. Hazardous trees must be recognized by both tree owners and arborists/arboriculturists. Construction operations can occasionally cause unnecessary tree harm. Tree health includes both plant protection and scientific and regulatory techniques for combating plant pests and pathogens. Tree health is concerned with the following:

• The health of ecosystems, with a special focus on plants.

• Plant pest control and tree health.

• Plant pathology management.

Sources of tree damage

The causes of tree damage and anomalies can be split into two categories: biotic (from living sources) and abiotic (from nonliving sources). Insects (such as those that dig into trees), mammals (such as deer who rub off the bark), fungus, birds, nematodes, bacteria, and viroids are all biological sources. Lightning, vehicle impacts, construction activities, drought, waterlogging, frost, winds, pollutants in the soil and air, and soil nutrient deficiencies are all examples of abiotic causes. Grade changes or compactions that prevent aeration of roots, spills involving toxic compounds such as cement or petroleum products, or severing of branches or roots are all examples of harm caused by construction activity. Birch and American sycamore trees, for example, have thinner bark and are more susceptible to such devastation. Weakness in the union between trunk and branch is one of the most common naturally occurring threats in giant trees (or between co-dominant substems).

V-shaped unions can cause weakness and raise the risk of failure; in some cases, this can be mitigated by tree cabling, which limits how far the union can bend in the event of heavy winds or other loads. Trees or portions of trees may fail prematurely as a result of any of these damage sources or natural ageing. Arborists/ arboricultorists and industry organizations such as power line operators refer to trees as "hazard trees" if they're more susceptible to toppling in windstorms or having portions of the tree fall due to disease or other circumstances. Damage can also deface amenity trees, create unacceptable risks to people, decrease the tree's safe functional life, and reduce the value of commercial timber. Trees can resist significant levels of damage and still survive, but even little traumas can result in mortality, disfigurement, or risks. The root system of established trees will generally not tolerate any massive disruption. Laypeople and construction professionals may not notice how easily or indirectly a tree might be killed without arboricultural expertise.

Construction and tree protection

The impact on a tree can be very different for different factors such as severity, extent and duration. Damage can result in monetary and/or amenity value losses due to tree damage and remediation or replacement costs.

Tree management techniques are widely established, tested, and modified in the United States prior to, during, and after development activities. The following are the basic steps:

• Inspection of the building plans.

• The creation of a related tree inventory..

• Standard construction tree management techniques are used.

• Evaluation of the risk of tree damage.

• Implementing a tree-protection strategy (providing for pre, concurrent, and post construction damage prevention and remediation steps).

• Designing a remedial strategy.

• Tree protection zones are being implemented (TPZ).

• Post-construction evaluation of construction tree damage.

• Implementation of the cleanup strategy