The Impact of Visual Defects and Neighboring Trees on Wind-Related Tree Failures

Urban trees are often more sun- and wind-exposed than their forest-grown counterparts. These environmental differences can impact how many species grow–impacting trunk taper, crown spread, branch architecture, other aspects of tree form. Given these differences, windthrow models derived from traditional forest production data sources may not be appropriate for urban management. Additionally, visual abnormalities historically labeled as “defects” in timber production, have a significant on failure potential. In this study, we look at failures associated with Hurricane Irma Tampa, Florida, USA. We used spatial analysis to determine if patterns existed among our inventoried trees. also looked risk assessment which defects were the most common likely or whole-tree failure. Results indicate that there was no pattern observed failures–trees failed withstood storm individuals. While some like decay dead wood increased failure, such weak unions poor architecture less problematic.