Tree uprooting: review of terminology, process, and environmental implications

Abstract

Floralturbation, the mixing of soil by the action of plants, is an important pedologic process in forested areas. The uprooting of trees, the most obvious form of floralturbation, is a natural process found in nearly all forested landscapes. The term uprooting is distinct from such terms as treethrow, treefall, and blowdown, which imply processes that may occur without soil disturbance, as in bole snap. Uprooting is exacerbated by shallow rooting, topographic exposure, weakened condition of the tree, certain cutting practices, and (or) low soil cohesion and shear strength. The root plate of an uprooted tree may deteriorate into a pit-mound pair, the size and shape of which depends on the characteristics of the root plate and the amount of backward displacement during uprooting. This paper (i) provides a synthesis of related terminology on the topics of treefall and uprooting, (ii) examines various lines of evidence for the widespread occurrence of uprooting, (iii) summarizes disturbance cycles for catastrophic uprooting events in different environments, (iv) discusses several examples of the economic import and scale of widespread uprooting events, and (v) reviews environmental factors and silvicultural practices that may lead to increased uprooting or can be used to minimize its likelihood.