Tree Trimming Research Articles

Tree Trimming Effects on 3-Dimensional Crown Structure and Tree Biomechanics: A Pilot Project

AbstractBackgroundAlong electric distribution corridors in urban-exurban landscapes, forest edges are susceptible to damage associated with storm events. Disturbances and management interventions designed to preempt their effects (e.g., tree trimming) alter characteristics of tree structure and morphology (e.g., branch and crown structure), which may be associated with tree failure and likelihood of associated infrastructure damage. This study assessed the relationship between 3-dimensional tree crown structure and tree biomechanics and characterized the effect of utility tree trimming on tree sway dynamics using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS).MethodsIn this study we extracted and analyzed measures of crown structure (i.e., crown asymmetry, crown area, total volume, crown diameter to height ratio, and crown evenness) for individual trees during leaf-off conditions before and after implementation of tree trimming and linked these measures to tree biomechanics data, to evaluate how commonly implemented trimming practices affect both tree sway frequency and displacement—important indicators of tree stability.ResultsResults illustrated the effects of common tree trimming practices on tree crown structure, but there were not consistent changes to tree movement characteristics directly following tree trimming across our 24 study trees. However, we found that the associated changes in crown structure through tree trimming affected tree displacement in moderate wind conditions. Additionally, we found there were no significant differences between frequencies across treatment types.ConclusionsThis pilot project lays the foundation for understanding the intricate relationship between 3-dimensional crown structure and tree biomechanics following roadside tree trimming.

Preventive Maintenance as a Key to Reliable Power Distribution in Indonesia

This study investigates the frequent disturbances in a 20 kV Medium Voltage Overhead Line (SUTM) distribution network, identifying both internal channel issues and external disruptions such as natural events and wildlife interference as primary factors. The research evaluates the effectiveness of Right Of Way (ROW) maintenance, a preventive strategy involving tree trimming, pole realigning, and component replacement. Results demonstrate that ROW maintenance significantly boosts network reliability and effectiveness, suggesting that systematic preventive maintenance is crucial for improving power distribution resilience globally. Highlights: Swift disruption resolution: Prompt response is vital for network reliability. Internal and external factors: Disturbances arise from channel issues and external elements. Preventive maintenance: ROW approach enhances network efficiency, tackling various issues. Keywords: Distribution Network Disruption, ROW Maintenance, Medium Voltage Air Line Maintenance

Licensing Scheme in the Green Industry Sector: The Case of Georgia Tree Care Service Providers

AbstractTree care license requirements are expected to improve service quality and provider competencies. The study elicits the licensing fee Georgia firms would pay using survey data from 153 tree care firms. An empirical relationship identifies firm characteristics that influence the fee size using the inverse hyperbolic sine transformation function. Results show that respondents who propose higher annual licensing fees are on average younger, more educated, male, and likely to agree that mandatory licensing is necessary to establish professionalism in the tree care industry. Also, those often engaged in tree trimming services and firms with higher annual revenues contemplate paying higher licensing fees.

Transition to biocomposites in conditions of city urbanization

With the rapid urbanization of cities, there is an increase in urban tree pruning waste, which increases the cost of their disposal. The trend of a circular economy and environmental friendliness of the urban environment dictates the need to find more effective ways to use them. The article examines the possibility of using crushed waste from fast-growing urban trees, in particular poplar, as a filler for the production of biocomposites based on polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). To improve the performance properties of poplar wood flour, a technology for its thermal modification has been proposed, which makes it possible to neutralize such disadvantages as low strength and high hydrophilicity, characteristic of fast-growing wood. The physicomechanical and sorption properties of three types of biocomposite samples made with natural pine flour, natural and thermally modified poplar flour were analyzed. Pine wood has been chosen as a filler often used in industry for wood-polymer composite materials. It has been established that thermal modification of poplar flour provides an increase in the tensile strength of biocomposite samples by 19 %, in bending by 7.9 % and reduces water absorption by 50 % relative to samples with untreated wood. In many cases, the use of thermally treated poplar flour is comparable to the quality of a biocomposite based on pine flour. This indicates the feasibility of recycling urban tree trimming waste for the industrial production of biocomposites, which will improve the environmental friendliness of the urban environment with the simultaneous development of a green industry.

OPTIMIZATION OF BIOGAS PRODUCTION FROM TREE WASTE MATERIALS FOR BIORESOURCE RECOVERY

Biogas production from waste biomass has gained significant attention as a sustainable alternative to conventional fossil fuels. This study investigated the potential of using tree waste materials for biogas production and optimizing the process parameters. A lab-scale anaerobic digester was used to evaluate the biogas generation potential of tree trimmings and sawdust. Different process parameters, including the substrate-to-inoculum ratio, temperature, and pH, were varied to optimize the biogas yield. We also analyzed the chemical composition of the feedstock and the digestate to assess nutrient recovery potential. The results showed that tree trimmings and sawdust are suitable feedstocks for biogas production, with a maximum biogas yield of 228.4 mL CH4/g VS added obtained at a substrate-to-inoculum ratio of 2:1 and a temperature of 35°C. The nutrient analysis showed that the digestate obtained from the anaerobic digestion process is a rich source of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which can be used as fertilizer.

The impact of recreational activities on the current state of the state landscape reserve «Baydarsky», Mountain Crimea, Ukraine

Ukraine is taking measures to continue monitoring of the natural environment in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea. In particular, natural territories and objects subject to special protection, the state of the natural environment, and recording the facts of environmental offenses and crimes are carried out. The issue of the current state of the objects of the nature reserve fund of the Crimea in the conditions of unregulated recreation has not been investigated. We chose a tract the «Bizyuk» of the state landscape reserve «Baydarsky» as an object of research. The state landscape reserve is located on the southwestern north of the macroslope of the Crimean Mountains (height 200–900 m) on the territory of the Sokolinsky, Kuibyshivskyi, Chornorichenskyi, Orlynivskyi and Ternivskyi forest divisions within the Baydar Valley. The purpose of the study was to analyse the ecological, phytocenotic and spatial features of recreational changes in the tract «Bizyuk» of the reserve «Baydarsky». The ecological profile was carried out according to the gradient of the intensity of the recreational load from three experimental plots (EP1 – intensive; EP2 – medium; EP3 – moderate as a control; areas without violations were not detected) in accordance with the principles of ecosystem, comparative analyzes and forestry methods in the last decade of June 2021. Forestry taxation, sanitary and vitality structures of the tree stand were studied. Biomorphological and ecomorphic structure of the herbaceous layer were studied too. The stages of recreational transformation of the soil surface were determined. It was established that changes in the ecological conditions of the «Bizyuk» tract were caused by unregulated recreational activities. The main consequences of recreational activities were the change in the hydrological regime of the soil due to the trampling of the litter and herbaceous layer, clogging, mechanical damage to tree trunks, stripping and trimming of the bark, woodfires, collecting plants, which led to a significant weakening of the stands (III category of state). The state of the soil surface changed along the gradient of recreational transformation from the 1st stage of digression (zone of moderate recreational activities) to the 4th stage of digression of the soil surface (zone of intensive recreational activities). A change in the species composition of the herbaceous cover was recorded. Adventitious, ruderal plants were widespread in all zones of the tract, but most in the zone of intensive recreational transformation. The max share of perennial plants was established in the zone of moderate recreational transformation, the min – in the zone of intensive recreational transformation. Rosetteless herbaceous plants and plants without specialized modifications of underground shoots were predominated. Hemicryptophytes and phanerophytes were dominated. The proportion of therophytes and chamephytes did not correlate with the level of recreational activities. Forest and ruderal plants in various proportions were dominated in all zones. It has been proven that the ecomorphic composition of the herbaceous cover also reflects recreational transformation in the tract. Hydromesophytes and mesophytes were prevailed among hydromorphs. The phytocoenotic contribution of mesophytes was increased in the most transformation plots. Hemistenotopic and hemieurytopic subacidophilous plants were dominated. The share of hemiaerophobes gradually was decreased along the transformation gradient. The intense recreational impact was caused a certain nitrification of ecotopes (distribution by nitromorphs).

Recycling and Utilization of Garden Waste

Garden waste mainly refers to the fallen leaves, branches, tree trimmings, shrub trimmings, lawn trimmings, and other plant residues generated during the natural or maintenance process of garden plants. If garden waste is treated as general solid waste landfill, cost, as well as environmental pressure will be increased. Hence, resource utilization of garden waste can reduce carbon emissions and significantly improve the quality of urban environmental construction. Based on this, this article focuses on the current status of garden waste treatment and utilization methods to analyze problems existing in the resource utilization of garden waste so as to look forward to the prospects of garden waste recycling and its contribution to the ecological civilization development of the garden greening industry.

Evaluation of Power Transmission Lines Hardening Scenarios Using a Machine Learning Approach

Abstract The power transmission infrastructure is vulnerable to extreme weather events, particularly hurricanes and tropical storms. A recent example is the damage caused by Hurricane Maria (H-Maria) in the archipelago of Puerto Rico in September 2017, where major failures in the transmission infrastructure led to a total blackout. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine strategies to strengthen the transmission system, including burying the power lines underground or increasing the frequency of tree trimming. However, few studies focus on the direct hardening of the transmission towers to accomplish an increase in resiliency. This machine learning-based study fills this need by analyzing three direct hardening scenarios and determining the effectiveness of these changes in the context of H-Maria. A methodology for estimating transmission tower damage is presented here as well as an analysis of impact of replacing structures with a high failure rate with more resilient ones. We found the steel self-support-pole to be the best replacement option for the towers with high failure rate. Furthermore, the third hardening scenario, where all wooden poles were replaced, exhibited a maximum reduction in damaged towers in a single line of 66% while lowering the mean number of damaged towers per line by 10%.

Electric grid resilience: The effects of conductor coverings, enhanced tree trimming, and line characteristics on tree-related power outages

Tree damage is a major cause of storm power outages in forested regions of the world which results in substantial economic losses each year. Utilities must understand the effectiveness of resilience programs to make the best use of limited resources. Our study evaluated the effectiveness of covered conductors and enhanced tree trimming (ETT) in reducing tree-related outages during storms for an electric overhead distribution system. Our study area was the Eversource Energy service area in Connecticut which has heavy forest cover coinciding with areas of high population density. We controlled for the effects of confounding factors including weather, power line phase, and tree canopy cover. Covered conductors and ETT were similarly effective in reducing power outages with median rate reductions of 0.19 - 0.29 outages/km/year. When used in combination, covered conductors with ETT had a significant additive effect with median reductions of 0.29 – 0.33 outages/km/year compared to bare conductors with no ETT. Multiphase power lines had median outage rates that were 0.17 – 0.37 outages/km/year lower than outage rates for single-phase power lines. Our findings will help utilities select and justify their choices of resilience strategies and more accurately predict outage locations in advance of approaching storms.

Pecan Biomass and Dairy Manure Utilization: Compost Treatment and Soil In-Situ Comparisons of Selected Pecan Crop and Soil Variables

A compost program was developed on-farm, utilizing tree trimming biomass from a commercial pecan farm comprised of 14-year-old improved cultivar Western Schley pecan (Carya illinoinensis) tree stands. The direct soil application of shredded pecan tree biomass (P) and dairy manure (M) served as a standard on-farm practice. Three composts were produced using P and M with varying levels of other inputs and processing. The PM compost contained only P and M and its production included only weekly turning and watering. The other two composts included P, M, unfinished compost, and clay inputs, and either additional landscaping residues (A) (designated PM/A compost) or “green chop” (on-farm grown legumes, G) (designated PMG/A compost); production of PM/A and PMG/A composts included additional processing steps intended to improve compost quality per the recommendations of a compost consulting company. Soil samples were taken at three depths (0–15 cm, 15–30 cm, 30–61 cm) in November 2017 from the 1.3 ha study plot of trees. The standard practice and compost treatments were applied at approximately 18 t/ha in January 2018 and 2019 at a 15 cm depth. Soils were re-sampled at the end of the two-year study. Composts and soils were analyzed for: pH, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), electrical conductivity, and total carbon, organic matter, magnesium, calcium, sodium, nitrate-N, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), available phosphorus, potassium, zinc, manganese, iron, and copper contents. Pecan tree leaf nutrient content, stem water potential, and leaf greenness were also measured one and two years after soil amendment application. While increases in several soil properties were observed with the treatments, only available phosphorus content was significantly different between pre and post at all depths. Electrical conductivity, TKN, Fe, Cu, SAR, and Na content showed significant differences in the upper soil layers. No differences in leaf properties were observed. This suggests that there are minimal differences in the outcomes for compost application compared to in-situ biomass application; additional compost inputs and processing did not provide additional short-term soil or plant benefits for pecan tree production. More work is needed to determine if there are long-term benefits to soil quality, plant health and performance, or carbon sequestration that impact the economic and environmental decision-making processes for composting and application of local organic wastes.

Influence of Process Parameters on the Hydrothermal Carbonization of Olive Tree Trimmings: A 13C Solid-State NMR Study

Chars obtained from the hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of agricultural wastes are increasingly being employed as solid biofuels. Their properties are strongly dependent on HTC process parameters. In this study, 13C solid-state NMR spectroscopy was applied to semiquantitatively investigate carbon functionalities present in olive tree trimming feedstock and in the corresponding hydrochar samples. Hydrochars were obtained by HTC under different conditions, that is, at two different temperatures (180 and 250 °C), with two different biomass/water ratios (B/W of 7 and 25% w/w) and with reaction times at peak temperatures of 30, 60, and 180 min. The NMR analysis was complemented by infrared spectroscopy experiments. A detailed analysis of carbon functionalities and their evolution during HTC allowed the transformation of feedstock into hydrochar to be followed and the structure of hydrochars to be correlated to the different reactions occurring during HTC in dependence on reaction time, temperature, and B/W ratio, as well as to the hydrochar properties fundamental for their application as solid biofuel reported in previous studies. 13C solid-state NMR spectroscopy revealed a powerful tool for explaining hydrochar properties as a function of HTC parameters.

Algorithm of the procedure of “model” cutting of roundwood and calculation of wood values for the creation of a computer program

There are different needs in forestry for information on the assortment structure of an individual tree or the entire stand. This information is of particular importance for assessing the value of wood, then calculating different types of taxes, as well as when evaluating investments. In order to carry out the aforementioned tasks, it was necessary to devise such a way of obtaining information about the assortment structure that does not involve felling trees and the standard procedure of cutting them. That?s how the idea of ?model? (virtual) tailoring came about, which is based only on tree dimensions (chest diameter and height) with data from the standard for forest wood assortments. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that in this case it is an ideal assortment structure, which cannot be realized in reality, which makes the application of this method conditional on a later correction, which would make the assortment structure (or the value of wood, which is based on such a structure) calculated) corrected and harmonized with the actual situation. In this sense, this work presents the procedure of ?model? tree trimming and the algorithm for creating a computer program, which would automate and greatly speed up this work.

GEOSPATIAL MODELING OF ROADSIDE VEGETATION RISK ON DISTRIBUTION POWER LINES IN CONNECTICUT

Abstract. Roadside trees cause almost 90% of the power outages in the forested Northeastern US. Management of roadside vegetation risk on electrical infrastructure demands timely and accurate information on forest conditions. Tasking conventional ground-based scouting methods along thousands of kilometers of powerlines in a repeated fashion are labor-/cost-/time-intense. Geospatial and earth observation (EO) technologies serve as cost-effective tools in monitoring, inspecting, and managing utility corridors. EO technologies, from drones, aircraft, to satellites can efficiently acquire information over large areas at regular intervals while probing forest physical structure and health conditions. LiDAR is a useful data stream for modeling terrain conditions and estimation of multiple forest inventory variables that explain the physical structure of the forest. Various EO imagery provides information on bio-physical characteristics of trees that affect forest health at finer granularity. The goal of this study is to combine multiple environmental variables to develop a spatially-explicit vegetation risk model using machine learning algorithms. Some of the key inputs used in our analysis include LiDAR-derived tree-related variables (e.g., tree height, proximity pixels, canopy cover), LiDAR-derived terrain data (slope, aspect, topographic index), soil characteristics, vegetation management data (tree trimming methods), infrastructure data (wire type), and power outages reported from 2005 to 2017 in Connecticut. Findings of this research will be vital in informing vegetation management decision-making processes, which eventually reduce power outages and the cost of utility corridor maintenance.

Conversion of Existing Room into Green Room

Abstract: Humans are most exposed to indoor air. Half of the body's lifetime intake is house air. Indoor air exposure causes most environmental diseases. Today's environmental challenges are outdoor air quality, energy utilisation, and not duplicate (IAQ). But evidence is accumulating that IAQ causes morbidity and mortality. Creating Indoor unvented biomass cooking causes at least 2,000,000 (mostly women and children) die each year in wealthy countries. IAQ causes allergies, hypersensitivity responses, and airway inflammation, cancers, infections Radon and ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoking) cause lung cancer, Sick Building Syndrome, inadequate ventilation. Future IAQ and health issues must be prioritised. This project also aims towards a quick composting endeavour to convert kitchen wet waste to compost in as little as 25 to 35 days. Vegetable cuttings, dry and wet leaf twigs, grass clippings, tree trimmings, and other wastes are included in the composting process. Composting comes into play here; organic waste may be recycled and the resulting product can be utilised to improve soil quality and aid plant growth. This can be simply implemented at hotels, colonies, schools, and institutions with readily available wet waste. The compost that is produced is used as manure for plants on the campus of the college. Keywords: Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), Health, Allergy, Indoor environments, Dampness, Ventilation, Kitchen Wet Waste, Composter.

Wood chip production and disposal choices: Landfill or recycle?

• Valorization of wood chips is practical alternative to disposal at landfills. • Offering tree trimming service leads to 4.1% higher probability of making wood chips. • More employees increase the probability of dumping chips at landfill by 13.8%. • Paying a third party for handling chips “seldom” increases as firm revenues grow.

Interannual variability of terpenoid emissions in an alpine city

Abstract. Terpenoid emissions above urban areas are a complex mix of biogenic and anthropogenic emission sources. In line with previous studies we found that summertime terpenoid fluxes in an alpine city were dominated by biogenic sources. Inter-seasonal emission measurements revealed consistency for monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes but a large difference in isoprene between the summers of 2015 and 2018. Standardized emission potentials for monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes were 0.12 nmol m−2 s−1 and 3.0×10-3 nmol m−2 s−1 in 2015 and 0.11 nmol m−2 s−1 and 3.4×10-3 nmol m−2 s−1 in 2018, respectively. Observed isoprene fluxes were almost 3 times higher in 2018 than in 2015. This factor decreased to 2.3 after standardizing isoprene fluxes to 30 ∘C air temperature and photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) to 1000 µmol m−2 s−1. Based on emission model parameterizations, increased leaf temperatures can explain some of these differences, but standardized isoprene emission potentials remained higher in 2018 when a heat wave persisted. These data suggest a higher variability of interannual isoprene fluxes than for other terpenes. Potential reasons for the observed differences such as emission parameterization, footprint changes, water stress conditions, and tree trimming are investigated.

Factors Affecting Breeding Success of White Terns (Gygis alba; Aves: Laridae) in Urban Environments of Honolulu, Hawai‘i

The White Tern (Gygis alba) is a common seabird that nests on islands in tropical and subtropical oceans. In the southeastern Hawaiian Islands, White Terns breed only in urban and suburban areas of Honolulu. The Honolulu population has grown from a single pair in 1961 to 2,300 birds in 2016. We measured breeding success of White Terns in Honolulu and examined aspects of their breeding biology and the environment that may affect breeding. We documented 3,855 breeding events in Honolulu from 2016 to 2019. Breeding success was 68.3% and varied less than 3% among years. Breeding occurred in all months, with lowest activity in the summer and a peak in the winter and spring, but the pattern varied among years. White Terns bred in 64 tree species. Breeding success varied among tree species and was related to characteristics of the trees and their attractiveness to non-native predators. The height of breeding events was 9.26 ± 0.05 m and success was related to height, with higher success in events 5–10 m above ground. The diameter of branches on which breeding occurred was 10.2 ± 0.1 cm and success was related to branch diameter, with lower success on branches >20 cm. The high breeding success of White Terns in Honolulu is related to: the small size and isolation of the O‘ahu population, which may result in reduced intra-specific competition for food; protection from predators provided by the urban environment; and trimming of trees by arborists, which unintentionally improves the value of trees as breeding sites for terns.

Inspection based risk management of electric distribution overhead lines

This paper introduces a comprehensive process based on inspection for determination of medium voltage (MV) overhead line condition and it was tried that all factors influencing the outage of distribution network integrated into one index that called condition index. A condition based failure rate model has been proposed and its unknown parameters are calculated based on historical data. Shortest path problem (SPP) model has been proposed for the long term scheduling of maintenance and reinvestment. Objective function includes sum of the reinvestment, maintenance costs, failure costs and energy not supplied (ENS) costs with considering budget and labor constraints. Finally, as a result of this research, optimal combination of various actions such as reinvestment, preventive maintenance (PM) and tree trimming and it’s scheduling has been determined over the ten and five-year horizon. Results confirmed acceptable performance of proposed method because of compliance with actual condition and engineering judgment.

Dynamic modeling of the effects of vegetation management on weather-related power outages

This paper develops a machine learning outage prediction model (OPM) to serve as a simulation framework capable of quantifying the reduction in damages to the distribution electric grid due to vegetation management for storm events. The model covers the Eversource Energy distribution grid territory in Connecticut and uses a random forest model with input variables for vegetation, vegetation management, land cover, drought, elevation, weather and electrical infrastructure to predict outages for each circuit (the operational units of the power distribution network). The model is trained on 165 storms from the years 2005 to 2019. The results show that over the last five years of the study (2015–2019) the annual reduction in trouble spots in the electric grid due to enhanced tree trimming is between 25.7 and 42.5% and there is good matching between increased trouble spot reduction and increased vegetation management. Further, we demonstrate improved outage predictions when including vegetation management data as an input variable, with a 4.1% reduction in mean absolute percentage error in leave-one-storm-out cross-validation. This framework could be used to examine varying vegetation management scenarios and the results should be useful for decision makers such as utilities, municipalities and regulators in optimizing vegetation management and broader grid resilience enhancement plans.

Features of Creating and Maintaining a Fruit Wall in Apple Orchard: Literature Review

The establishment of rational terms and methods of mechanised pruning of apple trees on dwarf rootstocks determine the relevance of the subject under study. The purpose of this review is to highlight the current state and issues associated with tree pruning to improve the technology of growing and increasing the productivity of plantations yielding high-quality fruit with a rational period of mechanised pruning of apple trees on a dwarf rootstock. Proceeding from the analysed literature sources, this paper highlights the current state and development trends of horticulture. A gradual increase in apple production in Europe observed, but an important factor limiting the growth of fruit production is labour productivity accompanying the laborious processes of tree trimming and harvesting. The seasonal nature of work involving numerous skilled workers leads to a shortage of labour force in horticulture. With the increase in wages and the decrease in the number of workers in agricultural production, the introduction of elements of mechanised care for plantations, namely mechanised pruning of the crown, is gaining more significance. The solution to the problem is to improve modern technology of growing apple orchards, using mechanised pruning and the formation of fruit wall in particular. This will allow balancing the available number of employees involved in fruit cultivation and orchards area, and, if necessary, moving away from seasonal work. This paper investigates the specific features of the use and the influence of different periods of mechanised pruning, in particular in winter (0 BBCH), in the pink bud phase (59 BBCH), in early summer (74 BBCH), after harvesting (93 BBCH), and considers the mechanisms used for this purpose. The study proves the positive influence of this technology on improving setting illumination of the crown and the content of chlorophyll in the leaf, optimisation of growth processes with a considerable increase in the number of formed buds. The increase in yield and its marketable quality is accompanied by reducing the size of the fruit, the ripening time of which is somewhat delayed. However, the chemical composition and taste of the fruits are not inferior to the cultivation technology involving manual pruning. The practical significance of the obtained results is to improve the technology of growing apple trees using mechanised pruning and manual maintenance of the inter-tree space, which ensures a considerable reduction in the need for skilled manual labour and increases productivity