http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/310/5756/1896
Research on tree height limits and reasons why trees grow faster when younger.
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About Me
- Richard Reames
- See lots more at my web site www.arborsmith.com I am a sculptor who uses live trees as a medium, in a word an arborsculptor. I studied botany and horticulture in collage and worked as a landscaper. Eventually I built my own house from dead standing trees and native stone. I wrote the book "How to Grow a Chair" in 1995 and "Arborsculpture Solutions for a Small Planet" in 2005. I speak and present workshops. I track and promote all things related to using live trees for works of art, furniture and housing.
2 comments:
The inconclusive researches cited in this article are classical examples of spinning one's wheels. The research group that claims 130 meters as the theoretical limit of tree height, due to water lifting characteristics, is safe in making their estimate in view of the maximum known height of a redwood being 113 meters. They are unlikely to be rebutted anytime soon, simply because it is unlikely a a 131 meter tree will suddenly be discovered.
The group that suspects photosynthesis becomes limited, thus preventing further height growth, forgets that the structural carbohydrates that make up the new growth of leading shoots is largely contributed from storage in older shoots that are already fully formed.
The only group looking at apical meristem aging is using grafting experiments similar to what has been done for a century or so.
Problems that appear intractable need new thinking, and there seems little of that around.
They haven't the foggiest idea how tall a tree can grow. Science still hasn't come to terms with how a tree manages to pee all over the laws of physics and get water from its roots to its top. LOL!
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