{"id":833,"date":"2017-04-18T15:13:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T19:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/crandallparktrees\/?page_id=833"},"modified":"2017-06-30T13:50:42","modified_gmt":"2017-06-30T17:50:42","slug":"ice-storms","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/crandallparktrees\/climate-impact\/ice-storms\/","title":{"rendered":"Ice Storms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tree during an ice storm<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Summary:<\/h2>\n

Ice storms cause severe disturbances that can be detrimental to trees, but ice storms are actually beneficial to long-term forest health and foster biodiversity. By killing\u00a0higher proportions of dominant tree species, ice storms give\u00a0non-dominant tree species the chance to\u00a0grow, thereby maintaining a\u00a0variety of tree populations in forests.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u00a0are ice storms?<\/h2>\n

Ice storms occur in cold weather conditions when rainfall freezes over leaves and branches. Ice is very heavy, and can increase a\u00a0branch\u2019s weight by up to 30 times. This can cause branches or even whole trees to break in many places, ultimately\u00a0damaging and even killing many trees. Further, ice storms\u2019 impacts can be\u00a0as severe as the most powerful hurricanes, and can cause 20-40% mortality in trees.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Benefits of Ice Storms<\/h3>\n
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Detail of frozen branch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ice storms benefit forests in two ways: increasing sunlight availability and enhancing species richness.\u00a0First, when\u00a0entire trees snap off or branches break, more sunlight can shine through to the forest. Trees need sunlight to photosynthesize, or to make their own food. Therefore, more sunlight means healthier trees. Second, ice storms may change the distribution of tree species. Ice storms reduce the number of dominant tree species, which decreases competition for light in the forest. As a result, non-dominant tree populations can receive more sunlight, which is required for survival. This provide an opportunity to enhance species richness (number of different tree species in the same area) within the forest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conifers, like Eastern hemlocks<\/a>,\u00a0are more resistant to ice storm damage than hardwoods, like sugar maples. If a forest of predominantly Eastern Hemlocks was largely damaged by an ice storm, other tree species, like sugar maples, would be given the opportunity to grow due to increased space and light availability. Therefore, ice storms help\u00a0maintain species diversity in\u00a0forests.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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References<\/h3>\n

Gaige, M. (2013, January 24). Ice Storms: A natural disturbance. Retrieved\u00a0from http:\/\/www.theparklands.org\/Blog\/33\/ICE-STORMS-A-NATURAL-DISTURBANCE<\/a><\/span>
Hauer, R., Hruska, M., & Dawson, J. (1994). Trees and ice storms: The development of ice storm\u2013resistant urban tree populations. Retrieved from http:\/\/web.extension.illinois.edu\/forestry\/publications\/pdf\/urban_community_forestry\/UIUC_Trees_Ice_Storms.pdf<\/a><\/span>
Irland, L. C. (2000). Ice storms and forest impacts. Science Of The Total Environment, 262: 231-242. doi:10.1016\/S0048-9697(00)00525-8<\/span>
Rankin, J. (2015, January 12). How Ice Storms Impact Trees. Retrieved\u00a0from http:\/\/www.adirondackalmanack.com\/2015\/01\/how-ice-storms-impact-trees.html
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Image credits:<\/h3>\n

Tree during an ice storm: \"Frozen Tree, Antumn 2010<\/a>\" by Mahdishahr \u0645\u0647\u062f\u06cc\u0634\u0647\u0631<\/a> S is licensed under\u00a0CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a><\/span>
Detail of frozen branch: \"Tree branch after ice storm<\/a>\" by J. Carmichael is licensed by the public domain<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:Ice storms cause severe disturbances that can be detrimental to trees, but ice storms are actually beneficial to long-term forest health and foster biodiversity. By killing\u00a0higher proportions of dominant tree species, ice storms give\u00a0non-dominant tree species the chance to\u00a0grow, thereby maintaining a\u00a0variety of tree populations in forests.\u00a0What\u00a0are ice storms?Ice storms occur in cold weather conditions when rainfall freezes over leaves and branches. Ice is very heavy, and can increase a\u00a0branch\u2019s weight by up to 30 times. This can cause branches or even whole trees to break in many places, ultimately\u00a0damaging and even killing many trees. Further, ice storms\u2019 impacts can<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":244,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-833","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/crandallparktrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/crandallparktrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/crandallparktrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/crandallparktrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/crandallparktrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833"}],"version-history":[{"count":133,"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/crandallparktrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3837,"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/crandallparktrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/833\/revisions\/3837"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/crandallparktrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/crandallparktrees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}