Working Paper Article Version 2 This version is not peer-reviewed

Evaluating the Likelihood of Tree Failure in Naples, Florida (United States) Following Hurricane Irma

Version 1 : Received: 14 April 2020 / Approved: 16 April 2020 / Online: 16 April 2020 (05:30:24 CEST)
Version 2 : Received: 23 April 2020 / Approved: 24 April 2020 / Online: 24 April 2020 (04:37:51 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Klein, R.W.; Koeser, A.K.; Kane, B.; Landry, S.M.; Shields, H.; Lloyd, S.; Hansen, G. Evaluating the Likelihood of Tree Failure in Naples, Florida (United States) Following Hurricane Irma. Forests 2020, 11, 485. Klein, R.W.; Koeser, A.K.; Kane, B.; Landry, S.M.; Shields, H.; Lloyd, S.; Hansen, G. Evaluating the Likelihood of Tree Failure in Naples, Florida (United States) Following Hurricane Irma. Forests 2020, 11, 485.

Abstract

Trees in residential landscapes provide many benefits, but can injure persons and damage property when they fail. In hurricane-prone regions like Florida, USA, the regular occurrence of hurricanes has provided an opportunity to assess factors that influence the likelihood of wind-induced tree failure and develop species failure profiles. We assessed open-grown trees in Naples, Florida, following the passage of Hurricane Irma in September 2017 to determine the effect of relevant factors on the degree of damage sustained by individual trees. Of 4,034 assessed individuals (n = 15 species), 74% sustained no damage, 4% sustained only minor damage (i.e., minimal corrective pruning needed), 6% sustained significant damage (i.e., major corrective pruning needed), and 15% were whole tree failures (i.e., overturned trees or trees requiring removal). The proportion of individuals in each damage category varied among species, stem diameter at 1.4 m above ground, and the presence of utility lines, which was a proxy for maintenance. We compared our results with the findings of seven previous hurricanes in the region to explore species’ resilience in hurricanes.

Keywords

hurricane; tree risk assessment; urban forest strike team; species failure profile; likelihood of failure

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Forestry

Comments (1)

Comment 1
Received: 24 April 2020
Commenter: Andrew Koeser
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author
Comment: The original version had some incorrect characterizations of the strength of the Hurricane when it reach our study site. This has been corrected in the methods and in Figure 3 located in our discussion section
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