D Mc

Treeseer, thank you for your 2.5 cents. Actually I do think that answers my question (at least enough).

In understanding the Constant Strain Hypothesis that trees react to stress by putting on wood unevenly to distribute the stress evenly it becomes relative to our daily work in that it is important to know how a tree will respond when cut (as Arborjockey pointed out). This actually is extremely important as those reactions can be huge.

In a risk assessment situation, I feel it is also important to understand the biology of what is going on because it helps to predict those forces (and possible consequences). So it becomes one more aspect of our evaluation and observations, adding accuracy in determining just how much (or little) of a risk any individual tree poses.

When someone is researching anything it becomes easy to focus on just one aspect of an equation, but then we need to plug it back in to the bigger picture to assess its relevance in any given situation.

Thank you.

S Mc