Can Trees Really Not Shrink?

Abstract

Because of competition between trees, light-weight construction is more active, and green parts are essential, in order to utilize the building material as effectively as possible. In contrast to bones, which can actively break down unloaded material in order not to carry the ballast around, trees leave dead material in situ at first. The leading shoot which has died off can remain, just like the dead side branch. And yet some day they will break off. How this happens has already been described in connection with natural pruning. The tree forms a branch-shedding collar in the form of a ring notch around the dead part. After progressive decay has greatly reduced its strength, this fragment breaks off. The tree closes the wound, and smoothes out any unevenness remaining on the surface. It will reveal the history of this loss only to the practised eye, and as the years go by it becomes increasingly difficult to recognize and interpret the details of its body language (Fig. 127). However, the tree will never actively obliterate its history, as bone does.