UConn Tree Sway Biomechanics Study

The Tree Sway Biomechanics Study is a part of the STORMWISE project, an initiative within the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at UConn in Storrs, CT, USA. This study was enacted to look at the drivers of tree sway (both amplitude and frequency thereof) in the trees of the roadside forests of Southern New England, an area of 'Mixed Wood Plain' ecoregion (defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, 2009), characterized by a landcover mosaic of temperate forest with mixed-deciduous species distribution, agriculture and wetland. The landscape consists of glacial landforms including lakes, plains, rolling hills and low mountains. The sway motion of 41 trees was monitored continuously for one year in the data presented here. Wind was monitored simultaneously. It is the researchers intentions to link published work with data collection details as well as analysis. The following files are included here: -Tree Table (1 of 3 datasets) -Site table (2 of 3 datasets) -Weather Records (3 of 3 datasets) Future plans for this study involve the continued monitoring the same trees for years after a thinning treatment has been applied to the forest sites. This will allow analysis of change in sway motion due to forest management practices in this under-studied forest type.