Wind and gravity in shaping Picea trunks

Key message Spruce trunk tapering corresponds closely to tapering required to resist bending forces caused by wind and gravity. Abstract Understanding why trunks (tree stems) are the size that they are is important. However, this understanding is fragmented into isolated schools of thought and has been far from complete. Realistic calculations on minimum trunk diameters needed to resist bending moments caused by wind and gravity would be a significant step forward. However, advancements using this biomechanical approach have been delayed by difficulties in modelling bending of trunks and wind gusts. We felled and measured five Norway spruces ( Picea abies ) in an unthinned monoculture in southeastern Finland planted 67 years earlier. We then focused on forces working on storm-bent (maximally bent) trees caused by gravity and the strongest gust in a 1-h simulation with a large-eddy simulation model. The weakest points along the trunks of the three largest trees resisted mean above-canopy wind speeds ranging from 10.2 to 12.7 m s −1 (3.3-fold in the strongest gust), but the two smallest were well protected by a dense layer of leaves from the bending tops of larger trees, and could have resisted stronger winds. Gravity caused approximately one quarter of the critical bending moments. The wind that breaks the trunks in their weakest points is close to breaking them in other points, supporting the importance of bending moments caused by wind and gravity in the evolution of trunk taper.