Crown reaction and acclimation to cyclical V-trimming of city trees: An analysis using terrestrial laser scanning

Our results show that V-trimming induces a significant decrease in explored crown space volume (12.8% on average) but that this loss is regained by trimmed trees within only 1 year following trimming thanks to a rapid regrowth rate. This was supported by an analysis of radial growth that showed that the growth of trimmed trees was greater than non-trimmed trees although this tendency was not statistically significant. In our study this regrowth was achieved without suckering; instead the regrowth mainly occurred within the crown periphery. We also observed that trimming had a significant influence on the way trees explore space with their crowns. While non-trimmed trees explored space preferentially toward a South direction, trimmed trees explored space in directions perpendicular to the wires (East and West). We also observed that crown biomass was located more in the extreme crown periphery in trimmed trees compared to non-trimmed trees.