DECRYPTION – The massive fall of leaves observed since the end of July is one of the signs of this suffering.
For a tree, urban life is not easy. And in addition to their usually already harsh living conditions, they find themselves in particular difficulty this summer with high temperatures to which is added a long-term drought. Witness and consequence of this suffering, a thick layer of dead leaves already litters certain streets and public gardens. And in a less visible way, this stress causes biological reactions in plants… which would contribute to deteriorating the quality of the air!
“Like for humans, the city is a very stressful environment for trees!”launches Francis Martin, research director at Inrae and author of the book Trees also make war (humenSciences Editions). First, because they don’t have enough room to develop normally. Depending on the species, the carpenter roots of an adult tree go down several meters, even tens of meters deep. Very often impossible in the middle of town
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