(Image: Judson Edeburn, director of Duke Forest)
You know something serious has happened when you see a scene like this. It might be drought or disease or mysterious meteoric events – but ice can also bend the mighty tree to its will, as here in Durham, North Carolina.
Freezing rain and ice struck the 2800-hectare wood on 6 and 7 March. It left pine trees over 3 metres high bent with their tips nearly touching the ground, and others uprooted or broken. Now the researchers from nearby Duke University who use the forest are pondering how to save it: they're thinking of using pulleys to straighten those that don't recover on their own.
Read more about the forces that bring down trees in "Big trees in trouble: How the mighty are falling".
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