by Freddie » Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:16 pm
The Quercus robur is of course a slow growing arbor of the beech family, and even with a carefully planned Taguchi L27 orthogonal array designed to avoid loss functions, it would be difficult to conclude much without a willingness of the experimenter to design and analyse repeated experiments of different designs to collect data and compare a variety of treatment means over a long time period, far beyond his/her lifespan. Measurements over a 100 year period might represent only 10% of the potential lifespan of the specimen, and therefore the experimental time that should be factored into the design of the array should be factored in millennia.
It would be too simplistic to conclude that an acorn dispositional in an apparent favoured location might ultimately result in a larger or longer living arbor than one dispositional in a less favourable position. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to factor in the influence of the exosystem upon the embryogenesis and reproductive structures within the acorn or later development or degeneration of Quercus robur. For example, acorns developing in the protected environment of a woodland would be less exposed to extra terrestrial radiation from solar flares such as those experienced in early 2012. The impact of the exosystem cannot be underestimated, after all genus Ulmus was eradicated in Europe by Ophiostoma spread by S. multistriatus.