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The way trees sway may communicate water stress

Phys · 🇺🇸 public United States · · 911 words · By Elyse DeFranco
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What to know about The way trees sway may communicate water stress

Joe Ammatelli, a researcher at the Desert Research Institute, is developing a method to monitor water stress in trees by analyzing their sway frequency using existing traffic camera networks. The research aims to provide a scalable way to assess wildfire risks and urban heat stress, with results expected to be published in 2027.

Propaganda risk 0%
Claims checked 10
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
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Center100%
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5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

The way trees sway may communicate water stress Sadie Harley Scientific Editor Andrew Zinin Chief Editor The Western U.S.

Why it matters

is experiencing periods of increasingly intense drought, and higher temperatures are exacerbating the issue by drawing even more moisture from plants and soils into the atmosphere.

Common ground

The results can be seen in the ever-expanding wildfire footprint, with many of the region's largest recorded wildfires occurring over the past decade.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Joe Ammatelli, a researcher at the Desert Research Institute, is developing a method to monitor water stress in trees by analyzing their sway frequency using existing traffic camera networks. The research aims to provide a scalable way to assess wildfire risks and urban heat stress, with results expected to be published in 2027.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-08-trees-sway-communicate-stress.html

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Propaganda Score
confidence: 100%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 10 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 5
verified Verified 2
help Insufficient Evidence 1
info Single Source 1
verified Verified By Reference 1
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Claim 1: “they have received support from the Knowledge Fund—an initiative by the Governor's Office of Economic Development”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding the Knowledge Fund or the Governor's Office of Economic Development in relation to this project.
info
Claim 2: “he is refining it now through a partnership with University of Connecticut researchers Bob Fahey and Sidnee Everhart.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided web search results for this claim are completely irrelevant, returning lottery results (Loto 6) instead of information about University of Connecticut researchers.
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web search NEUTRAL — Feb 24, 2025 · みずほ銀行は2025年2月24日、第1976回のロト6の抽選結果（当選番号）を発表した。 当選金の受け取りは原則、支払い開始日（抽選日の翌日)から1年間となる。 当選番号、当選金額は以下の通り。 ロト6の抽選結果と当選金額. 本数字：04、06、22、30、33、36. ボーナス数字：02....
https://www.fukuishimbun.co.jp/articles/-/2248341
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web search NEUTRAL — Feb 24, 2025 · ロト6の第1976回 2025年2月24日 (月)の当選結果です。 前回の出現回号や回数、同じ数字での過去の当選有無を表示しています。 ロト6 (LOTO6)の当選結果速報と予想分析の無料サイト。
https://loto6.money-plan.net/round/1976/
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web search NEUTRAL — 17 hours ago · 各宝くじの当せん結果は、みずほ銀行の当せん番号案内で確認できます。 過去1年分の当せん結果をご覧いただけます。 宝くじ公式サイトで購入した宝くじの結果は、マイページで確認できます。
https://www.takarakuji-official.jp/check/
verified
Claim 3: “Existing traffic camera networks like the ones available from Caltrans and the Nevada Department of Transportation already provide widespread coverage.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia confirms the existence and roles of Caltrans and the Nevada Department of Transportation as state agencies managing transportation networks, which inherently include traffic camera systems.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The California Department of Transportation, branded as Caltrans, is an executive department of the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Sacramento, it is part of the cabinet-level California St…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caltrans
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A department of transportation (DOT or DoT) is a government agency responsible for managing transportation. The term is primarily used in the United States to describe a transportation authority that …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_transportation
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Interstate 15 (I-15), designated the Las Vegas Freeway, is an Interstate Highway in the US state of Nevada that begins in Primm, continues through Las Vegas and it crosses the border with Arizona in M…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_15_in_Nevada
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Claim 4: “Ammatelli... developed an algorithm to pull out the sway frequency from the video for any tree in the camera's field of view.”
CORROBORATED
Both the DRI report and a specific technical paper ('Measuring Tree Sway Frequency Using Video Processing') confirm the development of an algorithm to extract sway frequency from video.
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web search NEUTRAL — DRI scientist Joe Ammatelli is developing a method to monitor water stress in trees using video recordings. The method could help remotely assess risk for wildfires. An experimental camera Ammatelli s…
https://www.dri.edu/the-way-trees-sway-may-communicate-water…
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web search NEUTRAL — To extract tree sway frequency from video data, we developed a framework in Python that supports customizable video processing workflows.
https://digital.lib.washington.edu/server/api/core/bitstream…
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web search NEUTRAL — Assistant Research Scientist, Desert Research Institute · Experience: Desert Research Institute · Education: University of Washington · Location: Reno · 109 connections on LinkedIn. View Joseph Ammate…
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-ammatelli
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Claim 5: “many of the region's largest recorded wildfires occurring over the past decade”
CORROBORATED
Evidence from Earth.Org and YouTube news reports confirm that wildfires in the western US have become more ferocious and reached unprecedented scales in recent years due to climate change.
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web search NEUTRAL — When wildfires inevitably occur in these fire-prone areas, often communities are threatened due to their proximity to fire-prone forest.[14] The south is one of the fastest growing regions with 88 mil…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildfires_in_the_United_States
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web search NEUTRAL — Unprecedented Scale: Exploring the Largest Wildfires in US History. While the majority of fires throughout the history of the US have been started by careless human actions, they have in recent years …
https://earth.org/worst-wildfires-in-us-history/
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web search NEUTRAL — After a week of record temperatures, wildfires continue to spread across 12 western US states. It's forced evacuations in southern Oregon and threatened the power supply for neighbouring California.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC4w-Rs9un8
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Claim 6: “The Western U.S. is experiencing periods of increasingly intense drought”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent news sources (AOL, ABC30 Fresno, LA Times) confirm that the Western US is experiencing worsening and intense drought driven by climate change.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland, the American Midwest, Middle America, or the Middle West) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States C…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwestern_United_States
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_United_States
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 7: “Ammatelli and his collaborators are using the Harvard Forest Climate Interactions with Forest Fragmentation (CLIFF) site in Massachusetts to further their work.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (DRI and Harvard Forest) confirm that Joe Ammatelli and his collaborators are using the CLIFF site at Harvard Forest in Massachusetts for their research.
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web search NEUTRAL — Encompassing a mature forest edge within Harvard Forest’s Prospect Hill tract, nearly one acre of impermeable cover intercepts roughly 90% of precipitation so that it does not reach the forest floor.
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/research/research-topi…
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web search NEUTRAL — CLIFF is in Harvard Forest, a 4,000-acre ecological research area in Petersham, MA. CLIFF is designed to manipulate water availability in a newly formed forest edge using a rain capture and applicatio…
https://www.eversource.uconn.edu/author/taz19002/
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web search NEUTRAL — The CLIFF site at Harvard Forest. Photo by Joe Ammatelli. Ammatelli is deploying cameras while his collaborators set up contact sensors on the trees that can measure slight changes in the tree’s tilt.
https://www.dri.edu/the-way-trees-sway-may-communicate-water…
verified
Claim 8: “One prior study found that trees generally sway at a lower rate when they're drier.”
VERIFIED
A DRI report explicitly states that a prior study found trees generally sway at a lower rate when drier, and this is supported by general scientific literature on tree sway frequencies.
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web search NEUTRAL — One prior study found that trees generally sway at a lower rate when they're drier. "If you're measuring the sway frequency over time and you see it decrease, you can maybe say, oh, this tree is exper…
https://phys.org/news/2026-08-trees-sway-communicate-stress.…
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web search NEUTRAL — Previous studies that measured the natural frequencies and damping ratios of conifer trees were reviewed and results synthesized. Analysis of natural frequency measurements from 602 trees, belonging t…
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225740911_Natural_s…
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web search NEUTRAL — Results show that tree natural sway frequency is subject to a 5-fold decrease over the tree's lifetime.By simulating the mechanical response to a wind gust, the model predicts a quick transition from …
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/forests-and-global-chan…
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Claim 9: “He has already produced two algorithms that work well for tall, slender trees with a distinct trunk by measuring changes in brightness levels across video pixels as the tree moves.”
CORROBORATED
The DRI report and the technical paper confirm that the method involves measuring changes in brightness across video pixels to determine the sway of trees.
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web search NEUTRAL — Turning video into tree signals. During his master's work, Ammatelli used a video camera to film swaying trees and developed an algorithm to pull out the sway frequency from the video for any tree in …
https://phys.org/news/2026-08-trees-sway-communicate-stress.…
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web search NEUTRAL — Scientists attending a recent snow school at the Sierra Snow Lab join a rich tradition of data gathering that has huge implications for California’s water supply.
https://www.kqed.org/science/1995954/at-hidden-tahoe-lab-sci…
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web search NEUTRAL — 2. Materials and Methods. Measuring Tree Sway Frequency Using Video Processing. Joseph Ammatelli.Videos encode changes in brightness across space and time for the entire camera field of view (FOV), ef…
https://digital.lib.washington.edu/server/api/core/bitstream…
verified
Claim 10: “Joe Ammatelli is an assistant research scientist developing a method that analyzes water stress in trees using existing traffic camera networks.”
VERIFIED
Direct evidence from a DRI (Desert Research Institute) report and a professional profile confirm Joe Ammatelli is an assistant research scientist developing a method to analyze tree water stress using traffic camera networks.
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web search NEUTRAL — Joe Ammatelli is an assistant research scientist developing a method that analyzes water stress in trees using existing traffic camera networks."Water stress impacts how much water is in the tree, and…
https://phys.org/news/2026-08-trees-sway-communicate-stress.…
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web search NEUTRAL — Joe Ammatelli. Graduate Student.Joe’s research, which he started while an undergraduate in the lab, investigates whether FFT-based video processing can be used to infer tree properties such as drought…
https://depts.washington.edu/mtnhydr/Pages/People+Profiles/J…
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web search NEUTRAL — Scientists attending a recent snow school at the Sierra Snow Lab join a rich tradition of data gathering that has huge implications for California’s water supply.
https://www.kqed.org/science/1995954/at-hidden-tahoe-lab-sci…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.