Signs Of Stress

I was noticing some unusual growth patterns on the tops of a few trees on the far side of the clearing while walking through the clearing.
Normally, the tops below the new growth from this year (the leader) would be well developed branches with a few cones forming. On this tree, and a handful of trees on the west slope of the clearing,we have seen stunted limbs and the branches are loaded with cones.When a tree is stressed as this one is from hit-and-miss years of drought conditions, possible bark beetles, root rot issues, wind, snow and ice storms or even logging operations in the area, the tree has gone into survival mode. Rather than putting it’s energy into sweeping branches, it is using energy to produce cones, a lot of them.
The survival mode disregards the individual tree for the propagation of the species. A stressed tree can produce millions of seeds before it succumbs to whatever is ailing it. The seeds are scattered below the tree as the cones mature and are moved around the woods by small animals storing them for winter, and by bigger animals that eat the smaller ones.
In a couple of years, a wide area around this stressed tree will have hundreds of new seedlings destined to populate the site.
While the unusual growth does not mean this individual tree is doomed, it is one that we will be keeping an eye on during the next year or two to see if it is one to be removed from the forest.