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[Areyar]

I just had a revelation: trees have roots.

I'm realising this falls into the domain of many 'multi-tile tree' ideas.

I was thinking about how a *bonsai* would be an excellent craft for elves and might even be artifacts. Then I realised fortresses are poepled by dwarves, why treat trees like they treat ores (hack at it untill usable chunks fall off).
This lead to thoughts of "heh dwarves would probably cut a tree down by undermining it anyhow".
so.. right now trees have very superficial roots that are rooted only in the floor-part of the tile.
how about roots extending below to the soil layer underneath? No extra wood, but some interesting results, such as an entire forest just dying off, because the local fortress-lord decided that the soil layer makes for excellent storage space.

Other things that might make soil-burrows less amiable could be
-percolation of rainwater.
  wetting any underground structures and maybe causing slime and rot to 'soil' stuff.
-digging critters like worms and ants infesting your soil-dug foodstores. (rats etc should be able to move through ~2 tiles of soil too)
-poor support capability. more risk of caveins, maybe only when wet.
 Yeah, this would also lead to  soil-dug trenches and canals collapsing into the water they carry.
 Finnally a reason to line the canals with stone.

[Silverionmox]

Interesting ideas.

[Areyar]

oh!

I forgot to mention my strongest argument: a tree is as big underground as it is aboveground.

[Joseph Miles]

The one problem I see here is that it alleviates the need for woodcutters. People would just mine for trees.

[Areyar]

nono.
My thought was that the trees die and rot, they don't topple ... much.
like the tunnels drain all water away.

Anyway: even if they topple: it requires lumberjacks to hack the roots.
too fibrous for picks.

[Joseph Miles]

In that case, supported.

[winner]

tree roots tend to be very flat, they chase nutrients by spreading out in a circle in the topsoil and try to efficiently catch the rainwater.  As long as they still have that thin "floor" the majority of the roots will remain intact. (otherwise trees would be unable to grow in thin soil on top of rock)
http://leler.com/hawaii/DSCN0299.JPG

[Areyar]

That depends very much on the species and the type of substrate.

some trees have undeep roots such as birch.

also dense clay, or waterlogged soil can perturb some tree species.

but many solitary growing desidious trees (oak) have deep roots for anchorage and to avoid competion for water with seasonal (fast growing) herbs and shrubs.

anyway you are forgetting the drainage factor: a parkinglot underneath is sufficient to dry out the upper soil. A metre of soil on top of inpermeable rock might sustain a dwarfish tree, but if the water can percolate away then the soil becomes dry.