Trees that grow in a grove with other trees and shrubbery tend to form one canopy and root to hold up that canopy. If you take one tree out of the grove, it changes the dynamics of the entire grove. Other trees start falling too.
We lost a big oak in our (seasonal) creek bottom this last winter. Since then, every oak in that area has fallen. These trees are well over 100 years old but the wind now hits the trees differently and they are no longer stable because they aren't rooted in the right direction.
