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Individual variation in acorn production by five species of southern Appalachian oaks. Forest Ecology and Management
| Citations: | 7 - 2 self |
BibTeX
@MISC{Greenberg_individualvariation,
author = {Cathryn H. Greenberg},
title = {Individual variation in acorn production by five species of southern Appalachian oaks. Forest Ecology and Management},
year = {}
}
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Abstract
Acorns are an important wildlife food resource and seed source for oak regeneration. Most acorn production studies note wide and consistent differences in acorn productivity among individuals, but none clearly demonstrate determinants of productivity. Acorn production by black, northern red, scarlet, chestnut and white oak was measured from 1993 to 1997 in the southern Appalachians was measured and compared among species and individuals. To standardize comparisons among different sized trees and simplify for use by forest managers, the number of acorns per tree were converted to the number/m2 BA (basal area). On average, white oak produced the most acorns and chestnut oak the fewest. Northern red and white oak produced higher green weight and dry biomass than the other three species. There was a significant positive relationship between tree basal area and the number of acorns produced per crown for all species (r2 between 0.10 and 0.27). However, this is because larger trees have greater crown areas for producing acorns, and not because they produce more acorns per unit area of crown. Alone, BA was significantly, positively correlated with the number of acorns/m2 BA only in black, northern red (p < 0.06) and white oak (not in scarlet or chestnut oak) but explained little of the variation in acorn production among individuals. Trees 25 cm DBH of most species produced significantly fewer acorns/m2 BA than their larger counterparts. However, many small (<23 cm DBH) scarlet oaks originating from a 1967 clear-cut were prolific producers, whereas white oaks (<25 cm DBH) in the same stand were not. Frequency of acorn production ranged from never to yearly among
Keyphrases
acorn production white oak cm dbh southern appalachian oak forest ecology individual variation prolific producer tree basal area important wildlife food resource acorn productivity scarlet oak southern appalachian seed source dry biomass oak regeneration number m2 ba significant positive relationship basal area forest manager unit area green weight consistent difference demonstrate determinant acorn production study
