Tag: Oak decline

Northern red oak: a contender or a member?

by Virginia McDaniel, Forestry Technician  • 
Northern red oak in the Appalachians Grows to be stately at high elevations But is there regen? And what makes it thrive? Harvest makes light to keep it alive But fire suppression helps mesophytes reign A little control may help red oak sustain Site treatment with fire and some herbicide May help each species to…  More 

Oak Regeneration and Acorn Size

by Megan Bequette, SRS Science Communications Intern  • 
Oak regeneration is an oft-discussed topic in forestry. The trees aren’t sustainably generating in many upland temperate forests due to a variety of factors — including the fact that they are less competitive than other, more sun-loving species such as tulip poplar. One way that forest managers are responding to this issue is artificial oak…  More 

Managing for Natural Disturbances in Central Hardwood Forests

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Delivery  • 
A new book edited by U.S. Forest Service researcher Katie Greenberg and Western Carolina University professor Beverly Collins offers detailed science-based information about the history of natural disturbances in the Central Hardwood Region of the U.S., and provides insight for managers and ecologists on managing the area’s forests. Published by Springer, Natural Disturbances and Historic Range of…  More 

Drought, Insects, and Oak Decline

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Delivery  • 
Recent research by university and U.S. Forest Service scientists suggests that the traditional sequence of events and factors involved in forest decline may be changing in relation to climate conditions. To look more closely at patterns of decline linked to drought and insect attacks, the researchers analyzed the unprecedented oak death event that took place…  More 

Restoring the Forest Before Spongy Moths Invade

by Sarah Farmer, Science Delivery Group  • 
Keeping forests healthy is better than trying to restore them after droughts or insect outbreaks have already killed trees, but identifying future threats is sometimes a challenge. Not so in the Daniel Boone National Forest in the Cumberland Plateau area of Kentucky. Oaks dominate the area, but they are under stress and susceptible to decline, while invasive…  More 

The Next Fifty Years of Acorn Production

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Delivery Group  • 
Some acorns go on to become the next generation of oak trees, but others are eaten by birds, bears, rodents, and deer. Rodents are in turn eaten by carnivores, and deer browsing affects which kinds of plants become established and survive. “Acorns have a far-reaching influence on wildlife species and forest ecology,” says U.S. Forest…  More 

Impact of Red Oak Borer Outbreaks on Arkansas Forests

by Jim Guldin, project leader of the SRS Southern Pine Ecology & Management unit  • 
Over the past 50 years, oak decline events have been reported in upland oak forests of the eastern United States with increasing frequency — and Arkansas is no exception. A team of forest entomologists at the University of Arkansas led by Fred Stephen, in cooperation with Jim Guldin, project leader of the Southern Research Station (SRS)…  More