I have been collecting and watching in east Central Illinois for about 10 years now, and without a doubt it was a strange year here also. We had a bumper crop of bur oak, and a good crop of hickories (shagbark and shellbark) however, the red and black oaks were nowhere to be seen and the white oaks in our region were almost nil. But the whites were doing somewhat better in other regions of Illinois. Interestingly, other trees are doing fine black walnut, persimmon, paw paw, ash, kentucky coffee tree etc. As for weather, the east central Illinois region posted one of the wettest years so far in 2008. In some cases we had 4 thirty-five year flood events so far this year. So not from a lack of water. We also had a late couple of freezes (post budbreak) this fall that may have contributed to energies being put into recovery rather than reproduction???? A really odd year.
Daniel J. Olson Director of Natural Resources Champaign County Forest Preserve District > I wonder whether the unexpected pattern seen in the oaks around DC this > year is due to factors which can complicate the masting pattern. > > A few years ago I co-authored a paper using time series of masting in > relation to climate records (G. Piovesan & J.M. Adams in Ecological > Research). > > My recollection of the work is getting hazy now a few years after we > published it - and I am too lazy to look up the paper again right now - > but I think that the pattern we found with beech (Fagus) across Europe and > in North America was that the likelihood of masting was significantly > increased if a wet summer occurred during two years BEFORE the mast crop > (the year before flower primordia formed)... this suggests that a build-up > of carbohydrate in the trees predisposes them to masting if the necessary > drought trigger is present the next summer. So a run of moderately dry > years leading up to a potential drought trigger year could suppress > masting. > > Also, if masting had already occurred the previous year or two - even with > the 'correct' drought trigger present - the masting would fail to occur. > Presumably, the trees were exhausted of their carbohydrate or nutrient > supply and unable to produce a seed crop. > > Why is this relevant to the present topic on oaks? A drought year may not > predictably result in masting during the year when the acorns form. I > wonder then if what happened with the oaks around DC this year was due to > one of these fairly predictable complications to the pattern. > > > Jonathan Adams > > > >>> >>> A front-page article in today's Washington Post >>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/29/AR200811 >>> 2902045.html?hpid=topnews >>> describes the failure of the acorn mast this year over a large area >>> around Washington, D.C. Also hickory nuts. It should have been >>> (based on historical patterns) a good year for the oaks. Was there a >>> similar failure in other parts of the US (or elsewhere)? >>> >>> David Inouye >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> James Crants, PhD >> Scientist, University of Minnesota >> Agronomy and Plant Genetics >> Cell: (734) 474-7478 >> > Daniel J. Olson Director of Natural Resources Champaign County Forest Preserve District P.O. Box 1040 Mahomet, Illinois 61853 (217) 586-4389 Fax - (217) 586-6852
