All: I would like to second Neil's main point- these trees may have passed through a bit of a genetic bottleneck due to human activities...but my gut tells me that we have only begun to discover the genetic flexibility trees. Plus, these trees were growing right on rocks, on a palisade, I would not infer much from their form. I bet you could grow "ideal" trees from one of their acorns.
Than, again, if we think their form is a little off from the ideal, I think maybe that is an indication of our (non-biologically supportable) bias, not any real evaluation of the inferiority of the tree!!! This whole rat-race we are all involved in is ultimately about evolutionary fitness, and these trees have had about 200 extra years of acorn crops, so I reckon they are in much better shape than their fancy, straight-trunked, cousins who met the saw long-ago!! ryan -- Ryan McEwan The University of Dayton http://udbiology.com/content.php?id=1664 On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 7:27 AM, neil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Beth, > > That is great - I love the look of chinquapin oak [or chinkapin, > however you wish to spell it. I'd be careful on estimating tree age > from external characteristics. The last tree on the list was larger > than most trees cored & yet ~ 1/4 of the potential ages. It lives next > to a trail and an ephemeral stream. I'd guess it has less competition > and more moisture availability yr round VS the other trees. > > BTW funny timing ENTS'ers: Floracliff and two other KY forests, > including the 2000+ acre old-growth Blanton Forest, are featured in > the book "Wildlands Philanthropy: The Great American Tradition". A > nice article was written up in the local paper Saturday - > http://www.kentucky.com/601/story/592954.html - w/ accompanying short > articles on the three KY forests. > > neil > > > On Nov 16, 8:39 pm, Beth Koebel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Neil, > > > > Those ages are great! I am glad that you sent photos also as I believe I > have found my first chinquapin oaks at a park in Pacific, Missouri. I > now have to reevalute the age estimate for those trees. > > > > I will send a seperate email about the park and Pacific, Missouri later > as soon as I find the connector between my camera and my pc. > > > > Beth > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
