Ryan, I totally agree with you regarding this issue. I suppose human intuition tends to suppose larger = older. There are so many site variables (moisture, nutrition availability, soil depth, etc), plus species genetics that regulate the growth potential for a given tree species. Large trees are impressive (and a little exciting!) to behold, but the truth is, they may not be very old. This is proven time and time again.
Steve Springer -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ryan McEwan Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 9:41 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ENTS] Big Bur Oak, cant judge age by size In my view it is virtually impossible to estimate a bur oak's age by its size, unless you know its whole history. Trees of identical diameters growing relatively close to one another can be 100 years (or more) different in age. here is some peer reviewed evidence supporting this idea: http://academic.udayton.edu/RyanMcEwan/Pub/2008,McEwan_and_McCarthy,JBI. pdf This is true, in fact, for many species... I was sampling chinkapin oak with Neil Pederson last fall and we found one tree that was 400 years old, and on the same site, not far away at all, a tree that was a bit LARGER in diameter (and crown) that was 150 years old (250 years younger). ryan On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 9:26 AM, Lee Frelich <[email protected]> wrote: Mike: My guess is about 150-175 years. Lee Mike Kowalski wrote: > ENTS, > > Here are some photos of a beautiful bur oak not far from where I live. > They are from both last December and April of this year. > > The tree has a CBH of 414 cm (163 inch). I measured the CS of it at > one point, but I can't seem to find the data. I think it was about 20 > m. It's on land owned by Camp Rotary. I assume it's been open grown. > Anyone want to hazard a guess at it's age? > > > Mike > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > -- Ryan McEwan The University of Dayton http://academic.udayton.edu/RyanMcEwan --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
