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Abstract
We determined the impact of insects on both acorns and seedlings of coast live oak (
Quercus agrifolia Nee) and Engelmann oak (
Quercus engelmannii E. Greene). Our goals were to (1) identify insects feeding on acorns and levels of insect damage, and (2) measure performance and preference of a generalist leaf-feeding insect herbivore, the migratory grasshopper (
Melanoplus sanguinipes [Fabricus] Orthoptera: Acrididae), on both species of oak seedlings. Acorn collections and insect emergence traps under mature
Q. agrifolia and
Q. engelmannii revealed that 62 percent of all ground-collected acorns had some level of insect damage, with
Q. engelmannii receiving significantly more damage. However, the amount of insect damage to individual acorns of both species was slight (
Parent Publication
Citation
Dunning, Connell E.; Paine, Timothy D.; Redak, Richard A. 2002. Insect-oak interactions with coast live oak (
Quercus agrifolia) and Engelmann oak (
Q. engelmannii) at the acorn and seedling stage. In: Standiford, Richard B., et al, tech. editor. Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on Oak Woodlands: Oaks in California''s Challenging Landscape. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-184, Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: 205-218
