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Abstract
We measured patterns of spatial synchrony in growth and reproduction by oaks using direct acorn surveys, published data on acorn production, and tree-ring chronologies. The two data sets involving acorn production both indicate that acorn crops are detectably synchronous over areas of at least 500 to 1,000 km not only within individual species but among species that require the same number of years to mature acorns. Although no tree-ring data are available for California oaks, growth patterns among oaks elsewhere are statistically correlated between sites up to 2,500 km apart. These results indicate that both tree growth and acorn production patterns covary over large geographic scales and support the hypothesis that argescale weather patterns play an important role in determining these life-history parameters of California oaks. They also have important implications for the population biology of wildlife that live in California’s oak woodlands.
Parent Publication
Citation
Koenig, Walter D.; Knops, Johannes M.H. 1997. Patterns of Geographic Synchrony in Growth and Reproduction of Oaks Within California and Beyond. In: Pillsbury, Norman H.; Verner, Jared; Tietje, William D., technical coordinators. 1997. Proceedings of a symposium on oak woodlands: ecology, management, and urban interface issues; 19–22 March 1996; San Luis Obispo, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-160. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; p. 101-108
