The International Oak Symposium: Science-Based Management for Dynamic Oak Forests

Abstract

The 2024 International Oak Symposium was an inaugural meeting convened in Knoxville, TN, USA and represented the first international symposium addressing broad ecological and forestry issues of the genus Quercus (oak) ever held. The symposium provided opportunities and platforms to exchange information and build collaborations around the best available science and technology on oak ecology and management for a global audience. The meeting provided innovative and progressive formats, such as panel discussions, field tours, receptions, surveys, and question and answer sessions to deliver and exchange information and foster collaborations between researchers and practitioners. Attendees chose one of three field tours that showcased: 1) multidisciplinary research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service and The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture; 2) Indigenous and western ecological knowledge and cultural history of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park; or 3) prescribed fire and silviculture at the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area. The symposium featured 13 invited plenary session speakers from North America and Europe and approximately 100 offered oral presentations and posters from four continents. Presentations addressed an array of topics: climate change impacts and climate-smart forestry; woodland restoration; genetics, genomics, and tree improvement; prescribed fire efficacy; emerging economic markets including carbon; forest health; and silvicultural applications for natural and artificial regeneration. Two common themes identified at the symposium were: 1) the difficulty and barriers that impede the delivery and application of the best available science to land managers, and 2) the need for active management while facing uncertainty. Presenters represented various organizations from nongovernmental organizations, Federal agencies, State agencies, research centers, universities, and industry.

Titles contained within The International Oak Symposium: Science-Based Management for Dynamic Oak Forests

• Mesophication of Oak Landscapes: Mechanisms and Management
• The World of Oaks—Diversity, Cultural History, and Conservation
• The Past, Present, and Future of White Oak in North America: Opportunities to Grow and Stabilize the Hardwood Market
• Cork Oak Afforestation Using Innovative Techniques to Mitigate Climate Change
• Fire and the Oak Regeneration Process
• Challenges for Management of Rich Quercus Forests in Europe
• The White Oak Initiative
• Low-Density Tree Planting: Scope of Oak Cluster Planting to Create Mixed Forests
• Fifty Years of Observations on Oak (Quercus) Tree Improvement and Artificial Regeneration Programs in Eastern North America
• Amazing American Quercus Communities Under Threat
• Why White Oak?
• How Can Oaks Survive and Thrive in Future Climates?
• North Coast Oak Woodland Restoration: Oregon White Oak and California Black Oak Tree and Stand Response to Release from Douglas-fir Encroachment
• Habitat Suitability Model Optimization for Stand Initiation in Bottomland Hardwood Forests, Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley
• Predicting Fuel Consumption Under High-Frequency Fire Regimes in Oak-Pine Mixedwood Forests by Using the First Order Fire Effects Model in Alabama, USA
• Site Factors, Disturbances, and the Distribution of Oaks
• Synthesizing Changing Oak Species Distributions, Mast Availability, and Effects on Wildlife Species Under Future Climate, Social, and Land-Use Change
• White Oak Population Trends—Distilling Regeneration, Recruitment, Growth, and Drain Concerns Across the Range
• Spring Bud Phenology of Quercus alba Seedlings Planted in a Common Garden in Southern Vermont, USA
• A Genetic Conservation Program for the Endangered Mapleleaf Oak (Quercus acerifolia) in the Southeastern United States
• Promoting White Oak (Quercus alba) Sustainability Through a RangeWide Tree Improvement Program in the Eastern United States
• The Evolution of Freezing Tolerance in Oaks (Quercus)
• Population Genetic Survey of an Old World Oak, Quercus cerris, as a Starting Point for the Development of Adaptive Oak Management in Central Europe
• Genetic Introgression and Hybridization Among White Oak Species: Developing Approaches to Management that Embrace Oaks’ Complex Genetic Histories
• Effect of Revegetation Method (Direct Seeding Versus Outplanting) on Holm Oak Root Architecture
• Local Acclimation of Holm Oaks is Driven by Early-Life Plastic Trait Adjustments
• Exploring the Effects of Fire Return Intervals on Resource-Use Strategies of Pyrophytic and Mesophytic Species
• Potential Role of Plant-Soil Feedback in Oak Regeneration Decline
• Intraspecific Variation in Growth, Photosynthetic, and Functional Traits in Quercus robur in Relation to Drought and Vapor Pressure Deficit
• Shedding Light on Oak Dominance in Southern Appalachian Forests Under Modern Nitrogen Conditions
• Exploring Leaf Litter Flammability in Eastern U.S. Oak and Pine Forests: Implications for Fire Ecology
• Sensitivity of Native (Quercus robur) and Exotic (Quercus rubra) Oak Trees to Periodic Drought Events in a Warming City of Southwest Germany
• Ecohydrological Responses of Quercus rubra and Q. velutina to 7 Years of Experimental Drought
• Effects of Dormant Season Flooding on Pin Oak (Quercus palustris) Root Growth
• Silvicultural Trials for Climate-Adaptive Capacity in Oak-Dominated Systems
• Effects of Midstory Removal Timing on Natural Oak Regeneration in Arkansas, USA
• Living on the Edge: Development of an Oak Seedling Bank in Response to Silviculturally Created Openings in a Productive Mixed Hardwood Forest in the Southern Appalachian Mountains
• Effects of Selective Cutting on Structural Attributes and Oak Recruitment in Stands of Mixed Forests in Southern Sweden
• Quercus Reproduction Response to a MultiPhased Shelterwood on the Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky, USA
• Early Results From Oak Regeneration and Recruitment Trials in Connecticut
• Upland Oak Size-Density Relationships: a Modern Examination of Gingrich (1967) Stocking
• Quercus rubra Pure and Mixed Plantations Performance Growing in a Nonnative Habitat
• Cherrybark Oak (Quercus pagoda) Crown Profiles After 10 Years of Growth in Mixed Species Stands of Three Spacings in the Cumberland Mountains of Morgan County, Tennessee
• Forest Management of Sessile and Pedunculate Oak in Germany—From Coppice Forests to Climate-Smart Forests for Diverse Ecosystem Services
• Evaluating 15 Years of Experimental Management Treatments in Southern Appalachian Forests of North Carolina
• Adaptive Strategies of White Oak (Quercus alba) in Response to Climate Change: Insights from a 40-Year Study of Growth and Phenology
• Quantifying Potential Costs and Benefits of Alternative Oak Management Regimes in the Central Hardwood Region of the United States
• Economic Impacts of Projected White Oak (Quercus alba) Timber Supply in Kentucky: a Computable General Equilibrium Model Analysis
• Carbon Storage of Restored Oak Savannas Treated with Varying Fire Frequency and Seasonality Compared to a Closed-Canopy Forest and an Old Field in Tennessee, USA
• Comparative Analysis of Organic Soil Horizon Characteristics and Carbon Sequestration Potential in Oak and Pine Forests of the Southeastern United States
• Changes in Groundlayer Communities With Variation in Trees, Sapling Layers, and Fires During 34 Years of Oak Savanna Restoration in Ohio, USA
• Oak Demographics and Distributions on the Paint Rock Forest Dynamics Plot in Northern Alabama, USA
• Reaccessing Historical Oak Composition of Kentucky
• Agroforestry Historical Landscapes in Evrytania: Old Growth Oaks as Heritage Identity and a Driver for Sustainable Tourism
• Valonia Oak (Quercus ithaburensis subs. macrolepis) in Greece: From Mythology to Research Breakthroughs for a Sustainable Future
• Flammability of 34 North American Oaks
• Historic and Current Forests and Fire Culture in the Southern Appalachians
• Causes of a Seedling Recruitment Advantage for an Encroaching Oak over a Historically Dominant Oak in a Fire-Restored Open Oak Woodland
• Reverting Homogenous Forest Landscapes Into Mixed Oak Forests in Southwestern Europe
• Refining the Artificial Regeneration Prescription for White Oak (Quercus alba) by Using Pedigree and Advanced Nursery Practices
• Impact of Fires on Soils in Oak and Pine Stands
• Development of Underplanted Bottomland Oak Species Under Chemically Treated Juvenile Stands Within South Carolina Floodplains
• Competition Control and Increasing Canopy Openness Benefit Artificial White Oak (Quercus alba) Regeneration in an Expanding Shelterwood in Indiana, USA
• Best Practices for Regeneration of California Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii)
• Soil Fungal Response Interactions with Seedling Stock Age Across White Oak (Quercus alba) Outplantings in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, USA
• Oak Processionary Moth (Thaumetopoea processionea)—Hazard Assessment and Decision Support for Management
• Forwarding Diagnostics and Monitoring for the Oak Wilt Pathogen Through Development of a LAMP Assay
• Molecular Detection of Oak Wilt Pathogen by Pairing TaqMan Probes with an Inexpensive Blue-Flashlight
• Erythmelus klopomor—Promising Candidate for Classical Biological Control Against the Invasive Oak Lace Bug
• Putting a New Spin on an Old Disease: Using Molecular Tools to Identify Beetles Carrying Spores from the Oak Wilt Fungus in Gillespie County, Texas, USA
• Establishment of Oaks After Wildfire Depends on Fire Intensity
• Masting Dynamics of Bottomland Oaks in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, USA
• Prescribed Fire Improves Red Oak (Quercus rubra) Regeneration in Northern New Hampshire
• Land Restoration After a Big Fire Event: Oaks Versus Pines
• Evaluation of Common Silvicultural Practices on the Survival and Growth of Willow Oak (Quercus phellos) on Old Field Agricultural Sites
• Urban Silviculture Strategies for Oak Forests: Direct Planting in Existing and Imminent Canopy Gaps in Oak-Beech Forests
• Central European Oaks (Quercus robur and Q. petrea) from a Forest Health Perspective Using the Example of Southwestern Germany
• Tree Damage and Mortality Following Wildfire and Prescribed Fire in Long Unburned Mixed Oak-Pine Forests
• A Tale of Two Outbreaks: Are Oak Populations Becoming More Vulnerable to Insect Outbreaks and Climate Stress in Central Massachusetts, USA?
• A Phased, Chromosome-Scale Genome Assembly for Southern Live Oak, Quercus virginiana
• The Genetic and Environmental Drivers of Red Oak (Quercus rubra) Phenology
• Human Urine Does Not Protect Acorns Against Predation by the Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus)
• Carbon Storage Potential of Restored Oak Savannas in Northwestern Tennessee
• Targeted Herbivory: Plant Community Response and Cultural Relevancy in a Willamette Valley Oak Savanna
• Management, Markets, and Mesophication: an Empirical Exploration of Oak Forests in the Southeast
• Forecasting Changes in Oak Forests Following Spongy Moth (Lymantria dispar) Invasion With a Landscape Simulation Model
• Long-Term Impacts of Nurse Plants on Sapling Performance in California Oak Savannas
• Impacts of Differential Browsing of Shortleaf Pine and Multiple Hardwood Species in Restoration Plantings
• Age Distributions and Establishment Traits of White Oak (Quercus alba) Advance Reproduction Under Uneven-Aged Management in the Ozark Highlands of Missouri, USA
• Fungal Diseases in Central European Oaks
• Silvicultural Methods for Quercus crispula Regenerated in Scarified Sites: Effects of Intra and Interspecific Competition on 17th Year of Growth and Stem Quality
• Loblolly Pine to White Oak Stand Conversion on Balls Mountain in the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama
• Water and Carbohydrate Dynamics in Mature Forest-Grown and Open-Grown Quercus garryana, Before and After Releasing Oaks From Conifer Competition
• Evaluation of Ecosystem Response to Silvicultural Treatments in Upland Hardwood Forests in Northern Mississippi, USA
• How Useful are Acorn Resources? Quantifying the Plant-Available Carbon in Acorns With Achlorophyllous Oaks
• The Ecology and Silviculture of Oaks
• Differences in Composition of Soil Organic Matter Between Oak and Pine Forests
• Oak-Assisted Regeneration Through Seeding or Planting: A Collaborative, Continental-scale Experiment
• The Effect of Selective Thinning on Ground Cover, Epiphytic Moss and Lichen Species, and Microhabitat diversity in Quercus robur-Dominated Stands
• Selective Thinning Induced Changes in Radial Growth of Quercus robur in Mixed Stands
• A Comprehensive Review of Oak Decline Drivers in the Mediterranean Regions of the Northern Hemisphere
• Deadwood Management and Forest Health, Prince William Forest National Park, Virginia, USA
• Colorimetric Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) Assay for the Detection of Bretziella fagacearum (Causal Agent of Oak Wilt Disease) in Tree Samples
• Growth Characteristics of Standing Oak Individuals Suitable for Barrel Wood in a Secondary Oak Forest in Japan
• Seed Germination of 12 European Quercus Species
• Resprouting of Two Seeded and Planted Mediterranean Oaks and Effects of Climate Warming in Southern Spain
• Restoring a Rare Oak Forest Type with Artificial Regeneration
• The Relationship Between Soil Properties and Oak Regeneration in Eastern Kentucky
• Dynamics of Quercus crispula (Japanese Oak) Populations in Natural Mixed Forests Under a Selection Cutting Regime in Northern Japan

Citation

Martens, C.; Clark, S.; Schweitzer, C. 2024. The International Oak Symposium: Science-Based Management for Dynamic Oak Forests. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-278. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 194 p. https://doi.org/10.2737/SRS-GTR-278.