Theses and Dissertations
Issuing Body
Mississippi State University
Advisor
Kaminski, Richard A.
Committee Member
Ezell, Andrew W.
Committee Member
Hawkins, Tracy S.
Date of Degree
4-30-2011
Document Type
Graduate Thesis - Open Access
Major
Wildlife and Fisheries Science
Degree Name
Master of Science
College
College of Forest Resources
Department
Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture
Abstract
Acorns of red oaks (Quercus spp; Subgenus Erythrobalanus) are important forage for wildlife and seed for oak regeneration. I estimated production of viable acorns by red oaks in 5 forests in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) and 2 greentree reservoirs (GTRs) in Mississippi. Mean acorn production in the MAV was 439 kg(dry)/ha of red oak crown (CV = 29%) during autumn-winter 2009-2010 and 794 kg/ha (CV = 19%) in GTRs during autumn-winters 2008-2010. I recommend researchers sample acorn production in the MAV for ≥5 years to improve precision of estimates (i.e., CV ≤ 15%). I estimated mass and gross energy (GE) of viable red oak acorns after 90 days in unflooded and flooded hardwood bottomlands in Mississippi. Within species, mass loss of acorns was <8.4% and variation in GE ≤0.08 kcal(dry)/g. Winter decomposition of intact viable red oak acorns would have minimal effect on wildlife carrying capacity of hardwood bottomlands.
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/11668/14930
Recommended Citation
Leach, Alan Gregory, "Red Oak Acorn Production, Mass, and Gross Energy Dynamics in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley" (2011). Theses and Dissertations. 3744.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/3744
Comments
red oak||acorn production||greentree reservoir||gross energy||wintering watefowl