Publication Information
Title: Factors limiting recruitment in valley and coast live oak
Author: Tyler, Claudia M.; Mahall, Bruce E.; Davis, Frank W.; Hall, Michael
Date: 2002
Source: 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: 565-572
Station ID: GTR-PSW-184
Description: The Santa Barbara County Oak Restoration Program was initiated in 1994 to determine the major factors limiting recruitment of valley oak (Quercus lobata) and coast live oak (Q. agrifolia). At Sedgwick Reserve in Santa Barbara County, California, we have replicated large-scale planting experiments in four different years to determine the effects of cattle and other ecological factors on oak seedling establishment in oak savannas and woodlands. In 33 large experimental plots (50 x 50 m) we planted acorns collected from Q. lobata and Q. agrifolia on the site. Fifteen of these large plots are controls, open to grazing, fifteen exclude cattle with the use of electric fence, and three are ungrazed in large ungrazed pastures. Within the plots, experimental treatments included: 1) protection from small mammals such as gophers and ground squirrels, 2) protection from large animals such as cattle, deer, and pigs, and 3) no protection from mammalian grazers. In winters 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2001, we planted approximately 1,000 acorns of each species. Results confirm that seed predation and herbivory by small mammals are a significant "bottleneck" to oak seedling recruitment on the landscape scale. Comparing results among years indicates that lack of late winter rainfall can significantly reduce oak emergence and establishment. Survivorship of protected acorns and seedlings is comparable in grazed and ungrazed areas.
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Tyler, Claudia M.; Mahall, Bruce E.; Davis, Frank W.; Hall, Michael 2002. Factors limiting recruitment in valley and coast live oak 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: 565-572. |