Oak Health in the Midwest - Oak Decline
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Oak Decline |
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The issue
Oak decline is a disease syndrome caused by interactions over
time among several factors such as quality of the site, age of the
trees, droughts, insect defoliation and stem boring, root disease,
and human cultural practices. Several declines of oaks have occurred
in the Eastern U.S. since the mid-1800s, each the result of a
slightly different suite of factors. Recently, decline and mortality
of oaks seem to be accelerating in some areas of the Midwest,
particularly in the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri, where
they are impacting regeneration and thus the composition of future
forests. Forest managers need to know when and where decline is the
most severe, and how to plan for the future.
Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri.
Photo by K. Kromroy
What are we doing about it?
We are
doing a regional assessment
of oak health back to the 1970s.
We
are looking at the characteristics most related to
oak decline in the Missouri Ozarks,
with a particular emphasis on the role of Armillaria root disease in
reduced oak stump sprout regeneration.
We
are identifying
Armillaria species associated with decline and mortality of
oaks and other tree species in several areas of the region.
For additional information on this topic, refer
to: More
information on Oak
decline in the Ozarks
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