Post-Fire Recovery of Acorn Production by Four Oak Species in Southern Ridge Sandhill Association in South-Central Florida

Warren G. Abrahamson and James N. Layne

Two components of research were done in this study. Both the amount of stems that grew acorns and the number of acorns produced were examined. Four types of oaks were being tested, two white oak species, and two red oak species. Counts of both of these were taken yearly from 1969 to 1998 on two 2.7 hectare plots. The prescribed burn took place in May of 1993 on one of the plots. Both species of white oak produced acorns the year after the fire, although not as many as years before the fire, although five years after the fire, began producing more acorns than years before the fire. Red oak species took 3-4 years to begin producing acorns again, although there were no remarkable differences after they began producing again. The amount of acorns produced along with the timing of production both have the potential to heavily influence the biodiversity of the area because birds, mammals and insects which eat the acorns are all affected as well as the species they interact with.

Data needed for this study is observational because the researchers are observing a behavior of a species before and after a variable is changed. Data gathering came from walking the grid of both the control plot (unburned) and the burned plot and counting each checkpoint tree for sufficiently developed acorns. Counting acorns on taller trees was almost certainly less accurate than most oaks, but a long bamboo pole was used to move branches around for visibility. Data analysis was all done by purely counting what had been produced compared to years before.  

Abrahamson, Warren G., and James N. Layne. “Post-Fire Recovery of Acorn Production by Four Oak Species in Southern Ridge Sandhill Association in South-Central Florida.” American Journal of Botany, vol. 89, no. 1, 2002, pp. 119–123. www.jstor.org/stable/4131345.