Meripilus on Oak...

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Oak is notoriously difficult to grow, if only we just let nature show us the lead.

 

Grassland under grazed at that, long grass makes the best nursery for Oaks, this is not even something that is deniable! you would be flogging a dead donkey trying to!

 

of course you could always rely on your education provided by men, rather than actualy go out and study life!

 

[Paul Cleaver]

yeh Tony but you will get tree pioneer species like birch eg that will eventually dominate and supress the grass somewhat then when the birch is dominant oak will gradually appear and eventually take over - will take many many years and without mans interference

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

yeh Tony but you will get tree pioneer species like birch eg that will eventually dominate and supress the grass somewhat then when the birch is dominant oak will gradually appear and eventually take over - will take many many years and without mans interference

 

nature is very conforming in your model.

[RobArb]

Er Oak is a pioneer species. ....

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Er Oak is a pioneer species. ....

 

[skyhuck]

I am just yanking chains, but you know that anyways, but i do smile when the inevitable happens and smug is as inevitable as being right!

 

tongue entirely in cheek, wouldnt be the same without the banter:001_smile:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKKtnSVeY9o]Anchorman i'm kind of a big deal - YouTube[/ame]

 

 

[Paul Cleaver]

 

Tony you make me laugh sometimes:lol:

[Tilia]

Really cool thread that I'm just catching up on!

 

As for oak being a pioneer species debate... Oliver Rackham discusses this in his book "Woodlands", and believes that in the 1900s oak shifted from being a more typical canopy emergent species to a pioneer species. A theory he puts forward for this is the introduction of the mildew commonly seen on oak, which he thinks thrived in darker, damper, shaded conditions and meant oak performed poorly in this situation, and thus began to perform well only in pioneer, less-shaded situations.

 

I don't know, but it's an interesting thought. Comments?

[Paul Cleaver]

Really cool thread that I'm just catching up on!

 

As for oak being a pioneer species debate... Oliver Rackham discusses this in his book "Woodlands", and believes that in the 1900s oak shifted from being a more typical canopy emergent species to a pioneer species. A theory he puts forward for this is the introduction of the mildew commonly seen on oak, which he thinks thrived in darker, damper, shaded conditions and meant oak performed poorly in this situation, and thus began to perform well only in pioneer, less-shaded situations.

 

I don't know, but it's an interesting thought. Comments?

 

my angle is -Mans influence on the natural forest is but a blip on the evolutionary development of trees, they don't change their habit overnight. They do well in a more open situations true but that is thanks to mans influence on the landscape, its not a natural evolutionary progression, so that makes them a climax species not a pioneer species.

 

If the human race was wiped out everything would revert back to how it was before (climate change pending) - even in a large city after a few millenium, you wouldn't know the city existed

[woodyguy]

I own an oak wood and when you see the young saplings battling against American Mildew you can certainly understand Rackham's view that this stopped them establishing within an oak wood. I was shocked when I visited the 200 yr cycle managed oak woods in central France. The regrowth was incredible and 100's (literally) of times thicker than in our oak woods. I suspect as usual that Rackham knows what he's talking about. Certainly in my wood, Oak is a pioneer and won't grow under other oaks (occasional exceptions only).