Download Belize Savanna Factsheet C3 Oak (Quercus spp.)

Belize Savanna Factsheet C3
Oak (Quercus spp.)
The lowland savanna is the one of the best places in
Belize to see Oak trees, members of the genus Quercus
in the family Fagaceae.
Most oak trees in lowland savanna are the white oak
Quercus oleoides Killip, however in the Mountain Pine
Ridge, San Pastor Savanna in the Chiquibul and on
hilltops across the Maya Mountains as many as nine
other species have been found.
Oaks are also a common sight in temperate forests
across North America and Eurasia where they are one of
the most important trees in the forest for supporting
wildlife. Oak wood is also a source of good quality
timber in temperate regions and has traditionally been
used for buildings, ships and
wine barrels in Europe. Oaks
Distribution of Quercus
are
frequent
throughout
oleoides in Belize.
European mythology and are
mentioned in the Bible, they are also regularly claimed as
national trees in countries such as the United Kingdom
and the US states of Iowa, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland,
New Jersey and Georgia because they are considered
to symbolize strength and endurance. In Belize Oak
timber is sometimes used as firewood or to produce
Oak branches on the
charcoal because it burns very slowly but with great coat of arms of Estonia.
heat. Oak wood is probably good for timber (and
burning) because Oak trees grow very slowly and thus can live for a very long time;
there are many individuals thought to be hundreds, even over a thousand years old
across Europe & North America. This means that it will
take a long time for an Oak tree to grow back if you
chop it down for a barbeque!
Oaks have spirally arranged leaves that are lobed or
toothed at the margin & a distinctive nut called an
acorn: a single seed enclosed in a tough, leathery
shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns are
an important source of food for many animals & birds,
in particular the Acorn Woodpecker Melanerpes
formicivorus. The Acorn Woodpecker drills holes in
thick pine bark and dead branches for storing acorns,
these “granaries” are used and defended by
Conservation of the Lowland Savanna Ecosystem: Belize
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extended families of Acorn Woodpeckers.
Oaks are quite difficult to identify to species because their leaves are very variable
in shape and in the pubscence (types of hairs)
found on their leaves even on the same branch.
However the distinctive acorn means that they
are always recognisable to genus when in fruit.
The White Oak group (subgenus Quercus,
section Quercus) which includes Quercus
oleoides is renowned for high levels of
interspecific hybridisation (when members of
different species breed with each other
successfully to produce fertile offspring) and
introgression (when interspecific hybridisation
and repeated back-crossing of the resulting
hybrids back into one parent species allows genes to pass from one species to
another). Interspecific hybridisation and introgression can make field identification
of oaks very difficult as hybrid individuals may possess a mix of physical characters
(phenotype) from both parents. Many scientists across North America and Europe
are studying the population genetics of Oaks to understand the processes of
hybridisation and gene flow.
References:
BALICK, M. J., et al. (2000). Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Belize. Memoirs of the
New York Botanical Garden 85: 246.
HARRIS, M. S. (2002). "Melanerpes formicivorus" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web.
University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Published on the internet;
<http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Melanerpes_for
micivorus.html> (accessed 25 March 2011)
HICKS, J., et al. (In Press). A Floristic Description of the San Pastor Savanna and
Preliminary Checklist of the Savannas of Belize, Central America. Edinburgh
Journal of Botany.
STANDLEY, P. C. & STEYERMARK, J. A. (1952). Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana: Botany
24(3).
Conservation of the Lowland Savanna Ecosystem: Belize
www.eeo.ed.ac.uk/sea-belize