Acorns containing deeper plumule survive better: how white oaks counter embryo excision by rodents

Acorns containing deeper plumule survive better: how white oaks counter embryo excision by rodents

Several squirrel species excise the embryo of acorns of most white oak species to arrest germination for long-term storage. However, it is not clear how these acorns counter embryo excision and survive in the arms race of coevolution. In this study, we simulated the embryo excision behavior of squirrels by removing 4 mm of cotyledon from the apical end of white oak acorns differing in embryo de...

From little acorns to tall oaks: from boranes through organoboranes.

Oaks, acorns, and the geographical ecology of acorn woodpeckers

We investigated the geographical ecology of acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus) using 30 years of Audubon Christmas Bird Counts and data on the diversity and abundance of oaks. Spatial autocorrelation in acorn woodpecker population densities is not significantly greater than zero both in either the southwestern United States, where populations are often locally isolated, or along the Pa...

Alternative strategies of seed predator escape by early-germinating oaks in Asia and North America

Early germination of white oaks is widely viewed as an evolutionary strategy to escape rodent predation; yet, the mechanism by which this is accomplished is poorly understood. We report that chestnut oak Quercus montana (CO) and white oak Q. alba (WO) (from North America), and oriental cork oak Q. variabilis (OO) and Mongolian oak Q. mongolica (MO) (from Asia) can escape predation and successfu...

The White Oaks Laccoliths

About 12 miles to the northeast of Carrizozo lies the “ghost town” of White Oaks. This once thriving mining community rests in a small valley surrounded by three wrinkled and rounded mountain peaks: the remains of a ancient cluster of laccoliths (see attached Figure 1). To the northwest lies Lone Mountain with its associated peak, Baxter Mountain, while to the southeast lies Patos Mountain and ...