Establishment of water oak is not dependent on advance reproduction

摘要

The stem origin of reproduction for water oak, Quercus nigra L. was investigated on a seven-year-old clearcut area in the floodplain of the Alabama River. Root systems of sample trees were excavated to determine the source of reproduction: old advance reproduction, new advance reproduction (sprouts) or new seedlings. The sample was stratified across crown classes to allow comparison of dominant/codominant stems ("potential crop trees") with intermediate and suppressed stems. Although advance reproduction was a significant component of water oak reproduction, over 40-percent of the potential crop trees, seven years after harvest, originated as new seedlings.