oak–hickory forest
Oak–hickory forest is a type of North American forest ecosystem, and an ecoregion of the Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Biome.
Geography
It has a range extending from Rhode Island and southern New York, west to Iowa, and south to Northern Georgia. Smaller, isolated oak–hickory communities can also be found as far west as North Dakota, south in Florida and in northeast Texas, and north to southern Maine and Ontario. They can also be found in Pennsylvania west to Illinois.
Dominated by nut-bearing oak and hickory species of trees, the oak–hickory forest has the largest range of any deciduous forest ecosystem in eastern and central North America.
Natural history
The current oak–hickory forest includes the former range of the oak–chestnut forest region, which encompassed the northeast portion of the current oak–hickory range. When the American chestnut population succumbed to invasive fungal blight in the early 20th century, those forests shifted to an oak and hickory dominated ecosystem.
=Biota=
Key indicator tree and shrub species of the oak–hickory forest include red oak, black oak, scarlet oak, white oak, Chestnut oak (Quercus montana), Pignut hickory (Carya glabra), Bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis), Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), blueberry, Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), and hawthorn.{{cite web|title=What Are the Common Plants, Animals, and Insects in the Oak-Hickory Ecosystem?|url=http://techalive.mtu.edu/meec/module11/Oak-HickoryPlantsandAnimals.htm|website=Michigan Environmental Education Curriculum|publisher= Michigan Technological University|access-date=11 April 2018}}
Bird and animal species include the gray squirrel, flying squirrel, chipmunk, blue jay, and wild turkey.
References
{{Reflist}}
- Cronin, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. Hill and Wang, New York, 2003.
- Kricher, John. A Field Guide to Eastern Forests. Houghton-Mifflin, Boston, 1998.
- "Percent of Forests in Oak-Hickory Groups, 1992." Map, United States Department of Agriculture, 1992.
Category:Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the United States
Category:Ecoregions of the United States
Category:Plant communities of the Eastern United States
Category:Flora of the Eastern United States
Category:Plant communities of Kentucky
Category:Plant communities of North Carolina
Category:Plant communities of Ohio
Category:Plant communities of Pennsylvania
Category:Plant communities of South Carolina
Category:Plant communities of Tennessee
Category:Plant communities of Virginia
Category:Plant communities of West Virginia
Category:Ecology of the Appalachian Mountains
Category:Flora of the Northeastern United States
Category:Flora of the Southeastern United States
Category:Flora of Eastern Canada
Category:Flora of the Appalachian Mountains
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