This chapter deals with the taxonomy and geographical distribution of oaks (Quercus) across the USA. The characteristics of eastern and western oak forests are described. The influence of these oak forests on climatic change is highlighted.

This chapter explores the principles underpinning successful natural regeneration of oaks, which also apply to artificial regeneration. The chapter also discusses (i) site evaluation and species selection; and (ii) artificial regeneration methods, viz., direct sowing and planting.

This chapter addresses: (i) how climate change is likely to shift the geographic locations of suitable habitat for oaks and associated species; and (ii) proactive management strategies that can help oak forests mitigate climate change or adapt to climate change.

This chapter discusses how to manage forest health. It is established that posing the most serious and widespread threats to oak forests are the gypsy moth, oak decline, oak wilt, rapid white oak mortality, sudden oak death and herbivory by deer. The chapter includes discussions of the symptoms and spread as well as the treatment and prevention of these plant pests.

Self-thinning and stand density are closely related terms, which rank among the important concepts in forest ecology and silviculture. This chapter explains the principle of self-thinning in a Quercus stand. Stand density and stocking are also explained in silvicultural terms (maximum and minimum growing space and stand density diagrams - Gingrich diagram and others).

Abstract This chapter describes the characteristics and extent, disturbance processes, silvicultural concepts and methods, and restoration and maintenance in oak savannahs and woodlands.

Abstract This chapter discusses the annual growth phenology of oaks, factors that affect oak growth and survival, patterns of stand growth and yield, and growth and yield models for oaks. The latter are presented in their order of historical development and increasing complexity beginning with stand-level models and proceeding through individual-tree-based models and forest landscape models. Physiological models of tree development are not addressed.

AbstractThis chapter describes in detail the two silvicultural methods used in uneven-aged management: (i) single-tree selection, and (ii) group selection, and discusses their applicability to oak (Quercus) forests. The economic, environmental and social considerations in selecting silvicultural systems is also discussed.

Abstract This chapter discusses the establishment and development of populations of juvenile oaks. Variability is a normal characteristic of tree populations, and it can be described in relation to specific tree attributes. For example, an oak forest can be described by the size or age distributions of its member trees, and how those distributions vary in time and space. Populations of one tree species also interact with other species, each with unique ecological requirements and competitive advantages and disadvantages that lead to variation in patterns of establishment, growth and survival. Population variability is further increased by forest disturbances. Predicting the responses of tree populations to forest disturbances, whether natural or of human origin, is fundamental to the practice of silviculture.

Tree biology, environmental site conditions, relative monetary costs, management options, and the competitive struggle between planted trees and other vegetation were integrated when underplanting northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) seedlings in Boston Mountain shelterwoods. This approach provides insight into the collective costs (biological, environmental, and monetary) associated with artificial regeneration. This analysis is partly based on previous research that determined the competitive capacity of more than 4,000 seedlings planted under shelterwood overstories. Using these probabilities in our simple accounting of cost, the cost of obtaining one competitively successful tree was calculated under various combinations of environmental variables, silvicultural treatments and seedling sizes. A successful tree was defined as one predicted to survive and attain dominance or codominance 11 years after planting. The cost of trees that were not likely to survive or reach a dominant or codominant position was added to the cost of obtaining a successful tree. In this way, the cost of the competitive struggle between planted trees and other vegetation is integrated into the monetary cost per successful tree. Results provide a practical tool for evaluating various planting options in relation to both associated costs and the expected biological success of alternative planting prescriptions.

Research on oak (Quercus L.) regeneration has generally consisted of small-scale studies of treatments designed to favor oak, including consideration of site quality and topographic effects on oak regeneration. However, these experiments have not consistently factored in broader-scale ecological differences found in the eastern United States. Oak regeneration experiments should be replicated at appropriate ecological scales to address the similarities and differences in regeneration following prescribed silvicultural treatments among ecological units. Patterns in oak regeneration can be better understood in an ecological context by considering how oak species interact in the differing physical environments and are able to maintain dominance in changing complexes of competing vegetation among the selected eco-units. Our understanding of oak regeneration response to specific silvicultural practices and our ability to model regeneration is improved when we use replication, blocking, or factorial deployment of relatively small-scale (0.5–1.0 ha) treatment plots within an ecological classification system. We present an example of this approach to understanding oak regeneration dynamics in a synthesis of research to regenerate northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) by underplanting shelterwoods in Arkansas, Missouri and Indiana. We summarize important considerations to guide the design of future research in oak regeneration.

Like all forests, oak forests are continually responding to disturbances originating from both within and outside the forest. Oaks (Quercus spp.) owe their very existence to disturbance. In this context, silvicultural and other manage- ment practices can be thought of as planned disturbances designed to direct forest change in specific ways. The internally (endogenously) controlled stages of stand development provide a useful framework for anticipating such changes together with an understanding of how external (exogenous) forces can further modify such changes.