Quercus turbinella Greene
EOL Text
This oak is found in the California Desert Mountains (New York Mountains)/ The distribution outside California is east to Colorado and Texas, and south to Baja California, Mexico.
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Quercus dumosa Nuttall var. turbinella (Greene) Jepson; Q. subturbinella Trelease
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More info for the terms: natural, reburn, root crown
Sonoran scrub oak is well adapted to survive fire. This oak typically sprouts vigorously from the root crown and rhizomes in response to fire or other types of disturbance [16,63,79,100,104,105]. Postfire establishment by seed also occurs. In central Arizona, seedlings generally emerge in summer after the onset of summer rain [65].
FIRE REGIMES: In Arizona chaparral dominated by Sonoran scrub oak, fire return intervals have been estimated at 74 to 100 years. At least 20 years may be required before these sites can reburn [8]. Childers and Piirto [10] note that fire is a natural part of the ecosystem in southern California communities in which Sonoran scrub oak occurs.
Minnich and Chou [52] report the following average fire rotations in communities in which Sonoran scrub oak occurs:
southern California mixed chaparral - 59 years
northern Mexico mixed chaparral - 59 years
desert chaparral/pinyon-juniper woodland - 219 years
Palatability of Sonoran scrub oak to most species of wildlife and livestock
is relatively low in most seasons [8,86]. It is generally used
only lightly by deer in Arizona [65] and most other big
game species throughout its range. New
sprouts are most palatable and are browsed readily [8,65,86]. Domestic
goats, however, frequently use it year-round
[8,43]. In an Arizona chaparral study,
Sonoran scrub oak was the most preferred species of domestic goats
during the first weeks after goats were released onto the
range [43]. Sonoran scrub oak is fairly palatable to cattle and
domestic sheep in some areas [94].
The palatability of Sonoran scrub oak for livestock and wildlife
species for Sonoran scrub oak in Utah is as follows [20]:
Cattle Poor
Domestic sheep Poor
Horses Poor
Pronghorn Fair
Elk Poor
Mule deer Fair
Small mammals Good
Small nongame birds Poor
Upland game birds Good
Waterfowl Poor
Type fragment for Quercus turbinella Greene
Catalog Number: US 61854
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Card file verified by examination of original publication
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): G. Dunn
Year Collected: 1888
Locality: Baja California, Mexico, North America
- Type fragment: Greene, E. L. 1889. Ill. W. Amer. Oaks. 37.
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More info on this topic.
More info for the terms: climax, density, forbs, shrubs
Sonoran scrub oak may have climax or seral status. This long-lived oak is considered to be an indicator of climax in parts of Arizona and New Mexico [8,53]. During the 2nd and 3rd years after fire in Sonoran scrub oak-dominated chaparral in Arizona, forbs and grasses dominate. Shrubs, including Sonoran scrub oak, assume prominence the 5th through 7th year after disturbance, although it may take more than 11 years for shrubs to reach preburn levels [8]. A typical successional pathway in pinyon-juniper is as follows [33]:
bare soil
annuals
perennial grasses and forbs
shrubs (including Sonoran scrub oak)
shrubs and open trees
climax pinyon-juniper
Pond [68] reports that weeping lovegrass dies out as the density of Sonoran scrub oak increases.
Comments: Dry desert slopes, often in juniper and pinyon woodlands; 800-2000 m (Flora of North America, 1993). It grows in semiarid, lower elevation chaparral, pinyon-juniper (Pinus-Juniperus spp.), shrub deserts, oak woodlands, ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa) and riparian communities of the Southwest (Johnson, 1988; Tiedemann and Schmutz, 1967; Tucker, 1961; Welsh et al., 1987). It is a dominant shrub in Arizona chaparral and frequently comprises up to 50% of the shrub cover on these sites (Knipe et al., 1979; Pase, 1969). Soil: Shrub live oak grows well on dry hillsides and mesas and tolerates a wide range of soil types. Growth is best on sandy to clay loams. Soils are often slightly acidic (Davis and Pase, 1977). This oak is not restricted to deep soils and can grow on shallow, broken and fractured substrates (Davis and Pase, 1977; Saunier and Wagle, 1967). Soils are typically coarse-textured and poorly developed in shrub live oak chaparral (Ffolliott and Thorus, 1974).
More info for the terms: rhizome, shrub
Sonoran scrub oak reproduces through both sexual and vegetative means.
Sexual reproduction: Sonoran scrub oak produces small acorns which usually germinate and establish from late July through mid-September [8,93]. Germination often occurs shortly after acorn maturation and coincides with the summer rainy season [63]. Under laboratory conditions germination capacity may reach 95% [61].
Acorn production is largely dependent on the amount of precipitation received during the previous winter [63]. Dry summers may inhibit or retard acorn production [79,80]. In "good" years Sonoran scrub oak produces an abundance of acorns [79]. Total acorn failure, although rare, can occur [63,79]. Total crop failures may occur when October-March precipitation is less than 15 inches (38 cm) [63]. Generally, good crops are produced at 3- to 5-year intervals [61].
The vast majority of Sonoran scrub oak seedling mortality is apparently attributable to drought. In an Arizona study, seedling mortality during the first spring drought period following germination was 53%. Mortality rates appeared to decline by 3 years after germination [63].
Sonoran scrub oak acorns do not require a ripening period and frequently germinate while in storage. Shrub live oak acorns are characterized by a short period of viability, and seedbanking is unlikely. Pase [63] reports "there is probably a negligible carryover of seeds from 1 year to the next." Very few viable seeds remain 1 year after burial, due in large part to predation by insects, birds, and mammals [63].
Acorns are dispersed by numerous birds and mammals which eat and/or cache the acorns. Sonoran scrub oak seeds tend to be somewhat heavy, weighing an average of 0.046 to 0.053 ounce (1.3-1.5 g) per seed [30], and are consequently not transported long distances by most seed-dispersing animals. Scrub jays are particularly important dispersal agents. These birds generally "plant" single acorns at depths of 1.5 to 2 inches (4-5 cm), a few feet to a hundred feet from the parent plant. Rodents more often cache multiple seeds, which can germinate and produce groups of 10 to 20 or more seedlings at a single location. Seedling distribution indicates that, at least in many of the central Arizona sites studied, scrub jays play a much more significant role as dispersers than do rodents [63].
Seedlings are rarely encountered in the field [8,79,63]. Successful establishment is thought to require 15 inches (38 cm) or more of precipitation from October through March, followed by 10 inches (25 cm) or more from July to September [8,63]. These conditions are met in only 1 year out of 10 at many Arizona sites [63]. In laboratory experiments seedling roots grew to a depth of 1 foot (30 cm) prior to leaf development [16]. Plants only 12.9 inches (7.4 cm) in height had roots that extended to 21 inches (53 cm) in depth [8].
Vegetative reproduction: Sonoran scrub oak tends to increase more through rhizome sprouting than by seedling establishment [63,79]. Sonoran scrub oak sprouts vigorously after fire, application of herbicides, or mechanical treatment [8,16,65,79,100,105].
Quercus turbinella is a species of oak known by the common names Sonoran scrub oak, shrub live oak, and grey oak.[1] It is native to northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States from far eastern California to southwest Colorado, Rio Grande New Mexico,[2] to west Texas.
Distribution[edit]
Quercus turbinella grows in woodland, chaparral, forest, and other habitat. It is most common in chaparral habitat in central Arizona,[3] through the transition zone of the Mogollon Rim–White Mountains, but also southeast Arizona in the Madrean Sky Island mountain ranges of sky islands.[4]
Description[edit]
Quercus turbinella is a shrub growing two to five meters in height but sometimes becoming treelike and exceeding six meters. The branches are gray or brown, the twigs often coated in short woolly fibers when young and becoming scaly with age. The thick, leathery evergreen leaves are up to three centimeters long by two wide and are edged with large, spine-tipped teeth. They are gray-green to yellowish in color and waxy in texture on the upper surfaces, and yellowish and hairy or woolly and glandular on the lower surfaces. The males catkins are yellowish-green and the female flowers are in short spikes in the leaf axils, appearing at the same time as the new growth of leaves. The fruit is a yellowish brown acorn up to two centimeters long with a shallow warty cup about a centimeter wide.[5] This oak reproduces sexually via its acorns if there is enough moisture present, but more often it reproduces vegetatively by sprouting from its rhizome and root crown.[3]
This oak easily hybridizes with other oak species, including Quercus gambelii and Q. grisea.[3] Many species of animals use it for food, with wild and domesticated ungulates browsing the foliage and many birds and mammals eating the acorns.[3] Animals also use the shrub as cover, and mountain lions hide their kills in the thickets.[3]
References[edit]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Quercus turbinella. |
- ^ "Calphotos".
- ^ Little. Atlas of United States Trees, Volume 3, Minor Western Hardwoods, Map 147, Quercus turbinella.
- ^ a b c d e US Forest Service Fire Ecology
- ^ Little. Map 147, Quercus turbinella.
- ^ Virginia Tech: Shrub live oak
Further reading[edit]
- Little. Atlas of United States Trees, Volume 3, Minor Western Hardwoods, Little, Elbert L, 1976, US Government Printing Office. Library of Congress No. 79-653298. Map 147, Quercus turbinella.
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