Ecology of Bottomland Oaks in the Southeastern United States

0 aks (Querczrs spp.) are among the most ecologically and economically valued trees of the floodplain forests which occupy the river valleys that dissect the Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains of the southeastem United States. In these floodplain forests, several species from the sections Quercus and Lobarae are commonly found distributed along a gradient of sites ranging from hydric to mesic. Bottomland oaks exhibit a wide range of flooding tolerance, a narrow range of shade tolerance, and typically occupy disturbance dependent mid-successional seres. This manuscript provides a review of the silvical characteristics, species-stte associations, and ecological succession for the nine most common oak species endemic to bottomland sites of the southeastern United States.