Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum is in the process of assessing oak and hickory regeneration in several oak-hickory forests in southeast Michigan. Preliminary data indicate that in some locations, large understory oaks and hickories are common, but all forests assessed generally lack smaller understory and sapling oaks and hickories. In August of 2023, the forests at one of our study sites, Nichols Arboretum, experienced intense straight-line winds that created a series of canopy gaps of varying size. These newly created gaps provide an opportunity to actively engage in gap management and planting to direct gap colonization towards oaks and hickories. Oaks are considered a keystone species throughout their ranges, supporting a large diversity of phytophagous insects, and in turn, a broad diversity of wildlife who feed on these insects, as well as many animals that rely on the oak mast.
Monday, January 29th, 2024
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Presenters
Michael KostUniversity of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum
Mike Kost serves as Associate Curator at University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum and as a Lecturer in the School for Environment and Sustainability, where he teaches a course on ecology and botany. As a curator he focuses on natural areas stewardship planning, rare plant conservation, and making data on living collections accessible for teaching, learning, and research. Before joining U-M, he served as the Lead Ecologist and a Senior Conservation Scientist with Michigan Natural Features Inventory at Michigan State University, where he focused on documenting and describing natural communities and rare species and identifying key sites for biodiversity conservation and management. In this role, he coauthored over 80 publications, including three books on the natural communities of Michigan.
