Besides being a staple for the coastal forests of New York the Post Oak is among the oaks composing what is known to conservation biologists as "Oak Savannas." These precious ecosystems are becoming an endangered habitat and should be protected.
Below is a picture of an orchard oriole. This is not an exotic bird and if they are disappearing from view it is something to be worried about.
May 19, 2015
The orchard oriole is one of several species that could do better with the restoration of historical oak savanna, according to a new TWS member study published in The Journal of Wildlife Management.
...Oak savanna, (click here) characterized by small tree copses or individual trees surrounded by more open grasslands or low-growing bushes, used to cover a massive area of the country from Minnesota down to Texas. But these ecosystems were reduced almost completely due to agriculture and fire suppression strategies initiated by European settlers who moved into the region. Due to a lack of studies of this kind, not much is known about which birds may have favored these landscapes, but Holoubek said many species may have been lost as the areas disappeared.
Now, only small pockets of oak savanna remain in areas such as Kansas, parts of Oklahoma and Texas, which are often used today for cattle grazing.
Holoubek, now a wildlife biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and a member of The Wildlife Society and coauthor William Jensen from ESU, found that surprisingly little was known about this “extraordinarily rare ecosystem.”
By examining remnant oak savanna areas in southeastern Kansas, they developed a model to predict which species might return to restored savanna areas, and which species may be lost with more or less forest cover than what the norm had been....
Below is a picture of an orchard oriole. This is not an exotic bird and if they are disappearing from view it is something to be worried about.
May 19, 2015The orchard oriole is one of several species that could do better with the restoration of historical oak savanna, according to a new TWS member study published in The Journal of Wildlife Management.
...Oak savanna, (click here) characterized by small tree copses or individual trees surrounded by more open grasslands or low-growing bushes, used to cover a massive area of the country from Minnesota down to Texas. But these ecosystems were reduced almost completely due to agriculture and fire suppression strategies initiated by European settlers who moved into the region. Due to a lack of studies of this kind, not much is known about which birds may have favored these landscapes, but Holoubek said many species may have been lost as the areas disappeared.
Now, only small pockets of oak savanna remain in areas such as Kansas, parts of Oklahoma and Texas, which are often used today for cattle grazing.
Holoubek, now a wildlife biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and a member of The Wildlife Society and coauthor William Jensen from ESU, found that surprisingly little was known about this “extraordinarily rare ecosystem.”
By examining remnant oak savanna areas in southeastern Kansas, they developed a model to predict which species might return to restored savanna areas, and which species may be lost with more or less forest cover than what the norm had been....
