September 26, 2010 - Control Cycle
Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

Acorns are dropping from oak trees and chipmunks and squirrels are busy gathering them. Wild turkey, ruffed grouse, black bears, white-tailed deer and even blue jays compete for this nut crop. The production of wild nuts varies annually. Trees have developed a strategy to insure that at least some nuts survive by following an intentional boom and bust cycle. By varying nut production, trees effectively control animal populations by influencing birth rates, survival and migration of seed eaters. These annual variations are as important at controlling wildlife abundance as winter severity, diseases, hunting pressure and road kills. By managing these seed eaters, trees also influence the numbers of larger predators and tiny parasites like ticks and mites. From tiny acorns come mighty oaks that control the fate of the forest community.

This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.