Oak–hickory forest is a type of
forest ecosystem, and an
ecoregion of the Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Biome.
Geography
It has a range extending from
Rhode Island and southern New York, west to
Iowa, and south to Northern Georgia. Smaller, isolated oak–hickory communities can also be found as far west as
North Dakota, south in
Florida and in northeast
Texas, and north to southern
Maine and
Ontario. They can also be found in Pennsylvania west to Illinois.
Dominated by nut-bearing oak and hickory species of trees, the oak–hickory forest has the largest range of any deciduous forest ecosystem in eastern and central North America.
Natural history
The current oak–hickory forest includes the former range of the
oak–chestnut forest region, which encompassed the northeast portion of the current oak–hickory range. When the American chestnut population succumbed to invasive fungal
Chestnut blight in the early 20th century, those forests shifted to an oak and hickory dominated ecosystem.
Biota
Key indicator tree and shrub species of the oak–hickory forest include
Quercus rubra,
Quercus velutina,
scarlet oak,
white oak,
Quercus montana,
Carya glabra, Bitternut hickory (
Carya cordiformis),
Carya ovata,
Cornus florida,
blueberry,
Kalmia latifolia, and
Crataegus.
Bird and animal species include the gray squirrel, flying squirrel, chipmunk, blue jay, and wild turkey.
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Cronin, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. Hill and Wang, New York, 2003.
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Kricher, John. A Field Guide to Eastern Forests. Houghton-Mifflin, Boston, 1998.
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"Percent of Forests in Oak-Hickory Groups, 1992." Map, United States Department of Agriculture, 1992.
