Bizarre absence of acorns in parts of the United States
In some parts of the US, there's been reports that trees aren't bearing acorns this year. "We're talking zero. Not a single acorn. It's really bizarre," said Greg Zell, a naturalist at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington.
Then calls started coming in about crazy squirrels. Starving, skinny squirrels eating garbage, inhaling bird feed, greedily demolishing pumpkins. Squirrels boldly scampering into the road. And a lot more calls about squirrel roadkill.Simmons thinks the reason could be that the unusually heavy rainfall in the spring washed the pollen out of the air before it had time to pollinate the acorn blossoms. But Ed Zimmer, a regional forester for the Virginia Department of Forestry, doesn't think that's possible. So far, no one knows for sure what's going on.But [field botanist Rod] Simmons really got spooked when he was teaching a class on identifying oak and hickory trees late last month. For 2 1/2 miles, Simmons and other naturalists hiked through Northern Virginia oak and hickory forests. They sifted through leaves on the ground, dug in the dirt and peered into the tree canopies. Nothing.
the latest
latest episodes
This bears the hallmarks of an Al-Qaeda acorn gathering
Normal event following a mast year. Oak trees practicing squirrel population control... no need to panic.
--Charlie
Interesting. I bet it's weather related. The maple trees in my area (Madison, WI) were absolutely loaded with those little helicopter seed pods this spring. I mean, loaded. There were some trees that dropped so many it almost looked like it had snowed under them.
Acorncalypse Now.
Don't blame it on pollution or global warming. This is just a natural cycle. All of the plants on the planet just die off now and then. The planet will survive.
[/climate change skeptic mode]
It is not actually a mystery. Like many plants, oak trees go though cycles. Some years they produce many, some years they produce much less. Scientists have even written papers about it.
http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=ENV&recid=3525222&q=&uid=&setcookie=yes
Dh, CRN ws mblzd t rgstr llgl vtrs, nt st rnd ndrnth trs ll dy wth nthng t d.
We gathered a huge amount of giant sized acorns at a high school near Palo Alto, CA. There were still tons left on the ground.
We did this to make Acorn flour per Mark F.'s post/link. Unfortunately, our acorns were the black oak kind, which made the tannin washing a bit more tricky.
In doing this, I read up on acorns and it was said that Acorn trees don't always drop huge crops of acorns. It was said that they might produce large crops only once every couple years.
I wonder if Bee Hive Colony Collapse has any relation to acorn pollination?
I noticed the same thing with the oaks in our own neighborhood. I was just talking about it last week. Normally in the fall you hear a constant thudding of acorns falling on cars parked on the curb under our giant oak, but not this year. wtf is up?!
There are plenty in the oaks in front of my place in Washington, D.C., which is actually odd because I thought most cities planted female trees (so they'd get pollen instead of piles of acorns and nuts to clean up).
No, honeybee Colony Collapse disorder is not related to acorn pollination. Oaks are wind pollinated.
The year after a mast year there are no acorns. The mast year causes the acorn predator population to peak, the following year the increased population consumes all the alternate food stock, and the predator population crashes hard. It's effectively an oak-induced squirrel population control, which is a survival trait for oaks. Trees are wise.
http://usclancaster.sc.edu/faculty/scarlett/acrnsmry.htm
Mast years are believed to be related to weather in that they supposedly occur after an unusually warm and wet growth season. During a mast year all the oaks in a region produce many more acorns, in my experience I'd say triple but some people say "exponentially more". Mast years have been observed for thousands of years and are not necessarily related to climate change.
This is all well known to natural scientists, foresters, botanists. I question the competence of the so-called naturalists reporting this so sensationally.
Third post I've made on this today. It's like "Einstein's bees" all over again... no need to panic, people.
--Charlie
My lot is very heavily wooded; mostly oak and hickory with some poplar. Last year, you could hear the acorns & hickory nuts hitting the roof constantly. It sounded like hail when the wind picked up. You couldn't walk out in the back yard without crushing them underfoot; there was an almost continuous layer inches deep. Every time we opened the back door, the yard would explode as squirrels leaped to the trees to avoid our dog.
This year, nothing. Yesterday, I caught a squirrel going through my recycling bin; he made off with a peanut butter jar. Must have still smelled like peanuts. Central NC, by the way.
@#8
There's your answer: Genetically engineered female(-only) trees.
I live in the burbs of Philly...this seems to me to be your typical BS story...Another poster was rigth probably a freak in that area or a natural cycle...The squirels around us are all fat as hell. They always run around crazy and really have no idea that a car can run them over and kill them.
They are squirels, this is nothing new..
fl ths pst ws wst f tm...
smthng wld s n n l Gr blg!!
Oh and the Bee Colony Collapse has nothing to do with this, those were hired bees kept in someones private hives, used to pollante crops on farms, there are still the same or more wild bees that actually pollante things like scorn trees!
Last year in one of my classes my prof was talking about how various plants have predator/prey relationships. One example she gave was of oak trees that would cease making acorns for a period of time to drive down the predator (squirrel) populations to let the acorns have a better chance to grown. I will try finding some evidence to back this up.
I bet when we find the Acorns, we find the bees.
I guess I really don't need to post snarks when there are actual panglosses ready, willing, and able to supply the genuine article.
I live in the burbs of Toronto, and I noticed a couple of weeks age that there was a surplus of acorns from the white oaks in my neighbourhood.
As I understand it, different "communities" of oaks follow different cycles of acorn production, each longer than a single season.
So what we're seeing in some areas is likely coincidence, not consequence.
I'm a couple of miles outside DC on an oak-covered lot, and I haven't seen a single acorn even after raking leaves. Last year from the same trees I had so many that I was shoveling them up with a coal scoop...
In a possibly related event, we saw one of the younger squirrels having a joyous bloodfeast of recently-deceased sparrow.
Lock your windows, people.
ayup, we got acorns in boston. my wife also gathered a bunch to make flower with. virginia: wanna buy some gently used acorns?
...and then come the carnivorous squirrels that hunt in packs:
(Old news, but I saw one carrying off a baby the other day!)
no need for alarm. This is a minor campaign of the Freedom Underground in the War Against The Squirrels. We walk among you, protecting you from the filthy rodent oppressors,unheralded, uncredited. Look for more of our Actions soon.
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff87/nachosforever/Animals/squirrel-youngjedidie.jpg
@#6, # 11, & #15
The people quoted in this blurb are a naturalist who works at a nature center and a field botanist. I’m pretty sure they’d report this as a normal cyclical occurrence if it were that simple (I would expect the field botanist to know whether this was a normal occurance or not).
You're right, Stefan. Us snarks can learn a lot from this fellow.
#12 Redshirt, yeah I was thinking about the bees too.
@FRESHYILL:
Oak trees are neither male nor female. A signle branch of an Oak will produce both male and female flowers, and therefore all trees will produce both pollen and acorns. In fact, it is possible for Oak trees to polinate themselves.
In my experience (and my reading), the oak trees go in cycles, with extremely heavy acorn crops roughly every 4 years, with red and white oaks having opposite patterns (if the red oaks drop a lot of acorns, the white oaks won't).
The explanation of the cycles being to control predators makes sense, and I'd be interested in seeing any additional information on that.
The article also repeatedly mentions the bumper crop of the previous year, which suggests to my mind that the boom-bust cycle has gone to the extreme this year.
Do oak trees actually have any connection with bees? They have their flowers in catkins, which means they're primarily wind-pollinated. However, I know chestnuts can be pollinated by bees as well.
Stefan,
Always with the squirrels.
Plenty of acorns dropping from the live oak in my front yard in San Jose.
#22: "Oak trees are neither male nor female."
Filthy self-loving hermaphrodites. Maybe Fred Phelps is gathering up all the acorns in hopes of putting an end to this abomination.
* * *
There seems to be a surplus of squirrels this year in the Northwest. It's driving my dog crazy. She can't concentrate on finding a place to pee and ends up wasting our walks as far as elimination is concerned.
Kira loves squirrels.
The Death of Grass by John Christopher. Except it's oak trees.
http://english.pravda.ru/accidents/21/97/385/16565_squirrels.html
Here's an old article from Pravda (I know what you're thinking, "That's the most trustworthy new source out there!") about a pack of squirrels tearing a dog to pieces.
No acorns in Lincoln, NE. Squirrels are fat here this year because they are gobbling up everything they can since they haven't burried any of the nuts.
@21, They mostly come at night. Mostly.
Plenty of 'em in NYC.
Huh, thought this was a fake news report to promote the release of M Night Shamalyan's "The Happening".
And to #24: Human Being's are fallable. Just because they have letters after their name, or they're quoted as being a specialist doesn't mean they know everything. Also, they MAY know about the cycle, and quoted it to the media, but the media thought it was much more fun to go with "OMFG the trees are running WILD!11!" than actual fact.
There were plenty acorns here in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn... but they were really small, tiny even. Also: I know that folks insist Squrats (half squirrel, half rat) are alive and well and breeding in Manhattan... but I swear, this year, in accompaniment of the tiny acorns, Squrice (half squirrel, half mouse) have been showing up in my hood, as well. Anybody else notice this?
Weird. Here in central North Carolina, it seems to me that we have a super-abundance of acorns this year. I don't remember seeing this many acorns in the 8 years we've lived here.
The oaks were absolutely loaded with acorns here in eastern Maine, in a way that I've never seen before. It's probably unrelated, by there were tons of pine cones this fall, too.
People in Vermont report that the state's oaks have produced a single, gigantic acorn that has a glowing violet aura and telepathically howls primordial obscenities at passersby.
I suppose it means that this winter I'm going to have to feed those two furry thugs that cruise my balcony each morning. What do you feed squirrels? I know I can't afford cashews, not even for myself.
Squirrels really go for cat food. (So do racoons, possums and grakles.) I figure if we can just stockpile enough cat food, we'll have plenty of options after the apocolypse!
In related news, the cottonwoods in my part of the Chicago suburbs didn't produce cotton last year (really!). It was the first year in my recollection that there was no cotton.
I don't want to put out bait for the squirrels; I just don't want to watch them waste away this winter. Maybe AFTER the apocalypse...
Buddy66,
If you put out bait for them now, while there's plenty of food for humans, after the apocalypse when they're starving, they'll keep coming back to you. Then you'll *still* have plenty of food! Just be sure to re-watch that squirrel casserole recipe they had on here a few months ago, and take good notes so you're ready.
the oaks in my yard produced plenty of acorns this year (just outside Phila), although they fell somewhat early this year, but we've seen the cycle of bumper crops and light years - never a total lack of acorns though.
I totally just read this as "bizarre absence of unicorns in parts of the United States". Ha ha... um... I'm sorry. Continue your important conversation.
I ride my bike everywhere (this is in Austin TX) so I'm pretty used to seeing a certain number of dead squirrels on my rides. Recently I've been noticing a whole lot more than usual. I wonder if it has anything to do with this? Tomorrow there will be an acorn hunt. Further posting will ensue....
Oaks are wind pollinated.
I'm assuming this is a natural fluctuation. If they don't have an acorns several years in a row, then I would start getting concerned.
I was painfully hit on top of the head by a huge acorn back in 2001.
Nasty evil acorns.
Gee, um, could it be related to the lack of bees?
Or maybe BoingBoingers making acorn bread?
We collect acorns every November for a particular craft project. We expect every other year to be slim pickings. Last year - almost no acorns. This year - none. Not a one. Not anywhere on our 80 acres (with untold numbers of oaks). I noticed the squirrels were particularly fat this year. (Rockland County, NY)
Plenty of squirrels and acorns in California
Here in Austin, we have had an unusual overabundance of acorns. Weird.
all ur akornz are belong to us.
or
cory, maybe the craphounds got them...
We're in Northern VA and were hip-deep in acorns (I even made flour), so the alleged acorn dearth is apparently pretty localized.
Given the way the original article is written, I agree with #38: The journalist probably omitted the information that this is likely just a normal cyclical thing in an attempt to make the article more alarming.
Seems the original MSNBC link has expired. The story on WashingtonPost.com is here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/29/AR2008112902045.html?hpid=topnews
or here:
http://tinyurl.com/6qwcp2
Tenner, that was off-topic, and if it hadn't been, it would have been a tendentious assertion widely known to be false.
The people quoted in this blurb are a naturalist who works at a nature center and a field botanist. I’m pretty sure they’d report this as a normal cyclical occurrence if it were that simple (I would expect the field botanist to know whether this was a normal occurance or not).
Too bad neither of them knows their history. From 2004:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/11/30/acorn_cycle_tough_to_crack/
From 2007:
http://www.garyjones.org/mt/archives/000589.html
etc. etc.
Tons of acorns in Little Rock- the parking-lot squashed acorn season was huge this year.
The squirrels were huge, too.
Not a single acorn, hickory nut, OR (what we really missed) black walnut in the lower Catskills.
Next year for sure ...
There are few acorns this year in N. California, but I take it as normal as there were a tremendous number of them last year. I'm still pulling up baby oak trees that the squirrels had planted.