Oak–hickory forest is a type of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n forest ecosystem, and an

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

of the

Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These ...

Biome A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the ...

Geography

It has a range extending from

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

and southern New York, west to

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, and south to Northern

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. Smaller, isolated oak–hickory communities can also be found as far west as

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, south in

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and in northeast

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, and north to southern

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

and

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. They can also be found in Pennsylvania west to Illinois. Dominated by nut-bearing

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

and

hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes 19 species accepted by ''Plants of the World Online''. Seven species are native to southeast Asia in China, Indochina, and northeastern India (Assam), and twelve ...

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 The American chestnut (''Castanea dentata'') is a large, fast-growing deciduous tree of the Fagaceae, beech family native to eastern North America. As is true of all species in the genus ''Chestnut, Castanea'', the American chestnut produces Bur ...

population succumbed to invasive fungal

blight Blight is a specific symptom affecting plants in response to infection by a pathogenic organism. Description Blight is a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral organs. A ...

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 red oak, black oak, scarlet oak,

white oak ''Quercus'' subgenus ''Quercus'' is one of the two subgenera into which the genus ''Quercus'' was divided in a 2017 classification (the other being subgenus ''Cerris''). It contains about 190 species divided among five sections. It may be calle ...

, Chestnut oak (''Quercus montana''), Pignut hickory (''Carya glabra''), Bitternut hickory (''Carya cordiformis''), Shagbark hickory (''Carya ovata''), flowering dogwood (''Cornus florida''),

blueberry Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' with the genus ''Vaccinium''. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) ...

, Mountain laurel (''Kalmia latifolia''), and hawthorn. Bird and animal species include the gray squirrel,

flying squirrel Flying squirrels (scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini) are a tribe (biology), tribe of 50 species of squirrels in the family (biology), family Squirrel, Sciuridae. Despite their name, they are not in fact capable of full flight i ...

chipmunk Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of subtribe Tamiina. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia. Taxonomy and systematics Chipmunks are classified as four genera: '' ...

, blue jay, and

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland game bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey (''M. g. dom ...

References

* Cronin, William. ''Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England''. Hill and Wang, New York, 2003. * Kricher, John. ''A Field Guide to Eastern Forests''. Houghton-Mifflin, Boston, 1998. * "Percent of Forests in Oak-Hickory Groups, 1992." Map,

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

, 1992. Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the United States Ecoregions of the United States Plant communities of the Eastern United States Flora of the Eastern United States Plant communities of Kentucky Plant communities of North Carolina Plant communities of Ohio Plant communities of Pennsylvania Plant communities of South Carolina Plant communities of Tennessee Plant communities of Virginia Plant communities of West Virginia Ecology of the Appalachian Mountains Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of the Southeastern United States Flora of Eastern Canada Flora of the Appalachian Mountains Flora of Ontario Forest ecology {{DEFAULTSORT:Oak-hickory forest