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The Life of the Red Oak

Possible Roles:

acorn, seed, parent tree, shoot, leaves, soil, water, blue jay, deer and rabbits, hiker, woodpecker, insects, fungus, wind storm, grubs.

Background information on tree cycle for developing a dance/imagery exercise:

The long green flowers (yes, how many of us notice the subtle green flowers red oaks and sugar maples and recite the blessing recited for seeing trees in bloom) are pollinated by pollen carried from male to female flowers by the wind. The acorn falls or is carried by a squirrel or Blue Jay and buried in the soil. The nut (the meat of the acorn) provides food for the seed to begin its life in the soil before it has leaves to collect the sun's energy. The seed needs the mixture of soil, temperature and moisture to send up its shoot into the air. Leaves grow and the oak begins to photosynthesize the sun's energy (saplings often have a few very large leaves to catch sunlight on the forest floor). A sapling must survive deer or rabbit browsing (assign these roles), drought, a severe winter or an inconsiderate hiker. Oaks have very hard wood and grow slowly. The mature tree produces 2,000-7,000 acorns in a "mast" year (every 4-10 years), only a few will grow into saplings.

As the tree ages, parasitic mushrooms may soften its wood, termites may bore through the bark, gypsy moth caterpilars may eat all the leaves, a woodpecker will peck out the termites, but eventually the tree will die. A dead standing tree is called a snag.

Snags are important because they provide homes for insects and fungus. Cavity nesting birds and mammals (raccoons, squirrels, flycatchers, owls, woodpeckers) make homes in the soft wood and hawks and owls often perch on the tops of snags.

How many dead trees do you see in a city park? You usually don't see any. Why? (aesthetics, reminds us of our own death, we are afraid they spread disease). Snags make a forest diverse—both in terms of structure and the homes and food they provide.

Rotting log —Eventually (wind storm) the snag falls and becomes a log on the forest floor. Rotting logs are homes to hundreds of insects, moss, fungus, mice and the decomposing wood returns the nutrients to the soil so that new trees and plants can grow. A healthy forest has both snags and logs!

Credit: Teva Learning Center
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