A Comparison of the Composition and Structure of Two Oak Forests in Marshall and Pottawatomie Counties

Abstract

In October 2011, high school students from McLoud High School sampled an oak forest in Earlsboro, Pottawatomie County. In July, 2012, students in the Pre-collegiate Field Studies Camp at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station sampled the Marshall County forest at the Buncombe Creek camp ground, located approximately 100 miles south of the Earlsboro forest and 1 mile north of the University of Oklahoma Biological Station. One component of each botany course was to study the composition and structure of an oak forest. These 2 forests were chosen to compare because of their similarity in composition and physical distance apart. They found 10 hardwood species in the Marshall County forest and 9 in the Pottawatomie County forest, with 6 species common to both. Quercus stellata was most important in both forests and most frequent in the Pottawatomie forest where the total density was 0.141/m². Quercus stellata and Ulmus alata were most frequent in the Marshall County forest where the total density was 0.107/m².