Status of oak seedlings and saplings in the northern United States: implications for sustainability of oak forests

Oak species are a substantial component of forest ecosystems in a 24-state region spanning the northern U.S. During recent decades, it has been documented that the health of oak forests has been experiencing large-scale decline. To further evaluate the sustainability of oak forests in nearly half the states of the U.S., the current status of oak seedlings and saplings was analyzed using a variety of large-scale data sources, such as forest inventories and climate summaries. Study results indicated that oak seedlings and saplings tremendously lag other oak forest components (e.g., large trees) in terms of their stand occupancy relative to non-oak tree species.