Oaks and Jays Co-evolution Dance Endangered
Native wildlife depend on each other, as this story begun prehistorically suggests.
By Abbey Ashley
Once upon a time, after the last glacial period, about 25,000 years ago, a relationship began between the unassuming and often misunderstood Jay and an Oak Tree. The story both takes flight and root.
We all know that from little acorns come great Oaks. Oak trees have been a symbol of strength, rebirth, serenity and a place where people throughout history would gather for meetings, ceremonies, picnics, rest and all-encompassing reprieve. With its outstretched limbs, mighty trunk and splaying umbrella canopy, it has become a celebrated tree. The Oak is America’s national tree, historically rooted in us all.
Used for food, ships, homes, furniture, storage barrels, leather tanning, dyes, ink and infinitely more, the Oak has served humans for centuries. Preservation of our country’s indigenous trees, such as the Oak, is not a new idea. George Washington deliberately chose many native trees for his Mount Vernon estate, as he strove to actualize his vision of a truly American landscape. Replete with "republican simplicity", it was his personal statement of U.S. independence, as Andrea Wulf observed in her book series, “Founding Gardeners.”
The 911 Memorial site includes 400 swamp white Oak trees, chosen for being native to New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania and representative of the regions affected by the 911 attacks, according to oaksociety.org, and for symbolizing strength, longevity and endurance.
The Oak is also considered a keystone species. Like the name implies, a keystone species is akin to the necessary center piece of an archway; without it, the structure of the whole piece is no more. Oak trees are heroes in a constantly changing ecosystem. Without them, a chain of events would result in the structure of the system and biodiversity being thrown off kilter. Oaks sequester carbon dioxide and clean air by absorbing atmospheric pollutants. They provide food, shelter and life for up to 23000 species, including 897 species of caterpillars, benefitting birds and other creatures, according to ecologist and author Doug Tallamy. Butterflies, nesting songbirds, squirrels, white tailed deer, black bears, beavers and wood ducks make use of the oak.
“No other tree genus supports so much life,” says Tallamy.
In old Druid and Celtic folklore, the Oak was considered king of the forest, and the Beech tree was his queen. Both are fundamental in their capacity to support life. They were, and still are in some places, considered sacred. How did these Oaks and Beeches take root and spread?
An unsung hero in our landscapes has been the Blue Jay. Nature designed the Jay exquisitely, from the tip of their beaks, which are specifically suited to opening acorn husks, to their expanded esophagus, which can hold up to five acorns. They can discern acorns not infested with weevils and most likely to grow into seedlings. A Jay can carry 110 acorns per day up to a mile away from the parent oak and bury them for both future food and germination. Blue Jays can move “a forest worth of trees every autumn,” wrote Thomas Scott, wildlife expert at UC Berkeley.
This partnership between Oaks and Jays is indeed an amazing one, and also a perilous tale. In recent years, populations of Oaks have dramatically declined (ups.org). Climate change, invasive trees and vines, invasive pests, deforestation, soil compaction and bird populations in North America declining by 3 billion in the last 50 years are all contributing factors, with catastrophic impacts. Indeed, the popularity of "the birds and the bees” needs to expand to include "the birds and the trees.” The Blue Jay and the Oak are intertwined in the delicate web where we are all interwoven.
If you are anything like me, you read this news and feel overwhelmed and powerless to help support ancient ecological partnerships like this one. But we do know that from the tiniest seeds and creatures, great things can grow. Small action can have great impacts.
Planting and protecting our great Oak trees, the keystone Tree of Life, our National Tree, in our own landscapes, arboretums and public areas can make a difference. Perhaps, the time has come for us to return the immeasurable favors this tree and simple bird have bestowed upon our species by affording them the protection, respect and habitats they deserve This has everything to do with how the story ends…
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