Cover Page APGA/USFS Tree Gene Conservation Partnership 2020 Collecting Trip Report for Quercus boyntonii 1 Report Prepared by Report prepared by Tracy Cook Huntsville Botanical Garden Patrick Thompson Auburn University Davis Arboretum January 29, 2021 2 Table of Contents Cover Page .................................................................................................................................................... 1 Report Prepared by ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Project Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 7 Objectives ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 Methods ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 Summary of Daily Activities ......................................................................................................................... 9 Thursday, July 30 ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Friday, July 31 ......................................................................................................................................... 10 Thursday, August 20 ............................................................................................................................... 12 Friday, August 21 .................................................................................................................................... 12 Thursday, August 27 ............................................................................................................................... 13 Friday, August 28 .................................................................................................................................... 14 Thursday, October 15 ............................................................................................................................. 15 Friday, October 16 .................................................................................................................................. 16 Friday, October 23 .................................................................................................................................. 17 Saturday, October 24 ............................................................................................................................. 18 Sunday, October 25 ................................................................................................................................ 19 Thursday, November 12 ......................................................................................................................... 20 3 Summary of Populations ............................................................................................................................ 20 Autauga County ...................................................................................................................................... 20 Chilton County ........................................................................................................................................ 20 Shelby County ......................................................................................................................................... 21 Jefferson County ..................................................................................................................................... 21 St. Clair County ....................................................................................................................................... 21 Blount County ......................................................................................................................................... 21 Etowah County ....................................................................................................................................... 22 Plant Materials Collected ........................................................................................................................... 22 Distribution ................................................................................................................................................. 23 Project Accomplishments .......................................................................................................................... 23 Detailed census and mapping ................................................................................................................ 24 Exploration ............................................................................................................................................. 25 Noteworthy Observations...................................................................................................................... 25 Habitat ................................................................................................................................................ 25 Herbivory............................................................................................................................................. 26 Fire Tolerance ..................................................................................................................................... 27 Growth Habits ..................................................................................................................................... 28 Recognition of 5 Super-specimens ..................................................................................................... 32 Presumed Hybrids Identified and Mapped ......................................................................................... 36 Germplasm collection ............................................................................................................................ 37 Future Directions ........................................................................................................................................ 38 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................... 38 References ..................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Appendix I: List of Participants and Contact Information......................................................................... 39 Appendix II: Map Survey Sites ................................................................................................................... 41 Table of Figures Figure 1: Distribution of QUBO range based on herbarium specimens. Source: The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). North American Plant Atlas. (http://www.bonap.org/napa.html). 7 Figure 2: Outcrops have been pinned as potential spots to find QUBO on the ridge of Double Oak Mountain. In this photo you can see Oak Mountain runs parallel to the west. The ridge habitat has been replaced with a string of houses. 9 Figure 3: EBSCO East, Slick Rock site on Double Oak Mountain. This, like many suitable habitats the team searched, did not result in the location of new occurrences of QUBO. 10 4 Figure 4: Specimens growing on the ridge of Double Oak Mountain overlooking the Belcher Tract and across the valley, Double Mountain. Tracy Cook included for scale, showing how these achieve the character of an aged tree while maintaining a relatively short stature. 11 Figure 5: Only 2% of the QUBO inspected during this project were observed to have produced more than 100 acorns in 2020. Of those 11 plants that produced >100 acorns, 8/11 of them were in the Oak Mountain and Double Oak Mountain population. 12 Figure 6: A remnant population of QUBO in Irondale severely impacted by a suite of non-native invasive plant species. Here Ligustrum sinense crowds the QUBO from roots to crown. 13 Figure 7: Autauga County QUBO 14 Figure 8: QUBO in the rain of Hurricane Laura 14 Figure 9: The first acorn collections of the project were the first known collections of QUBO from Blount County. 15 Figure 10: Noah Yawn stands on outcrop looking into a wall of Q. georgiana and Q. boyntonii. 16 Figure 11: Acorn shape and coverage of cupule varied greatly within populations 17 Figure 12: Image of the series of rock outcrops identified from aerial imagery and labeled with coordinate pins Rock1 – Rock 14 for scouting between known occurrences of QUBO within Oak Mountain State Park along the southeast ridge of Double Oak Mountain. 18 Figure 13: QUBO coming out of a soil pocket on a slope. 18 Figure 14: Watch your step! 19 Figure 15: QUBO groundcover with a pair of vertical leaders in a pine oak hickory savannah on the crest of Double Oak Mountain. 19 Figure 16: QUBO stems persisting in a small soil pocket with mosses, Opuntia humifusa, and a recently deceased Pinus virginiana that had been naturally bonsaied by the limited root space, and perhaps decades of root competition with the QUBO. 20 Figure 17: Pines killed by drought are an issue at the Hinds Road