Oaks Are the Beasts of An Ecosystem! A Discussion with Dr. Andrew Hipp

Andrew Hipp is the director of the herbarium and Senior Sciensist and Researcher in Plant Systematics at Morton Arboretum in Chicago. 

This is one of the most fun and inspiring conversations I've had in a while, and it's about one of the most ecologically important genera of plants in the Northern Hemisphere : THE OAKS (genus Quercus).

In this episode we talk about the 13,000 year old Palmer's Oak in the California Desert, what the hell "Delayed Fertilization" is (hint: it's not common but it's ubiquitous in all members of genus Quercus), Oak Evolution, we go in depth explaining oak pollination and flower morphology and how acorns develop and disperse, how acorns can stand get a bite taken out of them by a squirrel and still germinate, and what overall f*cking beasts of organisms oak tree and scrub oaks are. We also talk about the future of oaks, how oaks will deal with climate change, how oaks dealt with the incredibly hot temperatures during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), why there's so much oak diversity in Mexico, the multitude of ecological services oaks provide and the numerous ecological relationships oaks foster within a plant community, landscape and regional setting. This was a fun conversation and massively enlightening.

Pre-Order Andrew's Book at : 

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/O/bo236998258.html

Oak Taxonomic Tree (as inferred from molecular genomic data)

Oak Subgenus Cerris : Eurasia
Oak Subgenus Quercus : North America

Subgenus Quercus, section Lobatae (Red Oaks)

Subgenus Quercus section Quercus
Subgenus Quercus section Virentes
Subgenus Quercus section Ponticae
Subgenus Quercus section Protobalanus