Species competition?

[lowpolyjoe]

I have a small wooded lot behind my house - about 1/2 an acre.  I was walking around the other day, looking for a small oak tree to grab a branch off of (for one of my pets) and I realized I couldn't find any.  I have maybe 5-10 large trees (like ~2ft+ diameter trunks) that I believe to be various species of oak.  Then I have many dozens of small trees (most under 1ft diameter).  I have some diversity - I've got 1 walnut, 1 chestnut(?), a few birch... but the vast majority of the small ones look to me to be the same species - maple, I believe.

I was wondering if there is some reason why I would not see any young oaks?  My tree-id skills are pretty week, so maybe I missed them.   

Is maple more hardy than oak?    Does oak need an open canopy to get started?  It's pretty shady in the woods. 

There are tons of critters - including a lot of squirrels.    Is it possible that they're eating literally every single acorn?

Just curious to hear any theories.

Thanks,
Joe

[DelawhereJoe]

The squirrels, deer, rats, mice and all sorts of other critters will eat the acorns, I have about 7 acres of woods, white oaks and several verities in the red oak family, but the majority of all the seedlings are red maple and black and sweet gum.

[Ron Wenrich]

The forest goes through many stages.  It starts out with pioneer species.  These are fast growing and need plenty of light in order to grow.  You'll find species such as aspen, eastern red cedar, and willow.  You might find these coming in on abandoned fields, after a fire or a heavy cut.

The forest will develop in various stages as the more shade tolerant trees take over.  Sometimes there is sufficient seed source that the least tolerant species never get established.  You might find the next group of trees right after a disturbance:  ash, walnut, black cherry, tulip poplar and birch. 

As they die off or are harvested, the next forest would consist oak, elm, hickory and white pine.  The more shade tolerant species are basswood and soft maple.  The final forest is called a climax forest and usually consists of hemlock, beech, and sugar maple.  The reason you're not seeing any oak on the ground is that you have too much shade to encourage them to grow.  It's why the maple is there.

Your area has a lot of fragmented wood lots.  Smaller acres of trees that are relatively the same age.  Those stands are hard to manage and local ordinances also make it difficult to harvest. 

[lowpolyjoe]

DelawhereJoe - we've got squirrels aplenty.  Deer stop by sometimes too.  And a bunch of groundhogs.  No shortage of critters eating whatever they can.

Thanks for the rundown Ron - that's exactly the kind of info I was curious about.  Funny, it took me ~9 years to realize there's no oak saplings in my yard  :D.   There are a bunch of white pine at the edge of my yard but they looked deliberately planted because they're sort of in a row so I didn't mention them. 

I do wish I had a few more walnut trees.  Two of my neighbors have monster walnut trees in their yards.  Our neighborhood has lost a lot of trees to storms over the years I've lived here.  After every storm I'm always on the lookout for a fallen walnut to see if I can get a log or two before it gets hauled off