Hickories and Pecans

Hickories and pecans produce a highly nutritious nut that native Americans planted for food. Now only the pecan is cultivated in North America. The pecan is native to a relatively small area in central North America and isolated locations in Mexico.  Its appearance on a schoolyard is the result of planting and cultivation. Because wild turkey and squirrels are game animals, humans are listed as an omnivore in the food chain.

 

Producers
Mockernut hickory
Pignut hickory
Bitternut hickory
Pecan

Herbivores
Aphids, including those that cause galls (leaves)
Scale insects (twigs)
Nut weevil larva
Husk fly larva
Hickory tussock moth larva (leaves)
Twig girdler (beetle)
Gray squirrel* (nuts, bark and/or leaves)
Eastern Chipmunk (nuts, bark and/or leaves)

Omnivores
Wild turkey (nuts and insects) Wood duck (nuts and insects)
Red bellied woodpecker (nuts, flowers and insects)
Humans (wild turkey, squirrels and/or nuts)

Carnivores
Carnivorous insects, spiders, birds, reptiles and mammals


* Hickory nuts account for greater than 25% of total diet.

 


hickory (producer) => twig girdler (herbivore) => wood duck (omnivore)

 

(click on organism to see more)

 

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