Oaks

Acorns are perhaps the most important wildlife food in Virginia because they are both abundant and a high-quality food. Acorns from the white oak group contain less tannin than those of the red oak group and are therefore more palatable to wildlife, just as they were to Indians and early settlers who ate them. Galls made by small wasp-like insects (cynipids) are common on oak trees.

Producers

Herbivores
Cynipid gall-makers (leaves, twigs)
Acorn weevil (acorns)
Gypsy moth larva, pupa and egg masses (leaves)
Orange-striped oak worm (leaves)
Oak skeletonizer (leaves)
Scarlet oak sawfly larva (leaves)
Fall cankerworm (leaves)
Forest tent caterpillar (leaves)
Gray squirrel* (acorns)
Eastern chipmunk (acorns)
White-tailed deer* (acorns, twigs, and leaves)

Omnivores
Mallard and wood ducks (acorns and insects)
Bobwhite (acorns, buds and insects)
Wild turkey*  (acorns, buds and insects)
Crows and grackles (acorns and insects)
Bluejay* (acorns and insects)
White-breasted nuthatch (acorns and insects)
Brown thrasher (acorns and insects)
Tufted titmouse (acorns and insects)
Rufus-sided towhee (acorns and insects)
Black bear* (acorns and insects)
Raccoon* (acorns, insects, crustaceans)
White-footed mouse (acorns and insects)

Carnivores
Carnivorous insects,spiders, birds, reptiles and mammals

Decomposers
Generalist fungi, bacteria, and leaf litter critters
Lucidus root and but rot (roots and heartwood)
Bearded tooth mushroom  (heartwood)
Hypoxylon canker (sapwood and cambium)

* Acorns and/or oak twigs and leaves account for greater than 25% of total diet.

 

 


oak (producer) => fall cankerworm (herbivore) => skink (carnivore)

 

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