Episode XI: Quercus! Genus and Genius of Oaks with Dave Muffly

Read the companion article here.

“There’s a surprising portion of the entire natural world of all biodiversity that either rests in or on an oak tree. And another huge portion of biodiversity uses oak trees for food. An oak can produce 3 million acorns in its lifetime, but only a tiny handful of those, if any, will create trees, but those extra acorns are there on the ground waiting to feed just a huge number of organisms from tiny ones all the way up to bears.”

Dave Muffly, Senior Arborist and Horticulturist, Santa Barbara, CA.

This episode was sponsored by:

GARDEN FUTURIST  

A show about innovative thinkers contributing to a climate resilient future through the power of gardens.

Produced and hosted by Sarah Beck, Adriana Lopez, and Adrienne St Claire 

Edited and directed by Kelsey Skonberg 

Sarah Beck is the executive director of Pacific Horticulture.

Adriana López-Villalobos currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia where she works as Curatorial Coordinator for the UBC Botanical Garden. She is originally from Mexico, where she completed her BSC and MSc, studying plant ecology and mating systems evolution, before migrating to Canada to pursue a PhD focusing on the genetics of species across their geographic ranges.

Adrienne St. Clair is a botanist working with Metro, a regional government in Portland, Oregon where her work spans conservation to restoration. Adrienne managed a native plant nursery for almost a decade before pursuing a graduate degree. She received her Master’s in Plant Biology and Conservation from Northwestern University and Chicago Botanic Garden where she studied the effect of horticulture techniques on native-plant genetics.

Kelsey Skonberg is a Community-Centered Video and Podcast Editor and Science Journalist in Everett, WA.