The Mysterious Mast Year
Oak woodlands are one of main habitats in my area. I wanted to introduce my elementary students to the ecological connections in this amazing habitat, so I planned an outside game. I had just one concern—the game required 100 acorns and I didn’t think I’d be able to collect enough of them.
I had no reason to worry. I found acorns everywhere! As it turns out, my area is having a “mast year” — that’s when all of the oak trees in a region produce a bumper crop of acorns. (Other states having mast years this fall include parts of Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Virginia.)
I find it fascinating that even though oak trees are commonly found all across the country, scientists don’t really know why or when mast years will happen. Marc Abrams, a professor of forestry at Penn State, described the mast year phenomenon as “one of the amazing mysteries in nature that we still do not have a handle on. . . There’s no way to predict it.”
However, scientists do have a few theories. Some think that a mast year is nature’s way of saturating the market with acorns, so that after wildlife eat their fill, there will be enough acorns left to grow into seedlings. Other biologists believe that mast years are related to particular weather conditions that favor acorn production. And some believe mast years might be attributed to chemical communication through the trees root system.
Whatever the reason for the over abundance of acorns this year, the acorn woodpeckers, squirrels, and my students are happy it’s a mast year.
Inside: Acorns and Seed Dispersal
The word “acorn” is a combination of “ak” for oak and “corn” meaning seed thus acorn means oak seed. Young children will enjoy hearing the life story of an acorn in the book In a Nutshell by Joseph Anthony. And his other book, Dandelion Seed,
follows a little seed as it floats to new adventures. This link will take you to an online kindergarten lesson about seed dispersal that includes both acorns and dandelion seeds.
Outside: Who Will Survive: Squirrels or Woodpeckers?
Who will survive winter in the oak woodland—the Grey Squirrels who bury their acorns or the Acorn Woodpeckers who store their acorns in granary trees?
Your students will find out when they play this game (pdf), which I modified from “Investigating the Oak Community” by Kay Antunez de Mayolo for the California Oak Foundation.
Although I used real acorns, if you’re not having a mast year, your students can make acorns out of clay.
More Acorn and Oak Tree Fun and Facts
Explore “Exciting Acorn Songs, Crafts and Activities Preschoolers Will Love” at the Bright Hub Education website.
Jays compete with squirrels for acorns in this hide-and-seek game from Earthwork’s Orchard Curriculum. For grades 2-5
Download a pdf of the Center for Ecoliteracy’s 38-page Oak Woodland Activity for interesting and informative lessons. Adaptable for grades 4-8