Life cycle of an oak tree
Transcript
How many years does an oak tree live?
How many years does an oak tree live?
50?
150?
500?
1000?
An oak tree can live for more than 1000 years and goes through many changes in its life cycle.
Life Cycle
Every oak tree starts life as an acorn.
Each acorn contains just one seed.
seed
When a seed germinates it produces a taproot.
taproot
This will anchor the tree for the rest of its life.
As spring arrives, the seed sends up a shoot.
shoot
It pushes through the leaf litter, producing its first leaves for photosynthesis.
photosynthesis
The oak tree is now a seedling.
seedling
Most oak trees won't produce a good crop of acorns until they are around 50 years old.
Over the next hundred years, the young tree matures into a majestic adult.
adult
A mature tree can grow up to 45 metres tall and can spread almost as wide.
At 700 years old the oak has reached old age.
It produces fewer acorns and only grows very slowly.
At 1000 years old, the oak is nearing the end of its life.
Parts of the tree start to die.
Over its lifespan an oak tree can produce as many as 10 million acorns.
lifespan
Some of these will grow into a new generation of oak trees.
An oak tree goes through many changes in its life cycle.
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