Morphological variability of the acorns of three species of oaks from North-West Tunisia

Abstract: This study focuses on the morphological characterization (length, diameter, fresh
weight) of the acorns of three oak species including two deciduous (Quercus canariensis Willd; Quercus afares Pomel) and one evergreen (Quercus suber L.) in the North-West of Tunisia. The study was conducted respectively in the Ain Zena Forest (kroumirie), where the three oak species coexist, and in the Bellif and Khroufa forests (Mogods), where the cork oak is dominant accompanied by a few trees of zeen oak which are riparian. A quantity of acorns has been collected in autumn 2010 for the Ain Zena Forest and in autumn 2010 and 2019 for the Bellif and Khroufa forests. The ANOVA showed that in 2010, in Ain Zena and Khroufa forests, there is interspecific variability between co-existing species for morphological parameters. Afares oak showed inter-individual variability in Ain Zena Forest. Q. suber and Q. canariensis showed an intraspecific variability in three sites. At the temporal scale, the cork oak and the zeen oak showed a variability for the diameter, the length does not vary from one year to another.