Hickories (Carya spp.) are common species in eastern US forests. Despite being a noted component of the most prevalent forest type in the eastern US, remarkably little is known about the ecology and silvics of the genera, especially compared to oaks (Quercus spp.). To improve our understanding about the dynamics of hickories in stand development and forest succession, we used a variety of datasets from oak-hickory forests of the Central Hardwood Region to assess growth, physiology, and demography. Our findings suggest that hickories may have a conservative root-centered growth strategy that exceeds that of oaks, with highly plastic physiology. This allows for long-term persistence of hickories in the mid and understory while being responsive to favorable increases in available light. The reproduction dynamics of hickories suggest a gradual and consistent recruitment to the mid and overstory in contrast to the single, unimodal age distribution of oaks following historic disturbance. This is achieved by periods of higher growth rates and lower mortality rates, especially in subordinate canopy positions when compared to oaks. These findings suggest that contemporary removal of historic disturbance regimes may continue to support hickory recruitment to the overstory, but active forest management is necessary to maintain the oak-hickory forest type in the Central Hardwood Region.

山核桃 ( Carya spp.) 是美国东部森林中的常见物种。尽管它是美国东部最普遍的森林类型的一个显着组成部分，但对该属的生态和森林知之甚少，尤其是与橡树（栎属属）。为了提高我们对山核桃在林分发展和森林演替中的动态的理解，我们使用了来自中央硬木地区橡树山核桃林的各种数据集来评估生长、生理和人口统计学。我们的研究结果表明，山核桃可能具有比橡树更保守的以根为中心的生长策略，具有高度可塑性的生理学。这允许山核桃在中间和林下长期持续存在，同时对可用光的有利增加做出反应。山核桃的繁殖动态表明，与历史干扰后橡树的单一、单峰年龄分布形成对比的是，向中层和上层逐渐且一致地补充。这是通过较高的增长率和较低的死亡率时期实现的，与橡树相比，尤其是在从属树冠位置。这些发现表明，历史干扰制度的当代移除可能会继续支持山核桃向覆盖层的补充，但积极的森林管理对于维持中央硬木地区的橡树-山核桃林类型是必要的。