Regenerating oaks (Quercus spp.) has remained a widespread and persistent problem throughout their natural range. Research shows that abundant oak advance reproduction is crucial for success. Although it is recognized that oak advance reproduction accumulation is inversely related to site quality, there has been little effort to model oak advance reproduction density as a function of measured levels of light, water, or nutrient supply. The objective of this study was to determine whether oak advance reproduction could be modeled and mapped with site variables. The study was conducted on the Sinkin Experimental Forest in southeastern Missouri in 20 5-ha experimental units. Vegetation and site data were collected in 120 0.5-ha circular plots with nested subplots for the inventory of the midstory (0.01 ha) and reproduction (0.004 ha). Site variables included soil available water capacity, pH, photosynthetically active radiation in the understory, forest stocking, terrain shape, and slope-aspect. Oak advance reproduction abundance was related to soil acidity and available water capacity and to other site information such as slope-aspect. Models for the red oak group species generally exhibited better fit than those for the white oaks. There also was evidence that estimates of soil acidity and available water capacity can be obtained from the SSURGO database and used in these oak advance reproduction models along with other site information to generate maps of estimated oak reproduction densities. These maps could be used for planning silvicultural interventions to increase the abundance and size of oak advance reproduction before forest regeneration.

Lonicera maackii (Amur honeysuckle) is a non‐native species that has invaded forest stands throughout the eastern United States. This research examined using aerially applied glyphosate in autumn 2013 to control L. maackii in oak‐hickory forest stands in Missouri, U.S.A. We targeted the spraying time period when L. maackii was still green and most native plants were dormant. Across treatment units, the mean difference in L. maackii stem density significantly declined (p = 0.004) by 5.4 stems per plot from spring 2013 to summer 2014 when compared to control units which increased by 1.8 stems per plot. Treated units with a high initial infestation level of L. maackii (>50% cover) had a significant (p = 0.004) decline in the mean difference in L. maackii cover of −50.0% per plot between spring 2013 and summer 2014 compared to an average increase of 9.2% in the controls. Similar results were found for treated units with a low initial infestation level of L. maackii (10–50% cover). Mortality of native overstory and understory trees post‐treatment was negligible. In the ground layer of forest stands with a low initial L. maackii infestation level, native non‐spray‐sensitive forb cover per plot significantly increased (p = 0.023) relative to controls between summer 2013 and summer 2014 while native spray‐sensitive species cover significantly decreased (p = 0.021) during the same period. These results suggest that an aerial application of glyphosate can provide an L. maackii control option, but with trade‐offs in compositional shifts in the native ground‐layer vegetation.