http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/science/beyond-the-kiss-mistletoe-helps-feed-forests-study-suggests.html

Beyond the Kiss, Mistletoe Helps Feed Forests, Study Suggests

For years, mistletoe has suffered from a split reputation: either the decorative prelude to a sweet Christmas kiss or the tree-killing parasite that must be mercilessly excised for the good of the forests.
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Matthew Herring

HELP NOT HARM Box mistletoe in Australia, where a study showed it helps move nutrients around the forest food web.

Now a recent Australian study has come up with a surprising new understanding of the evergreen plant: Itis a key to keeping forest life healthy. Not only should it not be cut out of the forests it affects, but it could also be introduced in injured woodlands to restore them to health.

The mistletoe makeover stems from an experiment started in 2004 in a small woods surrounded by farmland in the upper Billabong Creek area of Australia’s New South Wales. David Watson, an ecologist at Charles Sturt University in Albury, New South Wales, reasoned that the only way to discern the role of mistletoe was to remove it from 17 woodlands and compare them with 11 woodlands where the mistletoe remained and 12 woodlands naturally devoid of the plant.

It was a herculean task to eradicate the parasitic mistletoe, involving cherry-pickers, loppers, a dozen people and two seasons of work, made all the tougher because the Australian mistletoe mimics the trees it takes root on. Moreover, while mistletoe, with its 1,400 species in five families, lives on every continent except Antarctica, it is sparse within each forest. Dr. Watson said he found only a few plants in every acre in the woodlands he worked on. In all, his team members removed more than 40 tons of the plant, leaving it on the ground for livestock to consume. Then they waited for three years. Dr. Watson, known in academic circles as “the mistletoe guy,” had long suspected that his favorite plant was a keystone species, meaning it punches above its weight, ecologically speaking, but even he was unprepared for the results. He had supposed that creatures that fed or nested on mistletoe would be affected by its removal. Instead, he found that the whole woodland community in the mistletoe-free forests declined.

Three years after the mistletoe vanished, so had more than a third of the bird species, including those that fed on insects. Bird diversity is considered an indicator of overall diversity. Where mistletoe remained, bird species increased slightly. It was a similar story for some mammals and reptiles, but, in another surprise, particularly for those that fed on insects on the forest floor.

“It’s a bit of a head-scratcher,” said Dr. Watson.

Analysis showed that species of mistletoe play an important role in moving nutrients around the forest food web. That has to do with their status as parasites.

Nonparasitic plants suck nutrients out of their own leaves before they let them fall, sending dry containers to the ground. But because the vampiric mistletoe draws water and nutrients from the tree stem or branch it attaches to, it is more nonchalant about leaving that nutrition in falling leaves. That means the fallen leaves still contain nutrients that feed creatures on the forest floor.

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original publication
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/279/1743/3853.full.pdf+html
(free text)

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/03/05/2044992.htm

> reasoned that the only way to discern the role of mistletoe was to remove it from 17 woodlands and compare them with 11 woodlands where the mistletoe remained and 12 woodlands naturally devoid of the plant.

I like this bold approach to ecological research. There is no end of areas where this could be applied. Coral reefs, fish, elephants…

..been done – both experimentally and through natural disturbance and existing human disturbance – such as on reefs, small islands and ecosystems where large herbivores have been extirpated by hunting and human demand..

Small scientific studies are small compared to real threats and threatening processes, especially when there are mistletoe removal programs in box woodlands. Mistletoe are widely considered by land mangers as pests – notably in fragmented woodlands – and this study was in part response to that. Also supports value of mistletoes experimentally instead of through assumption – Watson has long been an advocate for mistletoe conservation and stating that it is a keystone functional group. Frequent fires are by far a greater threat to epiphytic parasites and this has been documented in the Pilbara.

http://ga.yourasp.com.au/vegfutures/pages/images/Colloquium%20B3_Watson.pdf

I should have added a /tic :-)

http://scienceillustrated.com.au/blog/nature/fire-regimes-threaten-mistletoe/

Mistletoe in the Pilbara could be facing regional extinction.

Fires ignited by arson, lightning or prescribed burns can burn thousands of hectares in the Pilbara region. This is a problem for mistletoe species, as their foliage and fresh seeds are killed when scorched.

A new study conducted by the Department of Environment and Conservation suggests Western Australian mistletoes are one of the groups adversely affected by modern long-term fire regimes, which have been in place since the 1980s. Mistletoe do not have a long-term seed storage mechanism and a limited capacity for long-distance seed dispersal.

Study author A. N. Start said that pastoralists imposed radical changes on the landscape when they settled in the region just over a century ago. “Former fire regimes were abandoned and fire was used for novel purposes, including the manipulation of pastures.

“Anthropogenic fire is still common across northern and central Australia where the trend has been to hotter and more extensive burns.”

The researchers noted that mistletoe have adapted to fire in various, imperfect ways; twelve species have attempted to reduce the risk of fire by favouring host species that grow in sites sheltered from fires. But when the host stems are killed, the length of time the hosts required to re-establish prohibits mistletoe regeneration.

Two species have low host specificity, which allows them to regenerate faster after fire events. However, both of these species are located in hummock grasslands, so they are affected by the issue of fire frequency.

While there is no extinction threat at a national or bioregional level, there is evidence of subregional contraction, particularly in the hummock grasslands. “The outlook is bleak for mistletoes growing in areas dominated by hummock grasslands,” Start said.

“Subregional extinction is likely and there are broader implications for biodiversity.”

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terrible piece of writing.

Boris said:

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The team at Elan Energy Management are dedicated to providing true, honest and reliable product management, supplying to all major coal fuel based Company’s. Elan Energy Management, in an attempt to eradicate the use of coal as a fuel, will take any tyre, process and recycle to create the number one alternative fuel source – TDF. Elan Energy Management will reduce the environmental footprint by never turning a blind eye to get the job done. From the deepest parts of our oceans to the fiery skies above, representing the colours of the Elan logo, the team will be striving for an ever prosperous and self-sustaining future.

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terrible piece of writing.

It had me in stitches :-)