New Zealand Journal of Botany abstract
B96067
Received 5 November 1996; accepted 3 April 1997
Development of non-destructive age indices for three New Zealand loranthaceous
mistletoes
DAVID A. NORTON
JENNY J. LADLEY
Conservation Research Group
School of Forestry
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch, New Zealand
ASHLEY D. SPARROW
Department of Plant and Microbial Sciences
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch, New Zealand
Abstract We investigated a variety of non-destructive
measures as potential predictors of mistletoe age as determined anatomically
for three mistletoe species, Alepis flavida, Ileostylus
micranthus, and Tupeia antarctica. We show that the diameter of the
host stem immediately below the haustorial attachment is consistently the best
predictor of mistletoe age with R2 values of 0.622-0.849. We
suggest that host branch diameter can be used in future studies of mistletoe
population dynamics and other age-dependent aspects of mistletoe ecology
without destructively sampling mistletoe populations as it provides a good
indication of mistletoe age for the mistletoe-host pairs we studied. However,
these relationships have been derived from single sites and hosts for each
mistletoe species, suggesting caution when applying them at other sites or to
other hosts.
Keywords Alepis flavida; Ileostylus micranthus;
Tupeia antarctica; Loranthaceae; mistletoe; ageing
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