Linking safe sites for recruitment with host-canopy heterogeneity: The case of a parasitic plant, Viscum album subsp. austriacum (Viscaceae).

• Premise of the study: Canopies are ecologically relevant compartments of forests. Multiple sources of heterogeneity interact within forest canopies due to their structural complexity, which exert major influences on the structure and composition of epiphyte communities. Here, we explore canopy environmental heterogeneity of a Mediterranean pine forest, identifying the key biotic and abiotic factors determining mistletoe (Viscum album subsp. austriacum) recruitment at coarse and fine spatial scales.• Methods: Through field experiments, we assessed the range of suitable host species for V. album subsp. austriacum (hereafter, V. a. austriacum). We characterized the variation in abiotic factors at a fine spatial scale on the host species. Finally, we examined the effects of biotic (predation) and abiotic (light, temperature) factors on the fate of mistletoe seeds and seedlings along host branches.• Key results: We confirmed the tight specificity of V. a. austriacum to pine species, in particular to P. nigra at the local scale. Biotic constraints increased toward the branch interior, with minor effects on apical locations due to the positive effect of pine-needle coverage. Contrarily, abiotic constraints increased toward branch extremities, harming mistletoe seeds by encouraging their desiccation.• Conclusions: Biotic and abiotic variables exert a strong, nonrandom filter on V. album regeneration, resulting in recruitment hotspots at the periphery of the branches and sites with a high probability of recruitment failure at thicker and more exposed locations. The narrow range of suitable host species and the scarcity and spatially restricted recruitment hotspots for V. a. austriacum leads to the clumping of mistletoe populations at the finer spatial scale.

The upward shift in altitude of pine mistletoe (Viscum album ssp. austriacum) in Switzerland--the result of climate warming?

Pine mistletoe (Viscum album ssp. austriacum) is common in natural Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests in the alpine Rhone Valley, Switzerland. This semi-parasite, which is regarded as an indicator species for temperature, increases the drought stress on trees and may contribute to the observed pine decline in the region. We recorded mistletoes on representative plots of the Swiss National Forest Inventory ranging from 450 to 1,550 m a.s.l. We found mistletoe on 37% of the trees and on 56% of all plots. Trees infested with mistletoe had a significantly higher mortality rate than non-infested trees. We compared the current mistletoe occurrence with records from a survey in 1910. The current upper limit, 1,250 m, is roughly 200 m above the limit of 1,000-1,100 m found in the earlier survey 100 years ago. Applying a spatial model to meteorological data we obtained monthly mean temperatures for all sites. In a logistic regression mean winter temperature, pine proportion and geographic exposition significantly explained mistletoe occurrence. Using mean monthly January and July temperatures for 1961-1990, we calculated Skre's plant respiration equivalent (RE) and regressed it against elevation to obtain the RE value at the current mistletoe elevation limit. We used this RE value and temperature from 1870-1899 in the regression and found the past elevation limit to be at 1,060 m, agreeing with the 1910 survey. For the predicted temperature rise by 2030, the limit for mistletoe would increase above 1,600 m altitude.