Predicting the current and future distributions of Australian Loranthaceae mistletoes

Mistletoes are branch parasites of trees and shrubs, occur world-wide, and are considered keystone species in many forest communities. They have complex interactions with seed dispersers, pollinators, and animals that use them for shelter, and contribute to community productivity and biotic diversit...

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Main Authors: Carol A. Wilson, Kenneth Trang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-01-01
Series:Global Ecology and Conservation
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989424005754
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author Carol A. Wilson
Kenneth Trang
author_facet Carol A. Wilson
Kenneth Trang
author_sort Carol A. Wilson
collection DOAJ
description Mistletoes are branch parasites of trees and shrubs, occur world-wide, and are considered keystone species in many forest communities. They have complex interactions with seed dispersers, pollinators, and animals that use them for shelter, and contribute to community productivity and biotic diversity. Current understanding of mistletoe occurrence largely attributes host availability and preference to patterns of distribution. Using occurrence records, climate data, and climate modeling, we investigated current distributions and modeled contemporary and future distributions of Australian mistletoes in the Loranthaceae by haustorial type. Although Loranthaceae mistletoes are distributed throughout Australia, our results show distributional differences among haustorial types across biomes and identify their actual and predicted ecological niches based on temperature and precipitation. Epicortical roots, which are considered plesiomorphic in Australia, are mostly associated with mesic ancestral habitats while derived types are associated with drier habitats. Combining the results of all analyses we show that mistletoe distributional patterns, similar to distribution patterns in other angiosperms, are correlated with climate and are susceptible to climate change with expected loss of habitat, primarily in interior arid regions of Australia.
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spelling doaj-art-e83b9c638f164015aa78b8ace7fc8b412025-01-23T05:26:56ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942025-01-0157e03371Predicting the current and future distributions of Australian Loranthaceae mistletoesCarol A. Wilson0Kenneth Trang1University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Building #2465, Berkeley, CA 94720-2465, USA; Corresponding author.Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 3040 Valley Life Sciences Building #3140, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140, USAMistletoes are branch parasites of trees and shrubs, occur world-wide, and are considered keystone species in many forest communities. They have complex interactions with seed dispersers, pollinators, and animals that use them for shelter, and contribute to community productivity and biotic diversity. Current understanding of mistletoe occurrence largely attributes host availability and preference to patterns of distribution. Using occurrence records, climate data, and climate modeling, we investigated current distributions and modeled contemporary and future distributions of Australian mistletoes in the Loranthaceae by haustorial type. Although Loranthaceae mistletoes are distributed throughout Australia, our results show distributional differences among haustorial types across biomes and identify their actual and predicted ecological niches based on temperature and precipitation. Epicortical roots, which are considered plesiomorphic in Australia, are mostly associated with mesic ancestral habitats while derived types are associated with drier habitats. Combining the results of all analyses we show that mistletoe distributional patterns, similar to distribution patterns in other angiosperms, are correlated with climate and are susceptible to climate change with expected loss of habitat, primarily in interior arid regions of Australia.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989424005754Climate changeBiogeographyEcological niche modelingMaxEntParasitic angiosperms
spellingShingle Carol A. Wilson
Kenneth Trang
Predicting the current and future distributions of Australian Loranthaceae mistletoes
Global Ecology and Conservation
Climate change
Biogeography
Ecological niche modeling
MaxEnt
Parasitic angiosperms
title Predicting the current and future distributions of Australian Loranthaceae mistletoes
title_full Predicting the current and future distributions of Australian Loranthaceae mistletoes
title_fullStr Predicting the current and future distributions of Australian Loranthaceae mistletoes
title_full_unstemmed Predicting the current and future distributions of Australian Loranthaceae mistletoes
title_short Predicting the current and future distributions of Australian Loranthaceae mistletoes
title_sort predicting the current and future distributions of australian loranthaceae mistletoes
topic Climate change
Biogeography
Ecological niche modeling
MaxEnt
Parasitic angiosperms
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989424005754
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AT kennethtrang predictingthecurrentandfuturedistributionsofaustralianloranthaceaemistletoes