The effect of human impact and environmental conditions on Polylepis forest and on the world’s highest mistletoe infestation

Arizapana-Almonacid, Marco Aurelio; Camel, Vladimir; Castañeda-Tinco, Marco; Pyles, Marcela V.; Teodoro, Grazielle Sales; van den Berg, Eduardo

doi:10.1007/s11258-022-01254-5

Published: 19 July 2022

The effect of human impact and environmental conditions on Polylepis forest and on the world’s highest mistletoe infestation

Marco Aurelio Arizapana-Almonacid^1,2,
Vladimir Camel ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3618-8215³,
Marco Castañeda-Tinco²,
Marcela V. Pyles⁴,
Grazielle Sales Teodoro⁵ &
Eduardo van den Berg⁴

Plant Ecology (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Forests dominated by the genus Polylepis (Rosaceae) are highly threatened due to anthropogenic impacts and climate change. Some species such as Polylepis flavipila are also affected by hemiparasitic plants such as Tristerix chodatianus (Loranthaceae) that induce progressive damage to the host canopy, altering the structure and functioning of the forest. In this paper, we focused on evaluating the parasitism pattern of T. chodatianus on Polylepis populations, as well as how human impact and environmental factors affect the Polylepis flavipila population structure. We carried this out along an altitudinal gradient in Nor Yauyos Cochas Landscape Reserve, Laraos, Lima-Peru. We laid out three transects in each forest (Shutco and Chaqsii-Chaqsii) from the bottom of their current distribution to the tree line, totaling a sampled area of 3.44 ha. Phenotypic data were taken for all individuals (parasitized and non-parasitized) with a diameter at ground height ≥ 5 cm. Environmental factors (bare cover, slope, rock cover, grass cover, and elevation) and human impact (trails, overgrazing, and felling) variables were also collected. Our results showed that the higher the elevation is, the shorter are the trees and with the increase of the slope, the diameter decreases and the frequency of trees increases. Moreover, human impact (trails and overgrazing) affected negatively the dasometric characteristics of P. flavipila. Regarding the patterns of parasitism, we observed that the larger trees (in diameter and height) had a greater presence of T. chodatianus and, as the elevation increased, the proportion of parasitized trees decreased. In conclusion, our results showed that P. flavipila forest is threatened by several factors, including human impact and T. chodatianus infestation. Future evaluations on forest dynamics would clarify the observed pattern.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the “Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado” for providing authorizations for research under the R.D. 009–2018-SERNANP-JEF; Also, we thank the Programa de movilizaciones para investigación en Cambio Climatico-AMSUD 189-2020-FONDECYT. Thanks are also due to Tony Suarez, Juan Angoma, and Joel Sulca for supporting the fieldwork. Brazilian Research Foundation of Minas Gerais State (FAPEMIG), National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education (CAPES) supported the first and last authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Florestal, Departamento de Ciências Florestais, Escola Superior de Agricultura de Lavras, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Marco Aurelio Arizapana-Almonacid
Grupo de Investigación en Sensoramiento Remoto y Ecología de Montaña, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Huanta, Huanta, Ayacucho, Perú
Marco Aurelio Arizapana-Almonacid & Marco Castañeda-Tinco
Universidad Científica del Sur, Lima, Perú
Vladimir Camel
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Aplicada, Departamento de Ecologia e Conservação, Instituto de Ciências Naturais, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Marcela V. Pyles & Eduardo van den Berg
Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil
Grazielle Sales Teodoro

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Marco Aurelio Arizapana-Almonacid
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Vladimir Camel
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Marco Castañeda-Tinco
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Marcela V. Pyles
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Grazielle Sales Teodoro
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Eduardo van den Berg
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Correspondence to Vladimir Camel.

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Arizapana-Almonacid, M., Camel, V., Castañeda-Tinco, M. et al. The effect of human impact and environmental conditions on Polylepis forest and on the world’s highest mistletoe infestation. Plant Ecol (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-022-01254-5

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Received: 08 July 2021
Accepted: 04 July 2022
Published: 19 July 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-022-01254-5

Keywords

Altitudinal gradient
Arboreal hemiparasites
Loranthaceae
Polylepis flavipila
Tristerix chodatianus