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Host physiological condition regulates parasitic plant performance: Arceuthobium vaginatum subsp. cryptopodum on Pinus ponderosa

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Abstract

Much research has focused on effects of plant parasites on host-plant physiology and growth, but little is known about effects of host physiological condition on parasite growth. Using the parasitic dwarf mistletoe Arceuthobium vaginatum subsp. cryptopodum (Viscaceae) and its host Pinus ponderosa, we investigated whether changes in host physiological condition influenced mistletoe shoot development in northern Arizona forests. We conducted two studies in two consecutive years and used forest thinning (i.e., competitive release) to manipulate host physiological condition. We removed dwarf mistletoe shoots in April, before the onset of the growing season, and measured the amount of regrowth in the first season after forest thinning (Study I: n=38 trees; Study II: n=35 trees). Thinning increased tree uptake of water and carbon in both studies, but had no effect on leaf N concentration or δ13C. Mistletoe shoot growth was greater on trees with high uptake of water and carbon in thinned stands than trees with low uptake in unthinned stands. These findings show that increased resource uptake by host trees increases resources to these heterotrophic dwarf mistletoes, and links mistletoe performance to changes in host physiological condition.

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by Mission Research Program, School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University (McIntire-Stennis/AZ Bureau of Forestry) and the USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station JVA (RJVA 00-JV-11221006-210) between B. Geils and T. Kolb. We thank Shawn Faiella, Megan Van Horne, Michelle Schaffer, Natacha Guerard, and Dan Koepke for help in conducting the study, Becky Mueller, Kitty Gehring and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on the manuscript, and the NAU Centennial Forest and Coconino National Forest for use of study sites. The experiments described in this paper comply with the current laws of the United States, where the experiments were performed.

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  1. School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA

    Christopher P. Bickford & Thomas E. Kolb

  2. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Flagstaff, AZ, 86001, USA

    Brian W. Geils

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  1. Christopher P. Bickford
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  2. Thomas E. Kolb
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  3. Brian W. Geils
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Correspondence to Thomas E. Kolb.

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Communicated by Lawrence Flanagan

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Bickford, C.P., Kolb, T.E. & Geils, B.W. Host physiological condition regulates parasitic plant performance: Arceuthobium vaginatum subsp. cryptopodum on Pinus ponderosa . Oecologia 146, 179–189 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0215-0

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