Wednesday, December 3, 2008 - forestrynepal.org

Mistletoes of the Annapurna Conservation Area, Central Nepal Himalayas

Publication Type  Journal Article
Year  2005
Authors  Devkota, M, P.; Glatzel, G,
Journal  Journal of Japanese Botany
Volume  80
Pages  27-36
ISBN  0022-2062
Abstract  

An inventory of the diversity, distribution and host trees of mistletoes of the Annapurna Conservation Area, Central Nepal Himalayas yielded a total of 12 mistletoe species, 8 belonging to 5 genera in the family Loranthaceae and 4 belonging to one genus in the family Viscaceae. A total of 95 tree species belonging to 74 genera in 45 unrelated angiosperm families were identified as hosts in the Annapurna Conservation Area. Three new, formerly unrecorded mistletoe species could be added to the checklist for Nepal. Previous suggestions that mistletoes of the family Loranthaceae usually have a wide host range and are frequently generalist, whereas Viscaceous mistletoes have a narrow host range and are highly host specific were approved, as were the observations that the irregular and patchy distribution of mistletoes is governed by three major factors, namely forest structure, site mesoclimate and zoochoric dispersal, the latter being the dominant factor in most cases were approved. Degraded marginal forests, sunny warm slopes and ridges below 3000 m appear to be particularly suitable habitats for mistletoes. Dicaeum ignipectus (Fire-breasted flower pecker) was identified as the most important disperser of mistletoes in the Annapurna Conservation Area.