Summary: 3245
Reports
Ecology, 86(12), 2005, pp. 3245­3251
2005 by the Ecological Society of America
FEMALE-DIRECTED DISPERSAL AND FACILITATION BETWEEN A
TROPICAL MISTLETOE AND A DIOECIOUS HOST
TOMA´ S A. CARLO1,4
AND JULIANN EVE AUKEMA2,3
1
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0334 USA
2International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service, Ri´o Piedras, Puerto Rico 00926-1119 USA
3Zoology Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 97695-7616 USA
Abstract. Phoradendron hexastichum is a bird-dispersed mistletoe that infects the di-
oecious tree Cecropia schreberiana. Because both species share frugivore seed dispersers,
we hypothesized that female Cecropia would have a greater probability and intensity of
mistletoe infection than males due to more frequent visitation by shared frugivores. Over
50% of female Cecropia were infected, in contrast with 25% of males. On average, female
trees had twice as many mistletoes as male trees. Infection probability and intensity in-
creased with basal area in females but not in males, suggesting that lifetime reinfection
was also female biased. We found mistletoe frugivores visiting uninfected fruiting females

Source: Aukema, Juliann E. - National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California at Santa Barbara

Collections: Environmental Sciences and Ecology