Austral Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Indistinct Changes in the Mammal Fauna Between 1986 and 2017 at Judbarra-Gregory National Park, Northern Territory","authors":"A. S. Kutt,&nbsp;D. S. Martin,&nbsp;A. Miller,&nbsp;A. Fisher","doi":"10.1111/aec.70265","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.70265","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The mammal fauna in many parts of northern Australia has undergone dramatic changes in the past 20–30 years, though longitudinal data that spans this period are limited and largely from coastal and high rainfall regions. We examined data from Judbarra-Gregory National Park that has been collected in a systematic manner (once in 1986 and then 2005–2017), including 2 years where camera trapping was included (2015 and 2017). We standardised this data in a simple manner (i.e., species by relative abundance and site frequency) to examine if there were any stark changes over this time span. We also undertook some modelling of mammal pattern with respect to fire and fractional green and bare cover metrics. Though we recognise some limitations in our comparisons (i.e., spatial variation in sites and methods), the data indicated that the mammal fauna had generally not changed substantially in composition, relative abundance or frequency across sites. There were no meaningful models correlating mammal pattern to fire frequency, time since fire, fraction green and bare cover parameters. However, some species symptomatic of small mammal decline elsewhere (i.e., <i>Rattus tunneyi</i>) may have become less common, whereas other species were recorded for the first time in more recent years (2010–2017), particularly by camera traps (i.e., <i>Trichosurus vulpecula</i>, <i>Isoodon macrourus</i>, <i>Melomys burtoni</i>). We postulate that change in the mammal fauna on the semi-arid fringe of tropical savannas may have occurred prior to the 1980s, with a long history of cattle grazing a possible contributing factor. The mammal fauna there, is also perhaps naturally sparse and heterogeneous in spatial and temporal distribution.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"51 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.70265","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148386201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Small Mammals Respond More Strongly to Habitat Structure Than to Foraging Resources, Time Since Fire and Environmental Gradients in a Woodland Ecosystem","authors":"S. Wanniarachchi,&nbsp;A. York,&nbsp;A. Smith,&nbsp;H. Sitters,&nbsp;J. Di Stefano,&nbsp;M. Swan","doi":"10.1111/aec.70258","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.70258","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Insufficient knowledge of animal species' resource use after fire may limit effective fire management, especially as fires become more frequent and intense under climate change. Because fire history influences resource availability, and both vary along environmental gradients, it is important to understand how these interacting factors affect animal species. We investigated the relative influence of time since fire, food and shelter resources on the occupancy of four small mammals across rainfall, temperature and soil carbon gradients in southwestern Victoria, Australia. Elliott trapping was used to capture yellow-footed antechinus (<i>Antechinus flavipes</i>), bush rat (<i>Rattus fuscipes</i>), heath mouse (<i>Pseudomys shortridgei</i>) and house mouse (<i>Mus musculus</i>). Habitat structure and foraging resources (invertebrate biomass) were quantified along 200 m transects. Occupancy modelling showed that the occurrence of all four species was most strongly related to habitat structure and site productivity, with different species responding to different components of their habitat. Yellow-footed antechinus were more likely to occur at sites with greater small shrub cover and lower annual precipitation. Bush rat occurrence increased with tall shrub cover and showed weaker positive relationships with precipitation and small shrubs. Heath mouse occurrence declined with increasing canopy cover and increased with tall shrubs at low but not high precipitation. House mice occurred more often in structurally simple habitats, demonstrating negative associations with hollow logs, stringybark trees and litter. Time since fire influenced seven of 14 habitat variables several habitat variables but had no direct effect on species occurrence. Some habitat variables influenced by time since fire were also important predictors of species occurrence, suggesting the potential for indirect fire effects on species distributions mediated through vegetation structure. Conservation efforts will benefit from a greater understanding of the resources that species rely on at the site scale and ensuring that fire management protects them.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"51 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.70258","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148386236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influence of Habitat Characteristics on the Páramo Frog Community in A High Andean Biosphere Reserve","authors":"Pedro X. Astudillo,&nbsp;Doménica González,&nbsp;Santiago Barros,&nbsp;Estefanía Caridad Avilés-Sacoto,&nbsp;Paúl Porras,&nbsp;David C. Siddons","doi":"10.1111/aec.70263","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.70263","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The páramo ecosystem is a centre of diversity and endemism with remarkable frog diversity. However, a number of cryptic species often leads to studies focused on discerning individual species, rather than assessing communities, which is an approach required to improve conservation decisions. Here, we compare this species level framework against a habitat guild framework while assessing the influence of habitat characteristics on the frog community in the páramos of the Macizo del Cajas Biosphere Reserve in Ecuador, a biodiversity hotspot. We used a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) of morphological characteristics to classify four habitat-guild categories (i.e., generalists, grass and shrubby páramo specialists, humid-cushion páramo specialists and rocky-páramo specialists). We then compared two detrended correspondence analyses (DCA) to explore the composition of the páramo frog community with respect to habitat characteristics. The first DCA was based on habitat guild, while the second used species or <i>affinis</i>. We also evaluated the abundance of habitat guilds in relation to habitat characteristics. Our findings show that the habitat guild approach is more sensitive to habitat characteristics than the species-level approach. Humid-cushion páramo specialists and rocky-páramo specialists were associated with higher elevations characterised by open habitats such as humid and rocky páramos. Grass and shrubby páramo specialists were more prevalent in semi-open habitats at lower elevations. Habitat specialised guilds are more sensitive to human disturbance in páramo habitats across the entire elevation gradient. These habitat characteristics are crucial not only for explaining the abundance of habitat-specialised frogs, but also for generalists. We conclude that habitat guild classification is a valid alternative to improve the monitoring and conservation of the páramo frog community by focusing on ecological requirements in the face of taxonomic uncertainties.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"51 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148357980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Lizards at the Crossroads: How Microclimate and Habitat Structure Drive Species Turnover in a Neotropical Ecotone","authors":"Breno Falcão de Carvalho,&nbsp;Cecília Rodrigues Vieira,&nbsp;Adrian Antonio Garda,&nbsp;Arielson Santos Protázio,&nbsp;Davi Lima Pantoja,&nbsp;Diainara da Silva Figueiredo,&nbsp;Donald B. Shepard,&nbsp;Felipe Eduardo Alves Coelho,&nbsp;Gabriel Henrique de Oliveira Caetano,&nbsp;Joedma Graciene,&nbsp;Natalie A. Clay,&nbsp;Renan Janke Bosque,&nbsp;Ricardo Marques,&nbsp;Vitor Hugo Gomes Lacerda Cavalcante,&nbsp;Washington Luiz Silva Vieira,&nbsp;Daniel Oliveira Mesquita,&nbsp;Guarino Rinaldi Colli","doi":"10.1111/aec.70261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.70261","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Ecotones are dynamic transition zones where environmental heterogeneity can shape community assembly. We investigated how habitat structure and microclimatic variation influence lizard abundance, richness and species turnover across a fine-scale gradient from open savanna to seasonally dry forest within the Cerrado–Caatinga ecotone in northeastern Brazil. This ecotonal region is characterised by strong contrasts in canopy cover, leaf litter accumulation and microclimatic variability, particularly in humidity and temperature. We sampled lizards using 50 pitfall-trap arrays with drift fences distributed along four transects spanning the structural gradient. At each site, we quantified canopy cover, leaf litter weight and ground structure, and estimated microclimatic gradients from temperature and relative humidity data recorded with data loggers distributed across the trap network. We characterised environmental gradients using multivariate ordination, and evaluated relationships between environmental predictors and lizard assemblage structure using generalised linear models, generalised additive mixed models and generalised dissimilarity modelling. We captured 770 individuals representing 15 species, including generalist, ground-dwelling and forest-associated taxa. Lizard abundance was higher in open habitats and strongly associated with variability in relative humidity, suggesting that microclimatic fluctuations enhance fine-scale habitat heterogeneity. Species richness did not vary significantly along the gradient, although forested sites supported additional habitat specialists. Species turnover was primarily associated with estimated relative humidity variability, minimum temperature, canopy cover and leaf litter weight, whereas geographic distance contributed minimally. These findings indicate that microclimatic variability and habitat structure act as dominant environmental filters shaping ectotherm assemblages at local scales in transitional landscapes, highlighting the ecological importance of fine-scale environmental heterogeneity in Neotropical ecotones.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"51 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148357981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Firebreaks Promote the Connectivity of Ant Assemblages in Pampas Grasslands Fragmented by Commercial Forestry","authors":"M. Belén Maldonado,&nbsp;Katherine Bombi-Haedo,&nbsp;Álvaro Laborda,&nbsp;Manuel Cajade,&nbsp;Damián Hagopián,&nbsp;Martín Bollazzi,&nbsp;Alejandro Brazeiro,&nbsp;Miguel Simó","doi":"10.1111/aec.70255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.70255","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>While exotic forestry plantations fragment natural grasslands, firebreaks may serve as ecological corridors by maintaining environmental conditions like native habitats. However, the effectiveness of these linear features as functional corridors is taxon-specific and poorly understood for ants, which provide important ecosystem functions. This study evaluates whether firebreaks promote connectivity for grassland ants in the Pampa biome by comparing taxonomic and functional diversity across grasslands, firebreaks and <i>Eucalyptus</i> (Myrtaceae) plantations to identify the environmental variables driving these distribution patterns. Ants were collected using pitfall traps and aspirations (G-Vac) in autumn and spring. Ant abundance was significantly lower in <i>E. dunnii</i> plantations compared to both grasslands and firebreaks. Genera richness (Hill numbers: <i>q</i>0) did not differ significantly across environments. However, the diversity of rare and common genera (Hill numbers: <i>q</i>1 and <i>q</i>2) was significantly lower in <i>Eucalyptus</i> plantations compared to grasslands and firebreaks. This divergence was driven by the reduced abundance of <i>Camponotus</i>, <i>Crematogaster</i> and <i>Cyphomyrmex</i> within plantations. About community structure based on functional guilds, comparisons involving <i>Eucalyptus</i> plantations showed the highest levels of dissimilarity (43%), driven by a marked reduction in dominant ground omnivores (DGO), generalist patrolling Camponotini (GPC) and cryptic attine ants (CAA). In contrast, firebreaks and grasslands exhibited more similar functional compositions, with GPC being the most consistent group defining their shared characteristics. In summary, firebreaks maintained ant abundance, diversity and functional guild composition at levels like native grasslands. These findings demonstrate that the strategic integration of firebreaks into plantation design, prioritizing their frequency and maintenance, is fundamental for conserving ant biodiversity.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"51 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148324117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecological Niche Divergence in an Invasive Non-Native Shrub: Implications for Risk Assessments","authors":"Fellipe Alves Ozorio do Nascimento,&nbsp;Matheus Silva Asth,&nbsp;Renato Garcia Rodrigues,&nbsp;Rafael Dudeque Zenni,&nbsp;Edson Gomes de Moura Júnior","doi":"10.1111/aec.70251","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.70251","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding how invasive species respond to distinct climatic conditions across their global distribution is essential for revealing the mechanisms underlying their ecological success. This study aimed to evaluate whether <i>Nicotiana glauca</i>, a widely distributed invasive shrub, conserves or shifts its realized climatic niche across different invaded regions. We compared the climatic niches of the species' native range (Argentina and Bolivia) with those of five invaded regions (North America, the Mediterranean, Northeast South America, Southern Africa, and Australia) using a PCA-env framework. Our results show clear evidence of niche shifts in the Caatinga (Northeast Brazil) and Mediterranean regions, where <i>N. glauca</i> occupies warmer and more thermally stable environments in the Caatinga and cooler, more thermally variable climates in the Mediterranean, both with lower mean precipitation than the native range. These contrasting patterns indicate that the species expresses different portions of its fundamental climatic niche depending on the environmental context, reflecting a high degree of climatic plasticity. The ability of <i>N. glauca</i> to establish and persist under such distinct climatic regimes highlights its potential to invade areas beyond predictions based solely on native-range conditions. These findings underscore the importance of considering climatic novelty and niche shifts when assessing invasion risks and developing predictive frameworks for species distribution.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"51 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.70251","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148324009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Detection Probabilities for Three Nocturnal Floodplain Snakes: Implications for Monitoring the Endangered Grey Snake Hemiaspis damelii in the Murray-Darling Basin","authors":"Damian R. Michael,&nbsp;Dale G. Nimmo,&nbsp;Jessica Peterie,&nbsp;Thomas Freire","doi":"10.1111/aec.70256","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.70256","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Snakes are experiencing global population decline due to habitat loss, environmental degradation, pollution and climate change, yet effective conservation is often hindered by their cryptic behaviour and low detectability. In this study, we conducted targeted surveys and estimated detection probabilities for the endangered grey snake (<i>Hemiaspis damelii</i>) and two sympatric species, De Vis' banded snake (<i>Denisonia devisi</i>) and curl snake (<i>Suta suta</i>), to inform planning under biodiversity offset schemes, future monitoring and conservation efforts in floodplain ecosystems of the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. Visual encounter surveys were conducted across 22 transects over 15 consecutive nights, resulting in 140 snake observations, including 15 new <i>H. damelii</i> records. Detection probabilities varied among species, with <i>D. devisi</i> exhibiting the highest detection probability (0.842), followed by <i>H. damelii</i> (0.582) and <i>S. suta</i> (0.430). The mean number of surveys required to detect each species with 95% confidence was two, four and six surveys, respectively. These findings emphasise the need to tailor survey effort to species-specific detection probabilities to avoid false absences and improve the reliability of future surveys and monitoring programmes. We recommend integrating repeat surveys and occupancy modelling into standard monitoring protocols to improve conservation planning and management of threatened snake species. Our approach could be scaled to confirm grey snake presence at proposed development sites under biodiversity offset schemes by trading survey effort with spatial coverage to effectively sample extensive floodplain systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"51 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.70256","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148324008","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatiotemporal and Host Variations in Faecal Microbiomes of Hairy-Nosed Wombats (Lasiorhinus spp.)","authors":"Colin Sobek,&nbsp;Raphael Eisenhofer,&nbsp;Faith M. Walker,&nbsp;Jeremy J. Austin","doi":"10.1111/aec.70253","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.70253","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The gut microbiome can play a critical role in humans and wildlife, assisting with digestion, immunity and detoxification. This community is often adapted to the animal's ecosystem and fluctuates with seasonal shifts in diet. The gut microbiome can also be altered by anthropogenic effects such as invasive species creating increasingly homogenous landscapes. This in turn could reduce the overall diversity of the microbiome, which has been hypothesized to hinder adaptive potential. However, despite its probable importance, many species are still data deficient with regards to their specific gut microbiome. One data deficient species is the critically endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat (<i>Lasiorhinus krefftii</i>). Northern hairy-nosed wombats have undergone and slowly recovered from an extreme bottleneck over the last century, and the remaining populations live in increasingly homogeneous habitats dominated by invasive buffel grass (<i>Cenchrus ciliaris</i>). To fill in this gap we characterised the faecal microbiome of the northern-hairy-nosed wombat using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. To accomplish this, we collected fresh faecal samples from two populations across two seasons to generate a baseline profile of the microbiome as well as examine the effects of seasonality and geography. Additionally, we compared the faecal microbiome of the northern hairy-nosed wombat to the closest related species, the southern-hairy-nosed wombat (<i>Lasiorhinus latifrons</i>). From our results we determined that the microbiome of the northern hairy-nosed wombat changes from winter to spring and corresponding taxonomic shifts may be assisting the wombats with digestion during the dry months. Between the two wombat species we identified core taxa that are consistent with hindgut fermenting herbivores; however, differentially abundant taxa between the two species may indicate adaptations to the specific ecosystems they each inhabit.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"51 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.70253","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148282664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exotic Plant Pathogen Reduces Habitat and Foraging Activities of a Digging Mammal","authors":"Thomas M. Mansfield,&nbsp;Patricia A. Fleming,&nbsp;Himbutugoda Shanika Harshani,&nbsp;Shanan S. Tobe,&nbsp;Giles E. St. J. Hardy,&nbsp;Rachel J. Standish","doi":"10.1111/aec.70254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.70254","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The introduced plant pathogen <i>Phytophthora cinnamomi</i> Rands has caused extensive loss of understorey vegetation cover in native ecosystems globally. Vegetation loss likely has cascading impacts on fauna, but these are largely undocumented. One group of plants notably impacted by the pathogen are <i>Xanthorrhoea</i> grasstrees, which provide important habitat for digging mammals, so-called ‘ecosystem engineers’, such as bandicoots. We examined whether the quenda, <i>Isoodon fusciventer</i>, a bandicoot species endemic to southwestern Australia and an important ecosystem engineer, alters its foraging behaviour in forest infested by <i>P. cinnamomi</i>. We surveyed quenda digging activities in <i>P. cinnamomi</i>-infested and adjacent non-infested jarrah (<i>Eucalyptus marginata</i>) forest in peri-urban reserves and recorded the availability of plant cover and <i>Xanthorrhoea preissii</i> densities that could be used as refuge habitat, to determine if this was the case. We also recorded the availability of truffle-like fungi, an important food for quenda. Compared to non-infested forest, <i>P. cinnamomi</i>-infested sites had 46% less available quenda habitat in the form of dense, low shrubs. Downturned <i>X. preissii</i> ‘skirts’ of dead leaves touching the ground provide important quenda habitat. Infested sites had 45% fewer habitable (skirted) <i>X. preissii</i>. Infested sites also had 40% more bare ground. Quenda foraging activity was 33% lower within <i>P. cinnamomi</i>-infested sites and varied among reserves, suggesting the importance of site factors. We located few truffle-like fungi, with no significant difference between infested and non-infested forest, but we did not quantify all food sources used by these omnivores. We interpreted lower foraging in infestations as being due to reduced refuge habitat rather than reduced food availability. Our findings stress the importance of dense-skirted <i>X. preissii</i> and low-shrubs as quenda habitat. Management of pathogen spread is essential to retain quenda habitat. We invite further research into identifying pathogen-resistant shrubs and <i>X. preissii</i> to bolster quenda habitat in <i>P. cinnamomi-</i>infested forest.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"51 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.70254","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148282328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Australian Mistletoe-Host Leaf Resemblance: Support for Eco-Physiological Convergence Rather Than Disperser- or Herbivore-Driven Mimicry","authors":"J. J. Midgley","doi":"10.1111/aec.70250","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.70250","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Presently, there are three main hypotheses to explain why the leaves of many Australian mistletoes resemble their hosts. The eco-physiological convergence hypothesis suggests that mistletoes must manage their physiology, especially their water relations, to match those of the host, to avoid killing themselves or the host branch they have parasitised. This could be achieved by having similar leaves to the host. The anti-herbivore mimicry hypothesis suggests that when mistletoes are more palatable than their hosts, they may suffer less herbivory if they mimic their host. This would be protective crypsis if the herbivore mistakes the mistletoe leaf for a less palatable host leaf and avoids these leaves. The disperser mimicry hypothesis suggests that host resemblance may increase dispersal to preferred hosts if birds used mistletoe foliage, rather than fruit, to find further mistletoes. Presently, there are both logical and empirical problems with the mimicry hypotheses and some weak support for the convergence hypothesis.</p>","PeriodicalId":8663,"journal":{"name":"Austral Ecology","volume":"51 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aec.70250","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148282069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}