<
https://theconversation.com/how-we-brought-mistletoes-back-to-the-trees-of-melbourne-while-warding-off-hungry-possums-211742>
"Until recently, mistletoes were regarded as problematic pests across
Australia. They were seen as having been introduced from elsewhere, exploiting
helpless trees and driving their premature demise.
Around the world, arborists and plantation managers used to be trained to
remove mistletoes as part of routine maintenance. They went to extraordinary
lengths to rid trees of these dense parasitic clumps, using flamethrowers,
high-powered rifles, even herbicide-spritzing drones.
But just as we now know that hollows are essential for wildlife, including many
threatened species, awareness of the positive side of parasitic plants is
growing. Mistletoes have been shown to boost biodiversity and increase
resilience of wildlife populations to drought, habitat loss and predators.
However, unlike other plants that can be grown as seedlings and planted out,
mistletoes rely on animals to plant their seeds on the branches of host trees.
This means they aren’t included in revegetation efforts, and it was unclear
whether it would even be possible.
We set out on a world-first trial to attempt to reintroduce mistletoe to the
trees of Melbourne. As our recently published research shows, we succeeded.
Some of the mistletoes are now even bearing fruit.
The only factor that stood in the way of success was the bane of many
gardeners’ lives – hungry brushtail possums."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
