Prevalência de infecção e padrões de uso de hospedeiros por ervas-de-passarinho (Loranthaceae e Viscaceae) em espécies de árvores tropicais de interesse madeireiro

Abstract

The prevalence patterns of infection and the use of mistletoes remained unknown for tropical forests. In this study, we just filled this gap by looking for individuals of mistletoes in trees harvested under scheme Reduced Impact Forestry. We sampled 874 trees distributed in two forests with different features in the Brazilian Amazon: a closed forest with an emerging canopy (Dense Tropical Forest with Emerging trees) and an open forest with palm trees interspersed interrupting the canopy (Open Rainforest with Palm Trees). We evaluated the effect of relative abundance and host characteristics (basic density, deciduousness and average height) on the proportion of infection. Our results show that prevalence of infection was higher in ‘closed forest’ (14.8%) than in the ‘opened forest’ (5.4%) and the average height showed significant to the results found in only one area.