Climbing trees, wielding saws and rising through forest canopies in cherry pickers are all in a day’s work for Charles Sturt University (CSU) researchers aiming to show the value of mistletoes to the wildlife in native forests.

Ecologist and project coordinator Dr David Watson is conducting Australia’s first large scale, long term study on the influence of the parasitic plant on woodland animals of southern New South Wales.

“Despite popular opinion, mistletoe is actually a very useful plant. Many animals use it for food and for nesting. In previous studies, I’ve shown that areas with more mistletoe support more types of animals, a pattern that is repeated around the world,” Dr Watson said.

“I believe that mistletoe is a keystone resource in our forests - just as the keystone in a building arch supports the arch and the building, a keystone species is one species in an ecosystem that has a huge effect on other organisms in the system. Take it away and the ‘arch’ collapses.”

Little is known, however, about how mistletoe affects animal diversity. To fill this missing part of the jigsaw, Dr Watson and research assistant Matt Herring are carrying out a large scale study that will remove mistletoe in a number of sites across a large catchment area.

“The best way to understand the importance of mistletoe is to remove the plant from a woodland and compare the numbers of animals in the forest before and after its removal,” Dr Watson said. 

Over the past two years, the CSU researchers have trapped mammals, looked for frogs and lizards, counted birds and measured trees in 42 woodland patches in the upper Billabong Creek catchment, north of Albury, NSW. Using this data, they have arranged the patches into two nearly identical groups of 21 patches, ranging from five to 30 hectares.

They are now starting to physically remove mistletoes from 21 of the woodland patches, with help from teams of Green Corps volunteers.

Dr Watson completed a much smaller comparison several years ago on two woodlands near Canberra, ACT.  The study showed that over the five years of the experiment there was 20 per cent fewer birds in the patch where mistletoe had been removed.

“I want to change people’s attitudes towards mistletoes.  They are not introduced weeds, but rather native plants that live on native trees. This study will show how these plants benefit animals and help us manage native woodlands, while making restored habitats even more useful for native animals,” said Dr Watson.