Interesting.
I have just been reading a heap of stuff about mistletoe and it's continuing infestation ... it's spreading.
Inaction has been taken as it's seen as a natural course of events, healthy trees are said to be able to sustain the mistletoe but where trees get infected over say 50% of the canopy it should be removed (the mistletoe).
The problems come from us (humans) changing the environment too much, not only with regard to the trees but with major regard to the soil and small scrub/natural floor beneath trees.
Mistletoe is now seen as the primary food source and staple diet for many birds/marsupials etc. The spread of it is due to the natural predators of mistletoe being removed from the system (ungrowth/scrub natural floor insects and bugs). Scientists are of the opinion it's the new food source and should be tolerated for the faunas sake.
I searched Google Australia some and CSIRO had some articles, but I didn't keep anything other than my brain cells memory.
The mistletoe infections around Burleigh Hill on the Gold Coast, Nerang etc have gone troppo. The trees are severely infested however after reading what I did I understand why .... development and drought, simple. |