Ollie Spacey
@biolliegist.bsky.social
DPhil (PhD) student in Salgo Team, Dept Biology, Uni of Oxford🔬| Parasite ecology and evolution, especially mistletoe 🦠🌱🦟 | BES Quantitative Ecology 📊📈
Just over a month left to record the #mistletoe in your area via the MistleGO survey! Find out more here: treecouncil.org.uk/science-and-...
February 7, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Just over a month left to record the #mistletoe in your area via the MistleGO survey! Find out more here: treecouncil.org.uk/science-and-...
Day 24: Pliny the Elder wrote about the druids harvesting #mistletoe from oak trees, but oak is an extremely rare host for Viscum album... There are only 13 confirmed mistletoe-oaks in Britain! (Box, 2019) Maybe Pliny was talking about Loranthus... 🌳🧪 (25/26)
December 24, 2024 at 3:01 PM
Day 24: Pliny the Elder wrote about the druids harvesting #mistletoe from oak trees, but oak is an extremely rare host for Viscum album... There are only 13 confirmed mistletoe-oaks in Britain! (Box, 2019) Maybe Pliny was talking about Loranthus... 🌳🧪 (25/26)
Day 23: many species are vulnerable to the effects of drought, but mistletoe could help! One study found that Australian mistletoes like Amyema and Dendrophthoe may moderate drought impacts on birds, but the.mistletoes are vulnerable to drought themselves... (Crates et al., 2022) 🐦🧪 (24/26)
December 23, 2024 at 11:28 AM
Day 23: many species are vulnerable to the effects of drought, but mistletoe could help! One study found that Australian mistletoes like Amyema and Dendrophthoe may moderate drought impacts on birds, but the.mistletoes are vulnerable to drought themselves... (Crates et al., 2022) 🐦🧪 (24/26)
Day 22: the effects of #mistletoe on ecosystems can be complex... Recently, scientists in France have found invasive Drosophila suzukii flies using Viscum album fruits to help them overwinter, and mistletoe could support the flies in infesting crop fruits (Deconninck et al., 2024) 🍎🧪 (23/26)
December 22, 2024 at 11:32 AM
Day 22: the effects of #mistletoe on ecosystems can be complex... Recently, scientists in France have found invasive Drosophila suzukii flies using Viscum album fruits to help them overwinter, and mistletoe could support the flies in infesting crop fruits (Deconninck et al., 2024) 🍎🧪 (23/26)
Day 21: a somewhat less scientific #mistletoe fact... Cliff Richard's Christmas classic "Mistletoe and Wine" was the best-selling song in the UK that whole year, with over 500,000 copies sold. It was originally written for a musical ("Scraps"), based off a Hans Christian Andersen novel...🍷🧪 (22/26)
December 21, 2024 at 5:53 PM
Day 21: a somewhat less scientific #mistletoe fact... Cliff Richard's Christmas classic "Mistletoe and Wine" was the best-selling song in the UK that whole year, with over 500,000 copies sold. It was originally written for a musical ("Scraps"), based off a Hans Christian Andersen novel...🍷🧪 (22/26)
Day 20: as European #mistletoe (Viscum album) is dioecious and has sticky pollen, it’s almost entirely dependent on pollinators to fruit. In particular, V. album is pollinated by winter-active insects, especially flies (Diptera) like Helina reversio (Thomas et al., 2022) 🪰🧪 (21/26)
December 20, 2024 at 12:15 PM
Day 20: as European #mistletoe (Viscum album) is dioecious and has sticky pollen, it’s almost entirely dependent on pollinators to fruit. In particular, V. album is pollinated by winter-active insects, especially flies (Diptera) like Helina reversio (Thomas et al., 2022) 🪰🧪 (21/26)
Day 19: European #mistletoe has reduced capacity for respiration, but it has also lost some of its photosynthetic apparatus (Schröder et al., 2022) as shown from a comparison with Arabidopsis. This might have evolved because it can steal some carbon from its host trees instead... 🍃🧪 (20/26)
December 19, 2024 at 5:52 PM
Day 19: European #mistletoe has reduced capacity for respiration, but it has also lost some of its photosynthetic apparatus (Schröder et al., 2022) as shown from a comparison with Arabidopsis. This might have evolved because it can steal some carbon from its host trees instead... 🍃🧪 (20/26)
Day 18:some #mistletoe species don't rely on birds to spread their seeds, but marsupials! The monito del monte (Dromiciops gliroides) is a marsupial that eats and spreads seeds of Tristerix corymbosus mistletoes (Amino and Aizen, 2000) 🦘🧪 (19/26)
December 18, 2024 at 5:08 PM
Day 18:some #mistletoe species don't rely on birds to spread their seeds, but marsupials! The monito del monte (Dromiciops gliroides) is a marsupial that eats and spreads seeds of Tristerix corymbosus mistletoes (Amino and Aizen, 2000) 🦘🧪 (19/26)
Day 17: the #mistletoe habit has evolved not once... not twice... but at least 5 times! Phylogenetic analysis of the Santalales order suggests that aerial parasitism (i.e., the mistletoe habit) has evolved independently in 5 groups (Vidal-Russell and Nickrent, 2008) 🧬🧪 (18/26)
December 17, 2024 at 4:39 PM
Day 17: the #mistletoe habit has evolved not once... not twice... but at least 5 times! Phylogenetic analysis of the Santalales order suggests that aerial parasitism (i.e., the mistletoe habit) has evolved independently in 5 groups (Vidal-Russell and Nickrent, 2008) 🧬🧪 (18/26)
Day 16: as #mistletoe penetrates into the host and forms a haustorium, it often produces a flower-like proliferation of tissue called a "woodrose". These beautiful structures are commonly cut out and carved, like this sculpture of a hen from Indonesia! 🐓🧪 (17/26)
December 16, 2024 at 11:56 AM
Day 16: as #mistletoe penetrates into the host and forms a haustorium, it often produces a flower-like proliferation of tissue called a "woodrose". These beautiful structures are commonly cut out and carved, like this sculpture of a hen from Indonesia! 🐓🧪 (17/26)
Day 15: it is clear #mistletoe is brilliant for biodiversity, and restoration projects are underway where mistletoe has been removed. Creeping mistletoe (Muellerina eucalyptoides) was successfully inoculated on plane trees in Melbourne! (Watson et al., 2023) ♻️🧪 (16/26)
December 15, 2024 at 8:34 PM
Day 15: it is clear #mistletoe is brilliant for biodiversity, and restoration projects are underway where mistletoe has been removed. Creeping mistletoe (Muellerina eucalyptoides) was successfully inoculated on plane trees in Melbourne! (Watson et al., 2023) ♻️🧪 (16/26)
Day 14: #mistletoe can provide a home for struggling species! Near-threatened spotted owls (Strix occidentalis) were found to commonly nest in Douglas-fir dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium douglasii) in Oregon (Marshall et al., 2003) 🦉🧪 (15/26)
December 14, 2024 at 2:27 PM
Day 14: #mistletoe can provide a home for struggling species! Near-threatened spotted owls (Strix occidentalis) were found to commonly nest in Douglas-fir dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium douglasii) in Oregon (Marshall et al., 2003) 🦉🧪 (15/26)
Day 13: due to the association of #mistletoe with Druids, the Church banned mistletoe and it is still not used by the Church of England today... except at York Minster, where for some reason they hang it up each Christmas... ✝️🧪 (14/26)
December 13, 2024 at 7:03 PM
Day 13: due to the association of #mistletoe with Druids, the Church banned mistletoe and it is still not used by the Church of England today... except at York Minster, where for some reason they hang it up each Christmas... ✝️🧪 (14/26)
Day 12: Some #mistletoe species are "hyperparasites"! They grow on other mistletoes of different or of the same species (=autoparasites), often altering the effects of the primary parasite (Krasylenko et al., 2021). Note the different leaves of host, parasite and hyperparasite below... 🤯🧪 (13/26)
December 12, 2024 at 4:58 PM
Day 12: Some #mistletoe species are "hyperparasites"! They grow on other mistletoes of different or of the same species (=autoparasites), often altering the effects of the primary parasite (Krasylenko et al., 2021). Note the different leaves of host, parasite and hyperparasite below... 🤯🧪 (13/26)
Day 11: When #mistletoe infects a host tree, it can manipulate it! Viscum album causes host tissue to expand (hypertrophy), promoting access to water and mechanical anchorage (Mylo et al., 2021). This is probably done by altering host cell differentiation (Hu et al., 2017) - sneaky! ⚔️🧪 (12/26)
December 11, 2024 at 9:38 AM
Day 11: When #mistletoe infects a host tree, it can manipulate it! Viscum album causes host tissue to expand (hypertrophy), promoting access to water and mechanical anchorage (Mylo et al., 2021). This is probably done by altering host cell differentiation (Hu et al., 2017) - sneaky! ⚔️🧪 (12/26)
Day 10: in Jamaica, native #mistletoe (Oryctanthus occidentalis) has been referred to as "God-bush" by Caribbean herbalists of African descent since 1800s, possibly because it never touches the ground. Closely related O. cordifolius looks very other-worldly... 🇯🇲🧪 (11/26)
December 10, 2024 at 5:29 PM
Day 10: in Jamaica, native #mistletoe (Oryctanthus occidentalis) has been referred to as "God-bush" by Caribbean herbalists of African descent since 1800s, possibly because it never touches the ground. Closely related O. cordifolius looks very other-worldly... 🇯🇲🧪 (11/26)
Day 9: #mistletoe (specifically, American mistletoe, Phoradendron leucarpum) is the floral emblem of Oklahoma, chosen in 1893. European mistletoe (Viscum album) is also the county flower of Herefordshire! 🆗🧪 (10/26)
December 9, 2024 at 11:59 PM
Day 9: #mistletoe (specifically, American mistletoe, Phoradendron leucarpum) is the floral emblem of Oklahoma, chosen in 1893. European mistletoe (Viscum album) is also the county flower of Herefordshire! 🆗🧪 (10/26)
One student even drew this for me 🥹
December 9, 2024 at 1:03 PM
One student even drew this for me 🥹
Spent the morning at OUMNH trying to convince Year 9s that #mistletoe is not just for Christmas - thank you for the opportunity @morethanadodo.bsky.social ! 🎄🌱🧪
December 9, 2024 at 1:03 PM
Spent the morning at OUMNH trying to convince Year 9s that #mistletoe is not just for Christmas - thank you for the opportunity @morethanadodo.bsky.social ! 🎄🌱🧪
Day 8: #mistletoe is a parasitic plant, but it can have a net benefit on the host indirectly... Phoradendron juniperinum mistletoe growing on one-seed juniper attracts Townsend's solitaires, which spread juniper seeds - a net benefit for the tree! (van Ommeren and Whitham, 2002) 🫐🧪 (9/26)
December 8, 2024 at 12:33 PM
Day 8: #mistletoe is a parasitic plant, but it can have a net benefit on the host indirectly... Phoradendron juniperinum mistletoe growing on one-seed juniper attracts Townsend's solitaires, which spread juniper seeds - a net benefit for the tree! (van Ommeren and Whitham, 2002) 🫐🧪 (9/26)
Day 7: we often think of #mistletoe having long, smooth leaves, but some species are "squamate", with alien-looking scale-like leaves, e.g., New Zealand's pymgy mistletoes (Korthalsella). Leaf reduction possibly evolved due to decreased dependency on mistletoe photosynthesis for carbon... 👽🧪 (8/26)
December 7, 2024 at 11:16 AM
Day 7: we often think of #mistletoe having long, smooth leaves, but some species are "squamate", with alien-looking scale-like leaves, e.g., New Zealand's pymgy mistletoes (Korthalsella). Leaf reduction possibly evolved due to decreased dependency on mistletoe photosynthesis for carbon... 👽🧪 (8/26)
Day 6: classic European #mistletoe (Viscum album) that is typically associated with Christmas exists beyond Europe! It was introduced to California by Burbank around 1900, and the in population is still expanding and intensifying... (Shaw and Lee, 2020) 🌳🧪 (7/26)
December 6, 2024 at 6:57 PM
Day 6: classic European #mistletoe (Viscum album) that is typically associated with Christmas exists beyond Europe! It was introduced to California by Burbank around 1900, and the in population is still expanding and intensifying... (Shaw and Lee, 2020) 🌳🧪 (7/26)
Day 5: Some #mistletoe species face an uncertain future and some have already been unlucky... Adam's mistletoe (Trilepidea adamsii) from New Zealand hasn't been seen since 1970s, possibly going extinct due to loss of habitat and pollinators, and browsing by possums 😢🧪 (6/26)
December 5, 2024 at 12:25 PM
Day 5: Some #mistletoe species face an uncertain future and some have already been unlucky... Adam's mistletoe (Trilepidea adamsii) from New Zealand hasn't been seen since 1970s, possibly going extinct due to loss of habitat and pollinators, and browsing by possums 😢🧪 (6/26)
Day 4: the word #mistletoe is derived from Germanic roots "mistel" (dung) and "tan" (twig), referring to the dispersal of some mistletoes in bird droppings that land on tree branches - romantic! 💩🧪 (5/26)
December 4, 2024 at 2:52 PM
Day 4: the word #mistletoe is derived from Germanic roots "mistel" (dung) and "tan" (twig), referring to the dispersal of some mistletoes in bird droppings that land on tree branches - romantic! 💩🧪 (5/26)
Day 3: Some #mistletoe species mimic the trees they grow on: their leaves look remarkably similar to their hosts! Several hypotheses have been proposed as to why, including how well seed dispersers can see them (Cook, Leigh and @drdave.bsky.social, 2020) 🍃🧪 (4/26)
December 3, 2024 at 10:27 PM
Day 3: Some #mistletoe species mimic the trees they grow on: their leaves look remarkably similar to their hosts! Several hypotheses have been proposed as to why, including how well seed dispersers can see them (Cook, Leigh and @drdave.bsky.social, 2020) 🍃🧪 (4/26)