An evaluation of showy mistletoe (Loranthus europaeus) infection of oak forests in Meyan tang, Ilam province

Recently، showy mistletoe (Loranthus europaeus) has been a major menace in the fragile ecosystems of oak forests in western part of the country. Loranthus has done symbiosis mainly with oak trees and it is not troublesome by itself، but a massive population of Loranthus species in the same tree can cause sever damage and death on the host trees. Ilam province forests occur in different climates and stands conditions and provide various ecological potentialities based on their locations and geographical situations. The present work tries to determine the ratio of Loranthus presence in Ilam province forest stands (Meyan tang) and to evaluate the present status of the tree stands. In this regard، taking into account topographic conditions and vegetation changes along with elevation increase، the randomized stochastic bandy method was used. To perform quantitative and qualitative study، twenty type bands were calculated. The distance of type bands with regard to their number was selected as 100 m. To carry down bands، a statistical network was designed in a way that the first band was randomly selected following 50 m pass and the next band was determined 100m apart. Results indicated that average number of parasitic plant in the sample in the directions of north compare to south and east differed significantly (five percent level). But average of this parameter between aspects of east and west did not show any significant difference. Oak and Crataegus were the most and least infected species respectively. Over 56% of the samples were infected and relative number of parasite occurrence was 2. 75 per infected tree. Results of one-way analysis of variance didn’t show any significant correlation between average number of parasites on the samples and different slopes.