We quantified brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) diet in a mixed Nothofagus fusca-N. menziesii forest in north Westland. Diet comprised 49 food items of which four (Aristotelia serrata, Muehlenbeckia australis and Weinmannia racemosa foliage, and W. racemosa flowers) contributed 68%. The canopy dominant Nothofagus species were a minor diet component (<1%), while wood, fungi and bark were ...

Nothofagus dombeyi (Mirb.) Blume and Nothofagus nitida (Phil.) Krasser are closely related evergreen trees native to south central Chile. Nothofagus dombeyi is a pioneer in habitats subject to high daytime irradiances and nighttime freezing temperatures and has a wider altitudinal and latitudinal distribution than N. nitida, which is restricted to more oceanic climates. We postulated that N. do...

Question: What changes occur as a consequence of the massive flowering and senescence of the dominant understory species of bamboo, Chusquea culeou (E. Desvaux)? In this study, we documented some of the ecological consequences of this rare event that occurred in 2001, the previous flowering having occurred more than 60 years ago. Location: Nothofagus temperate forest, Patagonia, Argentina. Meth...

Changes in density and breeding of the house mouse (Mus musculus) in a New Zealand forest dominated by hard beech (Nothofagus truncata) were monitored for 2.5 years. Mice bred during winter and increased dramatically in density only during a beech mast year. Mice readily ate the endosperm and embryo of hard beech seed in the laboratory and chemical analysis showed it to be a very nutritious foo...

The phenomenon of patch dieback in stands of Nothofagus on Mt. Giluwe, in the southern highlands of Papua New Guinea, is described. Ecological studies that have been carried out are reviewed. Based upon the results of surveys on Mt. Giluwe, the role of Phytophthora cinnamomi in contributing to the dieback is examined. A comparison is made of Nothofagus dieback on Mt. Giluwe with Metrosideros di...

Phylogenetic relationships were examined within the "higher" Hamamelididae using 21 species representing eight families and related outgroups. Chloroplast DNA sequences encoding the matK gene (/1 kilobase) provided 258 informative nucleotide sites. Phylogenetic analysis of this variation produced one most parsimonious tree supporting three monophyletic groups. In this tree, Nothofagus was basal...

Net photosynthetic rate (A) and stomatal conductance (gs) of leaves of Nothofagus pumilio and N. antarctica seedlings were measured at different photosynthetic photon flux densities (PPFDs, 20, 150, 250, 500, 750, 1,000, 1,500 and 2,200 μmol/m2/s) and after 60 minutes of shade to determine the rate of photosynthetic induction after seedling transition from low to high PPFD. A and gs were also m...

This study uses data from forty-nine 20 m × 20 m permanent plots measured in 1976, 1982, 1989 and 1997-2002 in Wakatipu Forest, western Otago. We relate changes in red (Nothofagus fusca), silver (Nothofagus menziesii) and mountain beech (Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides) forest vegetation to the presence of fallow deer (Dama dama). Vegetation composition is likely to have been altered pr...

Cyttaria species (Leotiomycetes, Cyttariales) are obligate, biotrophic associates of Nothofagus (Hamamelididae, Nothofagaceae), the southern beech. As such Cyttaria species are restricted to the southern hemisphere, inhabiting southern South America (Argentina and Chile) and southeastern Australasia (southeastern Australia including Tasmania, and New Zealand). The relationship of Cyttaria to ot...

This study uses a molecular-dating approach to test hypotheses about the biogeography of Nothofagus. The molecular modelling suggests that the present-day subgenera and species date from a radiation that most likely commenced between 55 and 40 Myr ago. This rules out the possibility of a reconciled all-vicariance hypothesis for the biogeography of extant Nothofagus. However, the molecular dates...