2007/01/01 by Chris J. Thorogood, Simon J. Hiscock · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Plant Parasitism and Resistance #Plant and animal studies #Plant and Fungal Species Descriptions
paper · pdf · doi:10.1155/2007/84234
openalex publication_date 2007/01/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Host specificity in the parasitic plant Cytinus hypocistis was quantified at four sites in the Algarve region of Portugal from 2002 to 2007. The parasite was found to be locally host specific, and only two hosts were consistently infected: Halimium halimifolium and Cistus monspeliensis . C. hypocistis did not infect hosts in proportion to their abundance; at three sites, 100% of parasites occurred on H. halimifolium which represented just 42.4%, 3% and 19.7% of potential hosts available, respectively. At the remaining site, where H. halimifolium was absent, 100% of parasites occurred on C. monspeliensis which represented 81.1% of potential hosts available. Other species of potential host were consistently uninfected irrespective of their abundance. Ecological niche divergence of host plants H. halimifolium and C. monspeliensis may isolate host-specific races of C. hypocistis , thereby potentially driving allopatric divergence in this parasitic plant.