When you walk around the remnant forest areas of Hays Inlet wetlands you will often come across a red flower hanging in the lower branches of a Casuarina tree. Sometimes you will also see a splash of red colour belonging to a small bird known as the Mistletoe Bird. Most of us know about mistletoe from European and Christian origins especially around Christmas. So what do we know about the Australian version of this plant?

“The term mistletoe refers to perennial flowering plants, usually woody and shrubby or vine-like, which grow as parasites attached to the branches of trees and shrubs”
(Australian National Herbarium, 2012).

There are around 90 species of Mistletoe in Australia including 35 species in South East Queensland and they are quite common. They are a hemi-parasitic plant which taps into the sap of the host plant to collect water and minerals. They still produce their own food through photosynthesis; hence their green leaves and they normally have little effect on the host plant. Mistletoes rely on animals for pollination and seed dispersal. They generally produce red flowers and fruit. A number of animals feed on mistletoe including possums, gliders and insect larvae as well as 40 species of birds.

The Mistletoe bird is a small energetic bird which specialises on feeding on the fruits of Mistletoe. The pulp of the Mistletoe fruit is rich in glucose and the bird squeezes and swallows the pulp and seeds. Within a short period of time the seeds are excreted as a sticky globule which can stick to any surface including the bark and branches of trees.  If the seeds end up on a compatible tree then the seeds germinate and establish a new plant. Given that trees like Casuarina are located within the same habitat area the chances of the mistletoe establishing on a number of trees is quite high.

So even though it is mid-winter you can still find mistletoe hanging from some of the trees and shrubs in Hays Inlet.
 
References and further reading:
http://ashdown4628.clients.cmdwebsites.com/blog/?p=6711 downloaded 27th June 2016
Australian National Herbarium http://www.cpbr.gov.au/mistletoe/ downloaded 27th June 2016
Watson, D.M., (2001) Mistletoe: A keystone resource in forests and woodlands worldwide. Annual Review of Ecol Syst. 32:219–49

The Green Army team has been studying saltmarsh monitoring methods and had a chance to put their knowledge to the test at the Bremner Road Saltmarsh Reserve. The site has been monitored by REF Inc and WetlandCare Australia since 2012. The main focus has been to study any differences between the saltmarsh vegetation in a previously disturbed and damaged site and a more pristine site located on the other side of the drain.

Under the guidance of Cheryl Bolzenius from WetlandCare Australia and Chris Joyce and Bob Crudgington from REF the team collected photographic data from 14 transects and 96 plots as well as conducted an invertebrate survey. The site hasn’t been monitored since mid-2015 due to final construction of the Moreton Bay Rail Link. The data will continue to be used in a long term study of saltmarsh regeneration.
The skills gained by the Green Army team will be put to use in the Silcock Street site where there are significant areas of valuable saltmarsh requiring monitoring and a level of rehabilitation.

Sub-tropical and temperate saltmarsh has been listed as a vulnerable by the Federal Government through the EPBC Act in 2013. The saltmarsh areas in Hays Inlet are important agents of water quality, carbon storage, fisheries production and biodiversity. They also form habitat and roosting sites for wading birds including vulnerable and endangered species such as the Eastern Curlew and other other international waders.

Protecting these precious areas from disturbance (motor bikes and recreational vehicles), development, weeds, excessive nutrients and changes in hydrology are some of the key challenges REF Inc and its partners face in rehabilitating maintaining this valuable community resource. 

To learn more about saltmarsh ecology and monitoring go to http://saltmarsh.enviroed.com.au/

If you want to see evidence of how our wetland and coastal habitats are sensitive to elevation just take a walk around the eco-project site at Silcock Street at Clontarf. In a small area you can see 5 habitat types set out in a mosaic formation and include Coastal Eucalypt, Melaleuca, Casuarina, Saltmarsh and Mangroves. The elevation of the low lying land determines which vegetation type grows on it. These differences are mainly due to hydrology and in particular the capacity to deal with different levels of salinity.

Mangroves are associated with areas which are exposed to tidal inundation on a daily basis and they can often be found lining the man-made drains which penetrate the terrestrial landscape and are well away from the shoreline.
Saltmarsh vegetation thrives in the saltpan areas where the occasional exposure to king and spring tides creates a high saline area. These herbaceous plants are adapted to coping with high salt levels as well as long periods of drought.
Casuarina and marine couch are also found on the terrestrial side of saltmarsh as they can cope with higher levels of salinity than other terrestrial forest systems. Melaleuca (paperbark) can cope with fresh water inundation and so tend to dominate the lower lying freshwater habitats. Coastal Eucalypt needs higher elevations where water and salinity are not an issue.  
A good example in Clontarf shows a small area with varying levels (caused by a drainage channel). You can stand at one point and look on to mangroves (along a channel and also a low lying area) as well as look onto a small area of saltmarsh vegetation lined with Casuarina and Melaleuca. Literally 20 meters away the land is elevated slightly and you see massive mature Eucalypts. The difference in elevation is a matter of one or two meters.
It makes you realise how dynamic this system is and how specialised some of our vegetation is in terms of colonising wetland areas. The variety of vegetation types in such close proximity makes the Clontarf eco-site a hotspot for biodiversity with many animals also adapted to utilise particular plant types.