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We investigated the importance of lodgepole pine dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium americanum Nutt.) in determining the height to crown top (HCT), height to crown base (HCB), and live crown ratio (LCR) of 2025 lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. murrayana (Grev. & Balf.) Engelm.) growing over a 24-km2 study site in central Oregon. We compared the effects of infection and associated witches' brooms with those of site topography, soil type, shrub cover, stand density, and the abundance of mature ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex P. Laws. & C. Laws). using multiple regression and path analysis. The density of dominant-size P. contorta was consistently the most important factor influencing HCT, HCB, and LCR across the study site. In dense stands, trees tended to have elevated crown bases due to self-pruning and, hence, lower values of LCR. Dwarf mistletoe and related witches' brooms uniquely explained 6.9% of the variance in LCR, which was close to that of dominant P. contorta (7.1%) and more than that of soil type (3.0%), but explained only 2.6% of the variance in HCB, which was less than that of dominant P. contorta (6.5%) and soil type (4.6%). Regression models suggest that heavily infected trees should be 18% shorter and have crown bases 37% lower than uninfected trees, while moderately infected trees should have an LCR over 20% larger than that of uninfected and heavily infected trees. We also found that the largest 25 heavily infected trees sampled were approximately 19% shorter and 11–13% smaller in diameter than the largest 25 uninfected trees. The results suggest that dwarf mistletoe can be an important factor in determining the crown dimensions of P. contorta but that these effects may be interpreted only in the context of site characteristics and stand structure.

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The relationships between abundance of dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium americanum Nutt.) and the canopy structure of stands of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. murrayana (Grev. & Balf.) Engelm.) were investigated in the central Oregon pumice zone. Foliage height profiles were generated for stands containing light, moderate, and heavy infestations of A. americanum, and the vertical distribution of P. contorta foliage was modeled using the Weibull distribution. Stand-level changes in the Weibull parameters σ (scale parameter) and c (shape parameter) as well as other canopy indices were related to the abundance of A. americanum, the density of competing tree species, and stand-level abiotic factors. Foliage intercept diagrams showed that heavily infested stands had more foliage in the lower canopy and less in the upper canopy than lightly infested stands, but that total canopy height and canopy volume were similar regardless of infestation level. We also found that dwarf mistletoe abundance was strongly related to σ (r = –0.74, p < 0.001) and c (r = –0.54, p < 0.0001). Since heavily infested stands contained fewer large but many more small P. contorta than lightly infested stands, we conclude that A. americanum causes the canopy of infested stands to change, in part, by inducing demographic changes in populations of the host tree. These results illustrate the significant effects that dwarf mistletoes can have on the structural diversity of conifer forest communities and have important consequences for the conservation and management of these systems.