User:Huskyhottie46/Ericaceae/Bibliography

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Flowers of Daboecia cantabrica, showing the typical fused, bell-shaped corolla

Distribution and ecology

The Ericaceae have a nearly worldwide distribution. They are absent from continental Antarctica, parts of the high Arctic, central Greenland, northern and central Australia, and much of the lowland tropics and neotropics.

The family is largely composed of plants that can tolerate acidic, infertile, shady conditions. ((elaborate on culture of Ericaceae)) Due to their tolerance of acidic conditions, ((new intro phrase)) this plant family is also typical of peat bogs and blanket bogs; examples include Rhododendron groenlandicum and species in the genus Kalmia. ((Inserted citation)) In eastern North America, members of this family often grow in association with an oak canopy, in a habitat known as an oak-heath forest. ((Moved from further down, citation created)) Plants in Ericaceae, especially species in Vaccinium, rely on buzz pollination for successful pollination to occur.

The majority of ornamental species from Rhododendron are native to East Asia, but most varieties cultivated today are hybrids. Most rhododendrons grown in the United States are cultivated in the Pacific Northwest. The United States is the top producer of both blueberries and cranberries, with the state of Main growing the majority of lowbush blueberry. The wide distribution of genera within Ericaceae has led to situations in which there are both American and European plants with the same name - for example, blueberry: Vaccinium corymbosum in North America, and Vaccinium myrtillus in Europe; and cranberry: Vaccinium macrocarpon in America, and Vaccinium oxycoccos in Europe.

Mycorrhizal relationships

Main article: Ericoid mycorrhiza

Like other stress-tolerant plants, many Ericaceae have mycorrhizal fungi to assist with extracting nutrients from infertile soils, as well as evergreen foliage to conserve absorbed nutrients. ((Inserted citation)) This trait is not found in the Clethraceae and Cyrillaceae, the two families most closely related to the Ericaceae. Most Ericaceae (excluding the Monotropoideae, and some Epacridoideae) form a distinctive accumulation of mycorrhizae, in which fungi grow in and around the roots and provide the plant with nutrients. The Pyroloideae are mixotrophic and gain sugars from the mycorrhizae, as well as nutrients. ((Inserted citation))

The cultivation of blueberries, cranberries, and wintergreen for their fruit and oils relies especially on these unique relationships with fungi, as a healthy mycorrhizal network in the soil helps the plants to resist environmental stresses that might otherwise damage crop yield. Ericoid mycorrhizae are responsible for a high rate of uptake of nitrogen, which causes naturally low levels of free nitrogen in ericoid soils. These mycorrhizal fungi may also increase the tolerance of Ericaceae to heavy metals in soil, and may cause plants to grow faster by producing phytohormones.

Heathlands

Main article: Heath

In many parts of the world, a "heath" or "heathland" is an environment characterised by an open dwarf-shrub community found on low-quality acidic soils, generally dominated by plants in Ericaceae. Heathlands are a broadly anthropocentric habitat, requiring regular grazing or burning to prevent succession. Heaths are particularly abundant - and constitute important cultural elements - in Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and other countries in Central and Western Europe. The most common examples of plants in Ericaceae which dominate heathlands are Calluna vulgaris, Erica cineria, Erica tetralix, and Vaccinium myrtillus.

In heathland, plants in Ericaceae serve as host plants to the butterfly Plebejus argus. Other insects, such as Saturnia pavonia, Myrmeleotettix maculatus, Metrioptera brachyptera, and Picromerus bidens are closely associated with heathland environments. Reptiles thrive in heaths due to an abundance of sunlight and prey, and birds hunt the insects and reptiles which are present.

Some evidence suggests eutrophic rainwater can convert ericoid heaths with species such as Erica tetralix to grasslands. Nitrogen is particularly suspect in this regard, and may be causing measurable changes to the distribution and abundance of some ericaceous species. ((Inserted citation))

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