We consider the mechanistic basis and functional significance of the pervasive influence of parasitic plants on productivity and diversity, synthesizing recent findings on their responses to drought, heat waves, and fire. Although parasites represent just 1% of all angiosperms, the ecophysiological traits associated with parasitism confer pronounced impacts on their hosts and disproportionate influence upon community structure, composition, and broader ecosystem function. New insights into the roles of their pollinators, seed dispersers, and litter-dependent detritivores have advanced our understanding of how parasitic plants modulate animal communities via their extended and complementary phenology. Direct and indirect impacts of climate change on parasitic plants and their ecological roles are already apparent. Trade-offs between maximizing efficiency at obtaining water from hosts and sensitivity to water stress underlie range shifts and host switching of parasitic plants and increased reliance on these plants by animal communities for food and shelter.

中文翻译：

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寄生植物在变暖世界中的功能作用

我们考虑了寄生植物对生产力和多样性普遍影响的机制基础和功能意义，综合了它们对干旱、热浪和火灾反应的最新发现。尽管寄生虫仅占所有被子植物的 1%，但与寄生相关的生态生理特征对其寄主产生了显着影响，并对群落结构、组成和更广泛的生态系统功能产生了不成比例的影响。对传粉者、种子传播者和依赖凋落物的碎屑动物的作用的新见解加深了我们对寄生植物如何通过其扩展和互补的物候学调节动物群落的理解。气候变化对寄生植物及其生态作用的直接和间接影响已经显而易见。从宿主获取水的效率最大化与对水胁迫的敏感性之间的权衡是寄生植物范围变化和宿主转换以及动物群落对这些植物的食物和住所的依赖增加的基础。