THE PARADOX OF BERRY PRODUCTION IN TEMPERATE SPECIES OF VACCINIUM

Vegetative cover, fruiting phenology, and seed production was estimate d from six Vaccinia heathlands on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland so that the efficacy of the Vaccinium seed bank could be ascertained. Out of the six species of Vaccinium present in this vegetation, only V. angustifolium and V. boreale were recovered from 120 soil cores tak en; V. uliginosum and V. vitis-idaea, two of the most common species o n these heaths, were not represented in the seed bank at all, yet expe rimentally buried seeds from both these taxa will successfully germina te when exhumed after 6 years of burial. Indeed, 81% of the germinants were from taxa with dry fruits such as Kalmia, Luzula, Juncus, and Ag rostis. Paucity of Vaccinium seed in the soil column may be due in par t to fungal rot and avian predation.