Effect of Fruit Ingestion on Amelanchier seed Germination

Abstract

ROBINSON, W. ANN (Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA 15213). Effect of fruit ingestion on Amelanchier seed germination. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 13:131-134.-This study examines whether fruit ingestion improves seed germination of Amelanchier arborea (Michx.f.) Fern. Seeds were treated in four ways: counted but retained in intact fruit, removed mechanically from fruit pulp, separated from fruit pulp through consumption of the pulp by cedar waxwing, Bombycilla cedrorum, and by eastern chipmunk, Tamias striatus. The mechanical and cedar waxwing removal of fruit pulp signficantly enhanced seed germination. However, the eastern chipmunk proved to be a seed predator. The chipmunk cracked the seeds and consumed the embryos.