Based on these studies we predicted that the presence of Lonicera maackii would reduce the survival and fecundity of three native forest annuals, Galium aparine L.
Seeds of the shade-intolerant (Bain and Attridge, 1988), early season (Struik, 1965) annual Galium aparine were collected from the Bachelor Reserve (Miami University Natural Areas) during the summer of 1994.
Seeds of Galium aparine were germinated following the methods of Sjostedt (1959) in early March of 1995.
On 15 April 1995, 480 similar-sized seedlings of Galium aparine were selected and transplanted into the 120 treatment plots (4 per plot).
An individual of Galium aparine or Impatiens pallida was considered to have survived to reproduction if it bore any fruits.
For Galium aparine and Impatiens pallida we counted the number of seeds on each plant at each survey, harvested seeds as they matured and recorded the dry mass of seeds of each individual.
The Poisson distribution and logarithmic link function were used to create a log-linear model to test the effect of treatment on fecundity for Galium aparine and Impatiens pallida.
Survival to reproductive age of Galium aparine was significantly higher in the Lonicera maackii removal treatment (87%) than the L.
At both sites Galium aparine had significantly higher fecundity in the Lonicera maackii removal treatment than in the L.
For Galium aparine, however, fitness in the absent treatment was similar to that in the present treatment.
Our results demonstrate that the presence of Lonicera maackii shrubs reduced fecundity of Galium aparine, impatiens pallida and Pilea pumila in both deciduous forest stands and reduced survival of G.
Differences in survival were only detected at Gregg's Woodlot, where Galium aparine and Impatiens pallida but not Pilea pumila, had reduced survival in the presence of L.