Recovery of evergreen clonal dwarf shrubVaccinium vitis-idaea after simulated microtine herbivory in a boreal forest

The evergreen dwarf shrub lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) was subjected to microtine herbivory simulations to investigate its recovery in a boreal forest. Beside the control (A), the study included three levels of herbivory: clipping of half the annual branches from 50% of ramets (B), removal of 50% of ramets (C), and removal of 100% of ramets (D). Density, growth, and fecundity of the ramets were monitored during the study. New ramets emerged rapidly from dormant basal buds at the base of the removed ramets in groups C and D. After three growth seasons, 60–117% and 42–112% of density and biomass, respectively, had been regained in the groups damaged relative to the control, the difference being insignificant between the treated groups apparently because of the small sample size. Survival, fecundity and net growth of ramets were not affected by the treatment. Mean dry weight of annual branches in new ramets was lower in the damaged groups than the control. The recovery of the lingonberry was unexpectedly good. The results suggest that, since natural herbivory seldom is as heavy as in this work, the time between population density peaks of microtine rodents is usually long enough for the lingonberry to recover in boreal ecosystems.