Evolutionary Ecology of Weeds

by Jack Dekker

Evolutionary Ecology of Weeds, 2nd edition, is the story of WHAT, WHY and HOW some plant species invade and occupy habitats ripe for exploitation. The nature of weeds is the evolution of adaptive traits for seizing and exploiting locally available opportunity. Weeds are the consequence of human disturbance which creates opportunity spacetime, leaving unused resources eager for invasion by weeds. The nature of weeds is the story of us, humans. We created highly successful wild-crop-weed complexes that resist control. We created them by channeling natural selection, the driver of biological change. Plants invade by dispersing, colonizing, reproducing and enduring in a locality. Weeds possess mating systems that generate variable genotypes and phenotypes that struggle for existence, the winners take all. Evolution occurs. Adaptation in weed life history is about timing is everything. Adaptation in local plant communities is interference and facilitation animating strategic roles guided by functional traits. Weed community dynamics is community assembly and ecological succession. Complex adaptive weed system formation reveals larger forces of emergent behavior, physical information remembered. Knowledge of weeds is discovered, then represented in several different ecological demography, life history traits. Representation is confounded by the humans that make them, their beliefs, values and models. Case histories of three weeds explain these velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti), triazine resistant rapeseed (Brassica napus), and the foxtails (Setaria species-group). Complete information is available in "The EEW 2nd Edition Narrative" in a free .pdf book 1: THE NATURE OF WEEDSUNIT 2: THE EVOLUTION OF WEED POPULATIONSUNIT 3: ADAPTATION IN WEED LIFE HISTORYUNIT 4: ADAPTATION IN LOCAL PLANT COMMUNITIESUNIT 5: COMPLEX ADAPTIVE WEED SYSTEMSUNIT 6: REPRESENTATION OF WEED BIOLOGYUNIT 7: WEED CASE HISTORY A review of the 2nd edition is reproduced from Botanical Society of America, Plant Science Bulletin, Vol. 64 (2), summer 2018

552 pages, Paperback

Published July 26, 2016

Reviews

[Yanick Punter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not spectacular but it puts things into perspective