TY - JOUR
T1 - Adaptability of plants invading North American cropland
AU - Clements, David R.
AU - Ditommaso, Antonio
AU - Jordan, Nicholas
AU - Booth, Barbara D.
AU - Cardina, John
AU - Doohan, Douglas
AU - Mohler, Charles L.
AU - Murphy, Stephen D.
AU - Swanton, Clarence J.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2004/12
Y1 - 2004/12
N2 - Invasive species have received considerable attention in recent years, but research has primarily focused on invasive species of natural habitats. Furthermore, cropland weeds have often been viewed as possessing a "general-purpose genotype" and therefore exhibiting relatively static genetics. However, a more current view is that weeds are capable of rapid genetic change, thereby making analysis of their evolutionary ecology a potentially valuable component for the development of sustainable weed management systems. In particular, further analysis of ongoing evolutionary change in cropland weeds is important because (1) most cropland weed species exhibit considerable adaptability, (2) cropland agriculture is continuously changing, and (3) further research on weed adaptability is needed to design cropping systems to address evolutionary change. In this review, we examine the potential of cropland weeds to evolve so as to affect their invasiveness. There is abundant evidence of genetic variation within and among weed populations in traits relevant to invasiveness, including seed germination patterns, life history traits, physiological adaptability and adaptation to disturbance and resource fluctuations. Approximately half of cropland weed species are primarily selfing, and species with a high degree of selfing tend to exhibit homogeneity within populations but divergence among populations. We identified four critical areas for future research: conflicting selection pressures on weeds in agroecosystems, feed-back driven dynamics of human-weed co-evolution, co-evolutionary mechanisms of weed adaptation in conjunction with other weed species or organisms, and the role of weed evolution in the restoration of agroecosystems.
AB - Invasive species have received considerable attention in recent years, but research has primarily focused on invasive species of natural habitats. Furthermore, cropland weeds have often been viewed as possessing a "general-purpose genotype" and therefore exhibiting relatively static genetics. However, a more current view is that weeds are capable of rapid genetic change, thereby making analysis of their evolutionary ecology a potentially valuable component for the development of sustainable weed management systems. In particular, further analysis of ongoing evolutionary change in cropland weeds is important because (1) most cropland weed species exhibit considerable adaptability, (2) cropland agriculture is continuously changing, and (3) further research on weed adaptability is needed to design cropping systems to address evolutionary change. In this review, we examine the potential of cropland weeds to evolve so as to affect their invasiveness. There is abundant evidence of genetic variation within and among weed populations in traits relevant to invasiveness, including seed germination patterns, life history traits, physiological adaptability and adaptation to disturbance and resource fluctuations. Approximately half of cropland weed species are primarily selfing, and species with a high degree of selfing tend to exhibit homogeneity within populations but divergence among populations. We identified four critical areas for future research: conflicting selection pressures on weeds in agroecosystems, feed-back driven dynamics of human-weed co-evolution, co-evolutionary mechanisms of weed adaptation in conjunction with other weed species or organisms, and the role of weed evolution in the restoration of agroecosystems.
KW - Allozyme analysis
KW - Evolution
KW - Invasive biology
KW - Phenotypic plasticity
KW - Weeds
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=9644273997&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.agee.2004.03.003
DO - 10.1016/j.agee.2004.03.003
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:9644273997
SN - 0167-8809
VL - 104
SP - 379
EP - 398
JO - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
JF - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
IS - 3
ER -