The Evolutionary Ecology of Weeds and Invasive Plants

This is a book of the ecology and evolutionary biology of weeds and other colonizing and invasive plants. Weed biology is the ecology and evolution of plants in localities influenced by human activity, notably agriculture. The focus is on these big WHY, HOW & WHAT questions of weed biology:The goal of this book is to provide comprehensive factual information about weed biology in an evolutionary context as the basis for understanding and management of local weed communities of the future. The goal is also to provide the reader with a dynamic framework to guide understanding of new observations in the future: a mental ‘toolkit’ to focus observations of new weed phenomena, a way to understand the fundamental forces in nature that cause weediness.Nothing in biology makes sense unless seen in the light of evolution (ref Dobhansky). Weed and crop management is the management of selection and elimination leading inexorably to the weed adaptations that plague our fields and interfere with our crops. To understand what we observe in agriculture and want to manage more wisely and efficiently, we need to understand how the evolutionary process works in weed communities.