Synopses & Reviews
Weeds have ecological attributes that confer the ability to interfere with human activities. Roger Cousens and Martin Mortimer place weed management within an ecological context, with the focus on the manipulation of population size. They consider the dynamics of abundance and spatial distribution at both geographic and local scales, and consider the basic processes of dispersal, reproduction and mortality together with the factors that influence them. The authors show how management modifies patterns of behavior that are intrinsic to populations, and note the evolution and management of resistance to herbicides. This book provides weed science with the conceptual basis that has previously been lacking. It also gives ecologists and botanists access to the extensive database on the population ecology of weeds.
Review
"This approach to plant populations gives us a strong conceptual background from which to limit weeds and understand the control of plant distributions and numbers." Choice"...excellent in that, as the authors state,'it provides weed scientists with a conceptual framework' for weed management, based on weed biology....remarkably free of jargon...well written and lively. This highly recommended book could be the basis of such a course anywhere where agriculture is taught." Weed Technology"This volume by Roger Cousens and Martin Mortimer is the first text to review research efforts on weed-population ecology....This book is a must read for weed scientists, but may be of equal value to plant ecologists." Fred Gould, American Scientist"For plant ecologists, this book offers an excellent introduction into the recent agricultural literature relating to plant population biology." David A. Pyke, Ecology
Synopsis
Dynamics of Weed Populations sets out a conceptual basis for weed science, focusing on the management of population dynamics rather than simply asking how we kill most weeds. It puts the broad empirical knowledge on weed ecology into a theoretical framework.
Table of Contents
Preface; 1. Weed population dynamics/the framework; 2. The dynamics of geographic range expansion; 3. Dispersal within and between populations; 4. Processes involved in the regulation of density; 5. The intrinsic dynamics of population density; 6. Extrinsic factors affecting population density; 7. The spatial dynamics of weed populations; 8. The evolution of herbicide resistance; 9. Weed population dynamics/synthesis and prognosis; References; Index.