Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:02:32.895Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Environmental Correlates with Germinable Weed Seedbanks on Organic Farms across Northern New England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2017

Richard G. Smith*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor and Graduate Student, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824
Sonja K. Birthisel
Affiliation:
Graduate Student, Graduate Student, Professor, and Graduate Student, School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469
Sidney C. Bosworth
Affiliation:
Extension Professor and Lecturer, and Extension Instructor, Department of Plant and Soil Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405
Bryan Brown
Affiliation:
Graduate Student, Graduate Student, Professor, and Graduate Student, School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469
Thomas M. Davis
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824
Eric R. Gallandt
Affiliation:
Graduate Student, Graduate Student, Professor, and Graduate Student, School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469
Ann Hazelrigg
Affiliation:
Extension Professor and Lecturer, and Extension Instructor, Department of Plant and Soil Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405
Eric Venturini
Affiliation:
Graduate Student, Graduate Student, Professor, and Graduate Student, School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469
Nicholas D. Warren
Affiliation:
Associate Professor and Graduate Student, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824
*
*Corresponding author’s E-mail: richard.smith@unh.edu

Abstract

The northern New England region includes the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine and encompasses a large degree of climate and edaphic variation across a relatively small spatial area, making it ideal for studying climate change impacts on agricultural weed communities. We sampled weed seedbanks and measured soil physical and chemical characteristics on 77 organic farms across the region and analyzed the relationships between weed community parameters and select geographic, climatic, and edaphic variables using multivariate procedures. Temperature-related variables (latitude, longitude, mean maximum and minimum temperature) were the strongest and most consistent correlates with weed seedbank composition. Edaphic variables were, for the most part, relatively weaker and inconsistent correlates with weed seedbanks. Our analyses also indicate that a number of agriculturally important weed species are associated with specific U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones, implying that future changes in climate factors that result in geographic shifts in these zones will likely be accompanied by changes in the composition of weed communities and therefore new management challenges for farmers.

Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Copyright
© Weed Science Society of America, 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Associate Editor for this paper: Adam Davis, USDA–ARS.

References

Literature Cited

Andreasen, C, Streibig, JC, Haas, H (1991) Soil properties affecting the distribution of 37 weed species in Danish fields. Weed Res 31:181187 Google Scholar
Belyea, LR, Lancaster, J (1999) Assembly rules within a contingent ecology. Oikos 86:402416 Google Scholar
Carrascal, LM, Galvan, I, Gordo, O (2009) Partial least squares regression as an alternative to current regression methods used in ecology. Oikos 118:681690 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavers, PB, Benoit, DL (1989) Seed banks in arable land. Pages 309–328 in Leck MA, Parker VT Simpson RL, eds. Ecology of Soil Seed Banks. San Diego, CA: Academic Google Scholar
Chen, IC, Hill, JK, Ohlemuller, R, Roy, DB, Thomas, CD (2011) Rapid range shifts of species associated with high levels of climate warming. Science 333:10241026 Google Scholar
Conn, JS, Werdin-Pfisterer, NR, Beattie, KL (2011) Development of the Alaska agricultural weed flora 1981–2004: a case for prevention. Weed Res 51:6370 Google Scholar
Davis, AS (2006) When does it make sense to target the weed seed bank? Weed Sci 54:558565 Google Scholar
Davis, AS, Cardina, J, Forcella, F, Johnson, GA, Kegode, G, Lindquist, JL, Luschei, EC, Renner, KA, Sprague, CL, Williams, MW II (2005) Environmental factors affecting seed persistence of annual weeds across the U.S. corn belt. Weed Sci 53:860868 Google Scholar
Dufrene, M, Legendre, P (1997) Species assemblages and indicator species: the need for a flexible asymmetrical approach. Ecol Monogr 67:345366 Google Scholar
Fennimore, SA, Jackson, LE (2003) Organic amendment and tillage effects on vegetable field weed emergence and seedbanks. Weed Technol 17:4250 Google Scholar
Fernandez, IJ, Schmitt, CV, Birkel, SD, Stancioff, E, Pershing, AJ, Kelley, JT, Runge, JA, Jacobson, GL, Mayewski, PA (2015) Maine’s Climate Future: 2015 Update. Orono, ME: University of Maine. 24 pGoogle Scholar
Fried, G, Norton, LR, Reboud, X (2008) Environmental and management factors determining weed species composition and diversity in France. Agric Ecosys Environ 128:6876 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallandt, ER (2006) How can we target the weed seedbank? Weed Sci 54:588596 Google Scholar
Hale, I, Wollheim, W, Smith, RG, Asbjornsen, H, Brito, A, Broders, K, Grandy, AS, Rowe, R (2014) A scale-explicit framework for conceptualizing the environmental impacts of agricultural land use changes. Sustainability 6:84328451 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyvönen, T (2011) Impact of temperature and germination time on the success of a C4 weed in a C3 crop: Amaranthus retroflexus and spring barley. Agric Food Sci 20:183190 Google Scholar
Jarnevich, CS, Holcombe, TR, Barnett, DT, Stohlgren, TJ, Kartesz, JT (2010) Forecasting weed distributions using climate data: a GIS early warning tool. Invasive Plant Sci Manag 3:365375 Google Scholar
Keim, B, Rock, B (2001) The New England region’s changing climate. Chapter 2 in Preparing for a Changing Climate: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. Durham, NC: New England Regional Overview, U.S. Global Change Research Program, University of New Hampshire. 96 p. https://downloads.globalchange.gov/nca/nca1/NCA1-New-England-Assessment-Report.pdf. Accessed February 15, 2017Google Scholar
Kelt, DA, Taper, ML, Meserve, PL (1995) Assessing the impact of competition on community assembly: a case study using small mammals. Ecology 76:12831296 Google Scholar
Kremer, RJ, Li, J (2003) Developing weed-suppressive soils through improved soil quality management. Soil Till Res 72:193202 Google Scholar
Liebman, M, Davis, AS (2000) Integration of soil, crop and weed management in low-external-input farming systems. Weed Res 40:2747 Google Scholar
Long, RL, Steadman, KJ, Panetta, FD, Adkins, SW (2009) Soil type does not affect seed ageing when soil water potential and temperature are controlled. Plant Soil 320:131 Google Scholar
Magurran, AE (1988) Ecological Diversity and Its Measurement. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press Google Scholar
Marcel, M, Lawson, CS, Mortimer, SR, Smilauerova, M, Bischoff, A, Cremieux, L, Dolezal, J, Edwards, AR, Lanta, V, Bezemer, TM, van der Putten, W, Igual, JM, Rodriguez-Barrueco, C, Muller-Scharer, H, Steinger, T (2007) Climate vs. soil factors in local adaptation of two common plant species. Ecology 88:424433 Google Scholar
McCune, B (2006) Non-parametric habitat models with automatic interactions. J Veg Sci 17:819830 Google Scholar
McCune, B, Grace, JB (2002) Analysis of Ecological Communities. Gleneden Beach, OR: MjM Software Design Google Scholar
McCune, B, Mefford, MJ (2009) HyperNiche. Nonparametric Multiplicative Habitat Modeling v. 2.30. Gleneden Beach, OR: MjM Software DesignGoogle Scholar
McCune, B, Mefford, MJ (2011) PC-ORD. Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data. Version 6.08. https://www.pcord.com/ Google Scholar
McKenney, DW, Pedlar, JH, Lawrence, K, Papadopol, P, Campbell, K, Hutchinson, MF (2014) Change and evolution in the plant hardiness zones of Canada. BioScience 64:341350 Google Scholar
Miller, SW, Wooster, D, Li, J (2007) Resistance and resilience of macroinvertebrates to irrigation water withdrawals. Freshwater Biol 52:24942510 Google Scholar
Moonen, AC, Barberi, P (2004) Size and composition of the weed seedbank after 7 years of different cover-crop–maize management systems. Weed Res 44:163177 Google Scholar
Narwal, S, Sindel, BM, Jessop, RS (2008) Dormancy and longevity of annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum) as affected by soil type, depth, rainfall, and duration of burial. Plant Soil 310:225 Google Scholar
Nowak, A, Nowak, S, Nobis, M, Nobis, A (2015) Crop type and altitude are the main drivers of species composition of arable weed vegetation in Tajikistan. Weed Res 55:525536 Google Scholar
Pakeman, RJ, Small, JL, Torvell, L (2012) Edaphic factors influence the longevity of seeds in the soil. Plant Ecol 213:5765 Google Scholar
Parker, LE, Abatzoglou, JT (2016) Projected changes in cold hardiness zones and suitable overwinter ranges of perennial crops of the United States. Environ Res Lett 11:10.1088/1748-9326/11/3/034001 Google Scholar
Peck, JE (2010) Multivariate Analysis for Community Ecologists: Step-by-Step Using PC-ORD. Gleneden Beach, OR: MjM Software Design Google Scholar
Peters, K, Breitsameter, L, Gerowitt, B (2014) Impact of climate change on weeds in agriculture: a review. Agron Sust Dev 34:707721 Google Scholar
Schwartz, LM, Gibson, DJ, Gage, KL, Matthews, JL, Jordan, DL, Owen, MDK, Shaw, DR, Weller, SC, Wilson, RG, Young, BG (2015) Seedbank and field emergence of weeds in glyphosate-resistant cropping systems in the United States. Weed Sci 63:425439 Google Scholar
Smith, RG, Gross, KL (2006) Rapid change in the germinable fraction of the weed seed bank in crop rotations. Weed Sci 54:10941100 Google Scholar
Sosnoskie, LM, Herms, NP, Cardina, J (2006) Weed seedbank community composition in a 35-yr-old tillage and rotation experiment. Weed Sci 54:263273 Google Scholar
Squire, GR, Rodger, S, Wright, G (2000) Community-scale seedbank response to less intense rotation and reduced herbicide input at three sites. Ann Appl Biol 136:4757 Google Scholar
Teasdale, JR, Mangum, RW, Radhakrishnan, J, Cavigelli, MA (2004) Weed seedbank dynamics in three organic farming crop rotations. Agron J 96:14291435 Google Scholar
[USDA] U.S. Department of Agriculture (2012) Plant Hardiness Zone Map. USDA Agricultural Research Service. http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov. Accessed January 10, 2017Google Scholar
Wada, S, Altland, J, Mallory-Smith, C, Stang, J (2006) Effect of dolomitic lime rate and application method on substrate pH and creeping woodsorrel establishment. J Environ Hort 24:185191 Google Scholar
Wortman, SE, Davis, AS, Schutte, BJ, Lindquist, JL, Cardina, J, Felix, J, Sprague, CL, Dille, JA, Ramirez, AHM, Reicks, G, Clay, SA (2012) Local conditions, not regional gradients, drive demographic variation in giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) and common sunflower (Helianthus annuus) across northern U.S. maize belt. Weed Sci 60:440450 Google Scholar
Young, BG, Gibson, DJ, Gage, KL, Matthews, JL, Jordan, DL, Owen, MDK, Shaw, DR, Weller, SC, Wilson, RG (2013) Agricultural weeds in glyphosate-resistant cropping systems in the United States. Weed Sci 61:8597 Google Scholar
Ziska, LH (2003) Evaluation of the growth response of six invasive species to past, present and future atmospheric carbon dioxide. J Exp Bot 54:395404 Google Scholar