Since human agricultural and horticultural practices often mimic these natural environments where weedy species have evolved, some weeds are effectively preadapted to grow and proliferate in human-disturbed areas such as agricultural fields, lawns, gardens, roadsides, and construction sites. Įxamples of such ruderal or pioneer species include plants that are adapted to naturally-occurring disturbed environments such as dunes and other windswept areas with shifting soils, alluvial flood plains, river banks and deltas, and areas that are burned repeatedly. The nature of the habitat and its disturbances will affect or even determine which types of weed communities become dominant. That is to say: disturbed environments, where soil or natural vegetative cover has been damaged or frequently gets damaged, these disturbances give weeds advantages over desirable crops, pastures, or ornamental plants. It is considered a weed in some contexts (such as lawns) but not others (such as when it is grown as a vegetable or herbal medicine).Ĭertain classes of weeds are ruderals with adaptations that advantages them to certain environments. Ecological significanceĪ dandelion is a common plant all over the world, especially in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Methods include hand cultivation with hoes, powered cultivation with cultivators, smothering with mulch or soil solarization, lethal wilting with high heat, burning, or chemical attack with herbicides and cultural methods such as crop rotation and fallowing land to reduce the weed population. Weed control is important in agriculture and horticulture. More broadly, the term "weed" is occasionally applied pejoratively to species outside the plant kingdom, species that can survive in diverse environments and reproduce quickly in this sense it has even been applied to humans. The term weed is also applied to any plant that grows or reproduces aggressively, or is invasive outside its native habitat. Some plants that are widely regarded as weeds are intentionally grown in gardens and other cultivated settings, in which case they are sometimes called beneficial weeds. In the same way, volunteer plants are regarded as weeds in a subsequent crop. Taxonomically though, the term "weed" has no botanical significance, because a plant that is a weed in one context, is not a weed when growing in a situation where it is wanted. Įxamples of weeds are plants unwanted in human-controlled settings, such as farm land, orchards, gardens, lawns, parks, residential and industrial areas. Besides, some weeds have undesirable characteristics making them a plant pest in most human settings. In such environments, other plant species are considered undesirable and therefore weeds. The concept of weeds is particularly significant in agriculture, where the aim is growing crops or pastures of a single species, or a mixture of a few desired species. Weeds growing in the cracks of a concrete staircaseĪ weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it is not wanted.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |