Environmental and management factors determining weed species composition and diversity in France

Fried, Guillaume; Norton, Lisa R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1622-0281; Reboud, Xavier. 2008 Environmental and management factors determining weed species composition and diversity in France. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment, 128 (1-2). 68-76. 10.1016/j.agee.2008.05.003

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2008.05.003

Abstract/Summary

Multivariate analysis of data from approximately 700 arable fields from France was carried out to partition the respective importance of environmental factors versus management practices on weed species richness and composition. Overall, canonical correspondence analysis indicated that the major variations in species composition between fields were associated with human management factors; (1) the current crop type and (2) the preceding crop type. Three main weed communities were identified according to sowing season: winter, spring and summer-sown crops. The third most important gradient was associated with soil pH and soil texture to a lesser degree, resulting in highly contrasting weed communities on basic clay soils against those on acidic sandy soils. The influence of climate and geographical region was less pronounced and identified mainly through relationships with precipitation and longitude. Within individual crop types, the effect of other management practices became more prominent. Species richness is dependant on factors other than, or in addition to those influencing species composition, like those describing landscape organisation and/or tillage depth. Species richness (α-diversity) and community composition (β-diversity) had, for example, contrasting relationship to altitude: 300–450 m altitude giving high species richness but low species turnover. The variations observed in this large scale data set help to identify the agricultural practices which have had the most significant impact on the loss of species diversity in arable fields in recent decades.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1016/j.agee.2008.05.003
Programmes:	CEH Programmes pre-2009 publications > Biodiversity
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Parr
ISSN:	0167-8809
Additional Keywords:	Weed community, Weed survey, Agricultural practices, Environmental gradient, Broad scale, ‘Biovigilance Flore’
NORA Subject Terms:	Agriculture and Soil Science Ecology and Environment
Date made live:	16 Mar 2009 12:51 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/6702

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1016/j.agee.2008.05.003

Programmes:

CEH Programmes pre-2009 publications > Biodiversity

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Parr

ISSN:

0167-8809

Additional Keywords:

Weed community, Weed survey, Agricultural practices, Environmental gradient, Broad scale, ‘Biovigilance Flore’