Reviewing research priorities in weed ecology,evolution and management: a horizon scan |
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| Authors: | P Neve J N Barney Y Buckley R D Cousens S Graham N R Jordan A Lawton‐Rauh M Liebman M B Mesgaran M Schut J Shaw J Storkey B Baraibar R S Baucom M Chalak D Z Childs S Christensen H Eizenberg C Fernández‐Quintanilla K French M Harsch S Heijting L Harrison D Loddo M Macel N Maczey A Merotto Jr D Mortensen J Necajeva D A Peltzer J Recasens M Renton M Riemens M Sønderskov M Williams |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Rothamsted Research, Biointeractions & Crop Protection Department, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK;2. Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA;3. School of Natural Sciences, Zoology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland;4. Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, USA;5. School of Social Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia;6. Agronomy & Plant Genetics Department, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA;7. Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA;8. Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA;9. Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands;10. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Kigali, Rwanda;11. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, Australia;12. Plant Sciences Department, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA;13. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;14. School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Centre for Environmental Economics & Policy, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia;15. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK;16. Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark;17. Department of Plant Pathology and Weed Research, Newe Ya'ar Research Center, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Ramat Yishay, Israel;18. Institute of Agricultural Science (ICA, CSIC), Madrid, Spain;19. School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia;20. Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA;21. Wageningen University and Research, Lelystad, the Netherlands;22. Environment Department, University of York, York, UK;23. Institute of Agro‐environmental and forest Biology, National Research Council (IBAF‐CNR), Legnaro, Italy;24. Molecular Interaction Ecology, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands;25. CABI, Surrey, UK;26. Graduate Group in Plant Science, School of Agriculture, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil;27. Department of Plant Physiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia;28. Ecosystem Processes and Global Change, Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand;29. Horticulture, Botany and Landscaping Department, Agrotecnio, ETSEA, Universitat de Lleida, Lleida, Spain;30. Schools of Biological Sciences & Agriculture and Environment, Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative and Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia;31. Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Flakkebjerg, Denmark;32. Michael Williams & Associates Pty Ltd, Natural resource Management Facilitators and Strategists, Sydney, NSW, Australia |
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| Abstract: | Weedy plants pose a major threat to food security, biodiversity, ecosystem services and consequently to human health and wellbeing. However, many currently used weed management approaches are increasingly unsustainable. To address this knowledge and practice gap, in June 2014, 35 weed and invasion ecologists, weed scientists, evolutionary biologists and social scientists convened a workshop to explore current and future perspectives and approaches in weed ecology and management. A horizon scanning exercise ranked a list of 124 pre‐submitted questions to identify a priority list of 30 questions. These questions are discussed under seven themed headings that represent areas for renewed and emerging focus for the disciplines of weed research and practice. The themed areas considered the need for transdisciplinarity, increased adoption of integrated weed management and agroecological approaches, better understanding of weed evolution, climate change, weed invasiveness and finally, disciplinary challenges for weed science. Almost all the challenges identified rested on the need for continued efforts to diversify and integrate agroecological, socio‐economic and technological approaches in weed management. These challenges are not newly conceived, though their continued prominence as research priorities highlights an ongoing intransigence that must be addressed through a more system‐oriented and transdisciplinary research agenda that seeks an embedded integration of public and private research approaches. This horizon scanning exercise thus set out the building blocks needed for future weed management research and practice; however, the challenge ahead is to identify effective ways in which sufficient research and implementation efforts can be directed towards these needs. |
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| Keywords: | transdisciplinary research integrated weed management agroecology weed adaptation invasive plants |
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