Finding Endemic Soil-Based Controls on Weed Growth

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Weed Technology

Volume

18

Publication Date

2004

First Page

1353

Last Page

1358

Abstract

It was our objective to determine whether plant–soil feedbacks confer weed suppression to a shrub–steppe ecosystem in Washington State. We found that soils developed by native bluebunch wheatgrass communities reduced knapweed growth from 18 to 5% ground cover. A pairwise feedback model developed from our data successfully predicted the native and weedy plant distribution seen on the landscape. We suggest that endemic soil-based mechanisms of weed control may be common and will produce novel techniques for the management of invasive plants.

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