Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
7
Plant Community Dynamics in
Agricultural and Successional
Fields
Katherine L. Gross, Sarah Emery, Adam S. Davis,
Richard G. Smith, and Todd M. P. Robinson
Understanding the drivers and consequences of diversity and productivity in plant
communities remains a central challenge in ecological research (Thompson et al.
2001, Mittelbach 2012). Interest in how the diversity and composition of plant com-
munities regulate ecological processes and ecosystem services that different eco-
systems provide has expanded over the past two decades (Loreau et al. 2001). This
question has remained relatively unexplored in agricultural systems—particularly
the annual row crops that supply much of the world's food (Power 2010). This is
likely because factors known to influence weed and crop production—such as soil
fertility, precipitation, and pests (weeds, pathogens, and insects)—are primarily
managed with external inputs (fertilizer, irrigation, and pesticides) rather than by
relying on ecological processes (Robertson and Swinton 2005). Growing concerns
about the negative environmental impacts of using external inputs to sustain crop
productivity have stimulated interest in the development of an ecological frame-
work for agricultural management (Robertson and Swinton 2005, Swinton et al.
2006, 2007, Robertson and Hamilton 2015, Chapter 1 in this volume). In addition
to crop yield, an ecological framework would consider other ecosystem services
that can be managed and enhanced both in the field and in surrounding landscapes
(Swinton et al. 2006, 2007, Power 2010). Plant diversity and composition are likely
to play an important role in the actualization and sustainability of these services,
particularly from landscapes that surround crop fields (Power 2010, Egan and
Mortensen 2012).
Row-crop systems are designed and managed to maintain the dominance of
a particular species (the crop), with the goal of maximizing productivity (crop
yield). Although row-crop systems can provide an array of other ecosystem ser-
vices (Swinton et al. 2006, 2007, Power 2010), promotion or enhancement of these
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