Duque, Y.P.; Giraldo-Sánchez, C.E.; Quijano-Abril, M.A.; Rojas, J.M. Ecology and Diversity of Weed Communities in the Northern Andes under Different Anthropogenic Pressures. Diversity2023, 15, 936.
Duque, Y.P.; Giraldo-Sánchez, C.E.; Quijano-Abril, M.A.; Rojas, J.M. Ecology and Diversity of Weed Communities in the Northern Andes under Different Anthropogenic Pressures. Diversity 2023, 15, 936.
Duque, Y.P.; Giraldo-Sánchez, C.E.; Quijano-Abril, M.A.; Rojas, J.M. Ecology and Diversity of Weed Communities in the Northern Andes under Different Anthropogenic Pressures. Diversity2023, 15, 936.
Duque, Y.P.; Giraldo-Sánchez, C.E.; Quijano-Abril, M.A.; Rojas, J.M. Ecology and Diversity of Weed Communities in the Northern Andes under Different Anthropogenic Pressures. Diversity 2023, 15, 936.
Abstract
Weeds can have both positive and negative effects on agricultural environments. However, despite the growing interest in the ecology of weed communities in agricultural areas, few studies have been carried out in the northern region of the Andes of Colombia, where urban and agricultural expansion have gen-erated highly disturbed scenarios. The aim of this study is to analyze the diversity of vegetation and weed seed banks in three agricultural production systems and a forest ecosystem in the northern Andes of Colombia. Hill numbers were used to compare diversity, Beta diversity to assess changes in composition, and range-abundance-dominance curves at different sites. Likewise, indicator species were analyzed to find species associations to each system. The results revealed differences in the composition of weeds between the forest ecosystem and the agricultural production systems, with higher equitability in the forest ecosystem and higher dominance in agricultural systems. A higher differentiation was observed in the dominant species of each agricultural system, highlighting those considered pests due to their life history traits, giving them greater success against various anthropogenic selection pressures. These findings highlight the impact of anthropogenic disturbances on the ecological dynamics of weed com-munities in different ecosystems, which should be considered when planning integrated weed manage-ment techniques.
Biology and Life Sciences, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
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