RT Journal Article
T1 Weed Seed Bank Diversity in Dryland Cereal Fields: Does it Differ Along the Field and Between Fields with Different Landscape Structure?
A1 Pallavicini, Yesica
A1 Hernández Plaza, Eva
A1 Bastida Milián, Fernando
A1 González Andújar, José Luis
K1 Weed traits
AB In this work, we aimed to test whether taxonomic diversity and functional diversity andthe values of functional traits of the weed seed bank varied across the field, from margins to thecore, and between fields embedded in distinct landscape structures. We sampled the seed bank of 47conventionally managed cereal fields from two Mediterranean regions in Spain. In each field, threepositions were selected: Margin, edge and core, and soil properties were measured for each position.Landscape structure was quantified for each field as the percentage of arable land in the surrounding1 km radius circular sector. Seed bank diversity was characterized at the taxonomic (species richness,exponential Shannon index, and evenness) and functional levels (Rao’s quadratic entropy index andfour corner analysis). For functional diversity, eight functional traits related to the whole plant lifecycle were considered. Results showed a slight response of increasing taxonomic diversity from thecore of the fields to the margins. Functional diversity was extremely low, indicating high similarityamong species in terms of functional traits. Species in the seed bank were mostly therophytes, shorterthan the crop plants, small seeded, flowering between the herbicide application of late winter andcrop harvest, and showed seed dispersal by gravity or wind. This trait syndrome allows persistencein intensively managed arable lands. The similarity between fields in terms of functional diversity ofthe seed bank and in species traits may suggest that the intensity of management practices was similaracross the fields. Moreover, it emphasizes that an increase in landscape heterogeneity, if based onother intensively managed cropping systems, may not be suffcient to augment functional diversity ofweed communities. Therefore, in these areas, the seed bank could restore weed taxonomic diversityfollowing changes in management practices, but functional diversity would still remain limited.
PB MDPI
SN 2073-4395
YR 2020
FD 2020-04
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/17941
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/17941
LA eng
NO Pallavicini, Y., Hernández Plaza, E., Bastida  Milián, F. ...  González Andújar, J. L. (2020). Weed Seed Bank Diversity in Dryland Cereal Fields: Does it Differ Along the Field and Between Fields with Different Landscape Structure? Agronomy, 10(4), 575. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10040575
NO This work was funded by FEDER (European Regional Development Funds) and the Spanish Ministryof Economy and Competitiveness grants (projects AGL2012-33736 and AGL2015-64130-R). Y.P. was supported byan FPI scholarship (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness)
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026