Book on weeds and invasive plants discusses how to manage them using ecological ...( RIVERSIDE Calif. As people become m...)

RIVERSIDE, Calif. As people become more globally mobile, plants can inadvertently get transported with them, resulting in new plants appearing in places not used to hosting them. Such invasions of exotic species can occur rapidly, taking over new territories at the expense of native plants.

How weeds and invasive plants develop and interact in their new environment, and how people can manage and control them, are addressed in a newly revised book, Ecology of Weeds and Invasive Plants: Relationship to Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (Wiley-Interscience, 2007), a classic reference authored by Jodie S. Holt, a professor of plant physiology at the University of California, Riverside, and two other coauthors.

After development and urbanization, invasive species are the top reason for loss of biodiversity on our planet, said Holt, who is also the chair of the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences. Indeed, the introduction of exotic species into an area is the number one biological reason for the displacement of native species. People move plants around, deliberately and accidentally. While some plants are easily absorbed into new ecosystems, others can spread prolifically and cause much damage.

Now in its third edition, the book is the first to integrate an understanding of weeds in agriculture and other managed systems (such as forests and rangelands) with an understanding of weeds in natural ecosystems (such as wildlands).

It provides both an introduction to weeds and invasive plants in various environments and an overview of their ecology and evolution. Its focus is the biological features of weeds and invasive plants found in agriculture, forests, rangelands, and natural ecosystems.

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