Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The overarching goal of the NC1026 Weed Biology project and its multi-state group of collaborators is to determine the importance of representing demographic realism within weed decision support systems and to facilitate incorporating the information that can best help to improve weed management decision-making. Starting in 2006, the NC1026 project has worked toward quantifying the demography of two model weed species, giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida L.) and common sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), across the North Central region. There are two main objectives in which this group has focused. The first objective has been to compare the relative importance of spatial variation in demographic rates at different levels of scale to inter-annual variation within sites (Objective 1a). Six collaborators conducted demography experiments over the course of three years. Over this past reporting session the NC1026 group has finished statistical analysis of the demographic data and has created an outline for a manuscript on Weed demography in the North Central Region. Preparation for publication of this manuscript has begun. The second objective that this group has focused on is the examination soil feedback mechanisms as they relate to variation in species demography (Objective 1b). Six collaborators including a soil microbiologist have been involved in conducting these experiments. During this past reporting session greenhouse experiments and analysis of the microbial communities associated with plant-soil feedback of the different soil conditioning treatments have been completed. The NC1062 group has begun the preparation of a manuscript that outlines the plant-soil feedback for two weeds of the North Central Region. One of the impacts of this NC1026 project has been the development of some of the first ever regional scale demography information on weeds important to agronomic systems. This information will help provide a means for assessing the importance of modifying the structure of decision support systems so as to incorporate a more realistic representation of the impact of weeds and how they respond to management. Additionally, an impact of this committee has been the development of a multi-state Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) proposal that was been submitted this year.

Darmency, H. and J. Dekker. 2010. Wild allies of foxtail millet (S. italica). In: Wealth of wild species: Role of plant genome elucidation and improvement, Volume 2; C. Kole (Ed.). Springer-Verlag, Berlin. (Invited review: In Press) Dekker, J. 2010. Evolutionary models of weed life history population dynamics. In: Advances in environmental research, Volume 10; J.A. Daniels (Ed.). Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge, NY. (Invited review: In Press)