Characterizing the recruitment biology of weeds

随着世界人口和财富的增加以及对农业需求的增加，可持续农业系统将变得越来越重要。这些系统必须是整体的，并反映对系统完整动态的理解。杂草管理仍然是一个关键的挑战，到目前为止，加拿大最大的农药支出是用于杂草管理的除草剂支出。杂草的入侵、扩散和干扰能力对农业生态系统的生产力和可持续性构成重大威胁。招募是指种子成功发芽和出苗。对于常见杂草来说，入侵、干扰和繁殖的成功与否在很大程度上取决于幼苗的成功招募。这项研究计划的目的是为了更好地了解杂草繁殖的基本原理。如果我们了解了招聘，我们就可以设计出限制问题杂草成功的方法。这不仅对农业很重要，而且对通常受到入侵杂草物种威胁的自然和半自然栖息地的保护和恢复也很重要。此外，基因（性状）可以通过作物物种的杂草种群从一种作物转移到另一种作物。了解杂草作物群体的招募生物学可以促进其管理，有助于防止作物之间的基因（性状）移动，促进转基因和非转基因作物的分离，并成功地将新性状（包括工业性状和制药性状）与食品和饲料作物隔离开来，以帮助确保食品安全。

Sustainable agricultural systems will be of increasing importance as world population and affluence increases, and the demands on agriculture increase. These systems must be holistic and reflect an understanding of the complete dynamics of the system. Weed management remains a key challenge and the greatest expenditures on pesticides in Canada by far are expenditures on herbicides for weed management. The ability of weeds to invade, proliferate and interfere poses a major threat to agro-ecosystem productivity and sustainability. Recruitment refers to the successful germination of seeds and emergence of seedlings. For common weed species, successful invasion, interference and proliferation is determined to a great extent by successful seedling recruitment. The purpose of this research program is to work to gain a better fundamental understanding of weed recruitment. If we understand recruitment we can devise means for limiting the success of problematic weeds. This is important for agriculture but also for the conservation and restoration of natural and semi-natural habitats which are commonly threatened by invasive weedy species. In addition, genes (traits) can move from crop to crop via weedy populations of crops species. Understanding the recruitment biology of weedy crop populations can facilitate their management, help prevent crop to crop gene (trait) movement, and facilitate the segregation of GM and non-GM crops and the successful confinement of novel traits (including industrial and pharmaceutical traits) away from food and feed crops to help ensure food safety.