2019/02/02 by Regina S. Baucom · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Weed Control and Herbicide Applications #Legume Nitrogen Fixing Symbiosis #Pesticide and Herbicide Environmental Studies
paper · doi:10.1111/nph.15723
openalex publication_date 2019/02/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The evolution of herbicide resistance in crop weeds presents one of the greatest challenges to agriculture and the production of food. Herbicide resistance has been studied for more than 60 yr, in the large part by researchers seeking to design effective weed control programs. As an outcome of this work, various unique questions in plant adaptation have been addressed. Here, I collate recent research on the herbicide-resistant problem in light of key questions and themes in evolution and ecology. I highlight discoveries made on herbicide-resistant weeds in three broad areas - the genetic basis of adaptation, evolutionary constraints, experimental evolution - and similarly discuss questions left to be answered. I then develop how one would use herbicide-resistance evolution as a model for studying eco-evolutionary dynamics within a community context. My overall goals are to highlight important findings in the weed science literature that are relevant to themes in plant adaptation and to stimulate the use of herbicide-resistant plants as models for addressing key questions within ecology and evolution.