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Reproduction and perennation of Chondrilla juncea L. (skeleton weed) in the Western Australian wheatbelt
Author(s) -
PANETTA F. D.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
australian journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1442-9993
pISSN - 0307-692X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1989.tb01014.x
Subject(s) - edaphic , weed , biology , reproduction , survivorship curve , agronomy , population , botany , ecology , soil water , demography , genetics , cancer , sociology
Survivorship of first‐year plants of Chondrilla juncea was considerably higher on a deep yellow sand than on a yellow duplex soil. Mortality on the latter soil was associated with drying of the Al horizon during early summer. No plants produced seeds in their first year of growth on the duplex soil. However, during both years of the study, first‐year individuals of both forms of C. juncea produced viable seeds when growing on the deep sand. Higher population growth rates could be expected on deep sands, owing to a combination of earlier reproduction and greater survivorship through the first summer. It is suggested that whilst the entire wheatbelt might be climatically suitable for C. juncea , the invasive potential of this weed might be restricted by edaphic characteristics over large areas.