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Tumbling: Use of Diffuse Knapweed (Centaurea diffusa) to Examine an Understudied Dispersal Mechanism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Dirk V. Baker*
Affiliation:
Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management, C129 Plant Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523
John R. Withrow
Affiliation:
SofTec Solutions, Contractor for USDA-FS WO FHTET, 2150 Centre Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80526
Cynthia S. Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management, C129 Plant Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523
K. George Beck
Affiliation:
Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management, C129 Plant Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: dvbaker@wustl.edu

Abstract

Dispersal is a critically important process in the spread of invasive plants. Although knowledge of dispersal will be crucial to preventing the spread of invasive plants, little research has been performed within this context. Many important invasive or agricultural weeds disperse their seeds via tumbling, yet only one previously published paper investigated this dispersal mechanism. Field and wind tunnel experiments were conducted to quantify and model tumbling dispersal. We developed competing models for diffuse knapweed seed dispersal from wind tunnel experiments and compared predictions to data collected from a field site in Colorado. Seeds were retained in plants that had traveled hundreds to as much as 1,039 m (3,408 ft). Although neither model accurately predicted dispersal when compared with independent field data, surprisingly, seed retention with distance was somewhat better described as a linear process than as exponential decay. Wind tunnel trials showed no evidence that the number of seeds deposited per meter depended on plant size. Thus, fecundity might be a key factor determining seed dispersal distances; plants with higher fecundity might disperse seeds over longer distances than those with fewer seeds.

Type
Research
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

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Footnotes

Current address: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Washington University in St. Louis, Department of Biology, 1 Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1137, St. Louis, MO 63130

References

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