Summary
The vegetation of cultivated, fallow and ‘old’ fields of Scotland County, N.C. was both randomly and subjectively sampled throughout the growing season of 1973. Relevés were placed in each of the above management units, and the data collected in this relevé analysis were sorted into phytosociological charts, with the aid of the digital computer.
Weed associations delimited in the charts reflected the importance of edaphic factors, time (aspect), and man's agricultural activities as causal factors in the determination of characteristic assemblages of weeds. Several character and differential species were denoted, in a tentative classification of the weed associations. The cultivated and fallow stands in the spring aspect were noted to be dominated by a group of spring annuals. Summer annuals were more prevalent in homologous situations in the summer. It was determined that perennials, appearing mainly as seedlings in cultivated and fallow fields, attained dominance in ‘old’ fields, one to five years in age. Within each of the major spheres of management, and in each season, associations of weeds mainly reflected differences in edaphic factors. Many character species were noted to maintain affinities to an assortment of soil types that ranged from moist loams to xeric, sterile sands.
A study of roadsides, hedgerows, field margins and other ecotonal areas inhabited by weeds was carried throughout the growing season of 1973, also. Species presence was documented in each of these habitat types and reported in Sharp (1974).
The weed flora of Scotland County was found to be rich in species. A total of 506 species representing 248 genera and 80 families were encountered throughout the study. Of the total number of species listed, approximately 25 percent were of foreign origin, and 28 percent represented additions to the flora of Scotland County.
Zusammenfassung
Die Vegetation kultivierter Flächen, sowie kurzzeitiger und langzeitiger Brachflächen im Scotland County, N.C. wurde während der Wachstumsperiode 1973 untersucht. Die Aufnahmeflächen wurden teils nach statistitischen Gesichtspunkten, teils nach Umweltbedingungen willkürlich ausgewählt. Die so gewonnenen, zahlreichen Aufnahmen wurden mit Hilfe eines Computerprogramms tabelliert.
Die unterscheidbaren Unkrautgesellschaften reflektieren in erster Linie die Bedeutung edaphischer Faktoren, jahreszeitlichen Aspekt und landwirtschaftliche Maßnahmen. Mehrere Charakter- und Differentialarten wurden herausgearbeitet und eine vorläufige Klassifizierung der Gesellschaften vorgeschlagen. In kultivierten und kurzzeitigen Brachflächen dominieren Frühjahrsannuelle den Frühjahrsaspekt und Sommerannuelle den Sommeraspekt. Demgegenüber dominieren perrenierende Pflanzen in der mehrjährigen Brache.
Innerhalb jedes Acker-Typs und jeder Saison wurden hauptsächlich die edaphischen Faktoren durch die Artenzusammensetzungen widerspiegelt. Viele Charakterarten zeigten eine Affinität zu sehr verschiedenen Bodemtypen, von feuchten Lehmböden bis zu trockenen sterilen Sandböden.
In derselben Zeit wurden auch von Unkräutern besiedelten Wegränder, Hecken, Ackerränder und dergleichen Übergangszonen untersucht (Ergebnisse in Sharp 1974).
Die Unkrautflora in Scotland County ist recht artenreich. 506 Arten aus 248 Gattungen und 80 Familien wurden gefunden. Davon erscheinen ca. 25 % als eingeschleppt. 28 % der Arten sind in der Wildflora von North Carolina für Scotland County nicht registriert gewesen.
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Plant nomenclature follows Radford et al. (1968), Fernald (1950), Bailey (1949), and Henrard (1950).
This paper is the short version of a masters thesis for the Department of Botany, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The author would like to extend his appreciation and gratitude to Professors H. Lieth, A. E. Radford and J. Hardin for their generous advice and encouragement extended through the duration of the study.
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Sharp, D. A phytosociological study of weed communities on the southwestern Coastal Plain of North Carolina. Plant Ecol 31, 103–119 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02342551
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02342551