The functional ecology of present-day arable weed floras and its applicability for the identification of past crop husbandry

Five studies of present-day weed floras are brought together in this paper to address the issue of ancient crop husbandry and how different agricultural practices may be identified from the archaeobotanical record. These studies have provided valuable insights into the complexity of the relationship...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vegetation history and archaeobotany 2005-12, Vol.14 (4), p.493-504
Main Authors: Jones, Glynis, Charles, Michael, Bogaard, Amy, Hodgson, John G., Palmer, Carol
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural practices
Animal husbandry
Arable land
Climatic zones
Crop ecology
Crop rotation
Crops
Cultivation
Ecology
Fallowing
Geography
Horticultural practices
Plants
Population ecology
Productivity
Seasons
Sowing
Species
Weeds
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Five studies of present-day weed floras are brought together in this paper to address the issue of ancient crop husbandry and how different agricultural practices may be identified from the archaeobotanical record. These studies have provided valuable insights into the complexity of the relationship between the functional attributes of species and their ecological significance in relation to habitat conditions and husbandry regimes. Using a suite of characteristics, practices such as irrigation, fallowing, crop rotation, time of sowing and intensity of cultivation (hoeing, weeding, manuring etc.) can be recognised on the basis of the functional ecology of the weed species accompanying the crops. The geographic variation in functional attributes is limited and permits the identification of husbandry practices in different climatic zones. Recommendations are made for the application of weed ecological methods to archaeobotanical assemblages.
ISSN:0939-6314
1617-6278
DOI:10.1007/s00334-005-0081-z