Frequent mowing puts poisonous weed into survival mode | ScienceDaily - 1 views
www.sciencedaily.com/...240603195751.htm
HSR HSR-2025 behavior biology environmental potential research idea botany

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The taproot went down further
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Although studies have often highlighted weed fitness and defense traits resulting from disturbances like mowing, most were limited to foliar, or leaf, defenses, Kariyat said. That changed when Vasquez and fellow master's biology students at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley monitored fields of mowed, unmowed and frequently mowed silverleaf nightshade in and around Edinburg, Texas.
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"You are trying to mow these plants so that the plants are getting eliminated," Kariyat said. "But what you are actually doing here, you are making them much worse, much stronger."
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The observations of mowed, unmowed and frequently mowed areas with silverleaf nightshade provide evidence that could prompt further studies by weed scientists on best management practices, Kariyat said.
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the study does provide more insight into the defensive capabilities of plants pitted against human disturbance
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"Continuous mowing differentially affects floral defenses in the noxious and invasive weed Solanum elaeagnifolium in its native range."
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Journal Reference: Alejandro Vasquez, Alexa Alaniz, Robert Dearth, Rupesh Kariyat. Continuous mowing differentially affects floral defenses in the noxious and invasive weed Solanum elaeagnifolium in its native range. Scientific Reports, 2024; 14 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-58672-w
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Solanum ptychanthum or black nightshade, and Solanum carolinense, or Carolina horsenettle, also produce toxic berries and are native to Arkansas.
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There is a TON of data that can be measured & analyzed in a study like this. Easier to do in a less time-dependent way in the lab, but easier and more realistic (in vivo) to do if you have access to similar fields that are mowed and unmowed to differing extents. So many variables to examine and consider here for how plants may change physiologically based upon how we interact with them. This goes beyond that analogy I always use for fast evolution in Honors Biology: how dandelion populations become shorter based upon frequent mowing. This gets into the physiological responses. Very cool methinks.