Quote:
Originally Posted by aquachimp
that said, there's an interesting article within a very recent New
Scientist edition. It's just a very small snippet about how lack of
biodiversity and increased illnesses have been link. Not a conclusive
report, but it seems that weeds are probably the harbingers of disease
because they have evolved to grow to reproductive maturity in a very
short time.. at the cost of investing in greater immunity.
Mind you, I thought they might be included in biodiversity; Darn it, I
all confused now.
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If you take "weeds" to mean plants which can multiply quickly and crowd out other plants rather than simply plants that you haven't planted yourself, then the growth of weeds will lead to a loss of diversity: the aim of nettles or japanese knotweed is to produce a monoculture.
It sounds like an oversimplification. Things like hairy bittercress will flower and set seed very quickly, but a bramble spreads mainly vegetatively. Does the author mean that plants like the bramble grow quickly to a size where they can put out runners?
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13-12-2010, 10:01 AM
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