Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-sl7kg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-23T06:34:34.200Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Postdispersal Predation of Velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti) Seeds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

John Cardina ,
Heather M. Norquay ,
Benjamin R. Stinner  and
David A. McCartney
John Cardina
Affiliation:
Dep. Hortic. and Crop Sci., the Ohio State Univ., Wooster, OH 44691
Heather M. Norquay
Affiliation:
Dep. Hortic. and Crop Sci., the Ohio State Univ., Wooster, OH 44691
Benjamin R. Stinner
Affiliation:
Dep. Ent., Oh. Agric. Res. and Dev. Ctr., the Ohio State Univ., Wooster, OH 44691
David A. McCartney
Affiliation:
Dep. Ent., Oh. Agric. Res. and Dev. Ctr., the Ohio State Univ., Wooster, OH 44691
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Studies were conducted from 1989 to 1993 in continuous no-tillage and moldboard plow corn fields to describe rates of velvetleaf seed predation with time and with seed density, and to identify principal seed predators. Rates of seed loss from the soil surface averaged 1 to 57% day−1 and were equivalent in the two tillage systems. Predator populations were the same in no-tillage and moldboard plow fields. The predation rate was generally low in winter months, increased in mid-summer, and declined in late summer. In 2 of the 4 yr, predation increased in October and November. The predation rate was described by an exponential decay function of seed density, with high rates of seed loss at low densities and leveling off to a nearly constant level at densities above 600 seeds m−2. Predation was highest where seed access was not restricted, and exclosures of 6.5 and 1.6 cm2 reduced predation up to 15 and 52%, respectively. Mice were important predators in the field. In laboratory feeding studies, the carabid beetle Amara cupreolata, the slugs Arion subfuscus and Deroceras reticulatum, and cutworms (Agrotis ipsilon) consumed imbibed velvetleaf seeds. Amara cupreolata and A. subfuscus were the only predators to damage unimbibed velvetleaf seeds.

Keywords

Velvetleaf, Abutilon theophrasti Medicus ♯ ABUTHcorn, Zea mays L. ‘Dekalb 524.’Seed predationpredatorsarthropodsrodentscarabidsABUTH
Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Information
Weed Science , Volume 44 , Issue 3 , September 1996 , pp. 534 - 539
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 by the Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Literature Cited

1. Barney, R. J. and Pass, B. C. 1986. Foraging behavior and feeding preference of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in Kentucky alfalfa. J. Econ. Entomol. 79: 1334–1337.Google Scholar
2. Bauer, T. A. and Mortensen, D. A. 1992. A comparison of economic and economic optimum thresholds for two annual weeds in soybeans. Weed Technol. 6: 228–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Best, R. L. and Beegle, C. C. 1977. Food preferences of five species of carabids commonly found in Iowa cornfields. Environ. Entomol. 6: 9–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Brust, G. E., 1990. Direct and indirect effects of four herbicides on the activity of carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae). Pestic. Sci. 30: 309–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Brust, G. E. and House, G. J. 1988. Weed seed destruction by arthropods and rodents in low-input soybean agroecosystems. Amer. J. Alt. Agric. 3: 19–25.Google Scholar
6. Brust, G. E., Stinner, B. R., and McCartney, D. A. 1986. Predation by soil inhabiting arthropods in intercropped monoculture agroecosystems. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 18: 145–154.Google Scholar
7. Cardina, J., Regnier, E., and Sparrow, D. 1995. Velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti) competition and economic thresholds in conventional- and no-tillage corn (Zea mays). Weed Sci. 43: 81–87.Google Scholar
8. Crawley, M. J. 1992. Seed predators and plant population dynamics. Pages 157–191 in Fenner, M. (ed.), Seeds: The Ecology of Regeneration in Plant Communities. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
9. Crawley, M. J. 1989. Insect herbivores and plant population dynamics. Ann. Rev. Entomol. 34: 531–564.Google Scholar
10. Harper, J. L. 1977. The predation of seeds and fruits. Pgs. 457–482 in Harper, J. L., Population Biology of Plants. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
11. House, G. J. and Brust, G. E. 1989. Ecology of low-input, no-tillage agroecosystems. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 27: 331–345.Google Scholar
12. Louda, S. M. 1989. Predation in the dynamics of seed generation. Pgs. 25–51 in Leck, M. A., Parker, V. T., and Simpson, R. L. Ecology of Soil Seed Banks. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
13. Lund, R. D. and Turpin, F. T. 1977. Carabid damage to weed seeds found in Indiana cornfields. Environ. Entomol. 6: 695–698.Google Scholar
14. Martin, A. C., Zimm, H. S., and Nelson, A. L. 1951. Upland weeds and herbs. Pages 368–426 in Martin, A. C., Zimm, H. S., and Nelson, A. L. American wildlife and plants: A guide to wildlife food habits. Dover Publications, New York.Google Scholar
15. Mittelbach, G. G. and Gross, K. L. 1984. Experimental studies of seed predation in old-fields. Oecologia 65: 7–13.Google Scholar
16. Platt, W. J. 1976. The natural history of a fugitive prairie plant (Marabilis hirsuta(Rish) MacM). Oecologia 22: 399–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17. Reader, R. J. 1991. Control of seedling emergence by ground cover: a potential mechanism involving seed predation. Can. J. Bot. 69: 2084–2087.Google Scholar