One Longs For A Weed

Nimal R. Chandrasena

Keywords:

War With Weeds, Colonising species, utilization of weeds, Weed Science, weed research

Abstract:

Let us have no doubt - the adverse effects of weeds have been so significant in agriculture that they led to a whole field of science - Weed Science - our discipline. Founded in the 1950s, it has since become a formidable discipline that makes an enormous contribution to agriculture, land management, and the conservation of the Planet’s land and water resources. Yet, many weed scientists and agriculturists still have a relatively poor grasp of this special group of plants. Suffice it to say, Not All Weeds Are Bad All the Time. If weeds could speak, they would explain this better to humans. Weedy species are universally nothing but colonising taxa. A weed also does not know that it is a ‘weed’. The term is a human epithet, a human construct. The ‘weed’, on the other hand, is simply a highly successful living organism possessing attributes that we also possess and value. Humans present the greatest threat to biodiversity, of which people and weedy species are constituent parts. However unpalatable this message might be to some farmers, conservationists and others, it needs to be given much more publicity to achieve a better balance between human greed, the development aspirations of nations, and global biological diversity. A change in attitude and a shift in focus are required to address the issue. Weedy taxa have long been used as a scapegoat to hide human follies (related to disturbances caused by land-clearing, deforestation, inappropriate forms of agriculture, and excessive population growth). Our discipline, which is now more than 80 years old, recognises that ‘consensus helps but is not always necessary for cooperation in successfully conducting investigative research,’ which sheds more light on colonising taxa. Divergent views on weeds appear to be influenced by the experiences of individuals and groups (i.e. negative perceptions about weeds in monoculture agriculture). In science or any other field of human endeavour, for that matter, repetition is not a crime. It is a fundamental principle in scientific inquiry. It helps to verify hypotheses, ensure consistent results, and build a strong foundation of knowledge. Therefore, I plead again that weed science should broaden the mandate it has and stop ignoring the virtuous side of weedy species. Not to do so would be a human folly and would add to the mistakes that we have made in the last century or so, which have placed the Planet on the brink of collapse.