Parameter harmonisation for calculating landscape configuration effects on weed communities

Within the Network of Excellence ENDURE (European Network for Durable Exploitation of Crop Protection Strategies) a group of weed scientists have explored the possibility of re-analysing existing weed community databases for possible surrounding landscape configuration effects. Existing databases were characterised and the weed measurement and landscape metrics important for such analyses were selected. In the next phase all partners tested relevant hypotheses on their database, following agreed guidelines. Results from these case studies confirmed the importance of incorporating ecological and biological characteristics of the weed flora. They also confirmed the need to define landscape metrics which express landscape mosaic structure and land-use diversity at relatively small scales, ranging from directly-adjacent to the field (i.e. margin types) up to landscape metrics about 200 m from the field. This work is intended to stimulate other weed scientists to repeat this exercise on their own databases in order to continue the discussion on parameter definition for testing of landscape effects on weed communities.