Managing weed seed predation in arable fields

Abstract: Weed seed mortality due to predation can have a strong regulatory effect on weedpopulation dynamics and is therefore potentially important as a bio-control option for weeds.Weed seed predation is maximal when there is full spatiotemporal overlap in the occurrence ofseeds and the activity patters of seed predators. Crop management influences seed shed and seedburial, and could be used to increase seed availability on the soil surface. Weeds, and thus weedseeds, occur in patches that differ in density and quality. Two examples illustrate that seedpredators responded slowly to seed patches, resulting in inversely density dependence, whichfavours the persistence of weeds in patches.