4.2 The Origin of Species Living on Arable Land
An interesting question concerns the origin of weeds on arable land. Historicalgeographic research has shown that the species in question all have their own story,
as was already demonstrated by Tüxen in 1958. Charred seed residues from the
German Rhineland showed that species such as White Goosefoot (Chenopodium
album), Black Bindweed (Fallopia convolvulus), Redshank (Persicaria maculosa)
and Hairy Vetch (Vicia hirsuta) were already present in cultivated fields from about
5000 years BC, in plant assemblages that were described as the Bromo-Lapsanetum
praehistoricum (Knörzer 1971). A number of arable plants derive from nearby
natural ecosystems, such as scree vegetation on mountain slopes, pioneer vegetation
on riverbanks, and natural forest fringes. The name-giving Nipplewort (Lapsana
communis) of the plant community mentioned is an example of the last group. Quite
some species were present as local wild plants in human-affected environments
before cultivation took place; with the establishment of systematic farming, they
evolved into weeds or functioned as weeds without further evolution (Snir et al.
2015). Most species, however, originate from naturally appearances much further
away. They mainly derive from a vast area from the Iberian Peninsula to West Asia,
far more extensive than the ‘fertile crescent moon’ of Southwest Asia, where arable
farming has its origins (Weeda et al. 2003).
Due to strong selective forces on agricultural land, crops and weeds may
co-evolve a process that has been described and discussed in many scientific papers
(Baker 1974; Radosevich et al. 1997; see Guglielmini et al. 2007 for a debate). A
well-known example is the occurrence of specific weeds in flax fields, plant species
that are hardly found outside these agro-ecosystems, making them vulnerable. In the
Netherlands, for example, species like Flax Field Ryegrass (Lolium remotum), Flax
Dodder (Fig. 5, Cuscuta epilinum) and False Flax (Camelina sativa) have all become
extinct after the collapse of the flax cultivation in the fifties last centuries. The
occurrence of coevolution is also demonstrated for crops and their rust fungi, and
again flax provides a nice example, which already has been described by Flor in
1955. He discovered that genetically different strains of the fungus could only infect
specific lines of flax, on which observation he concluded that the parasite and its host
had complementary genetic systems as a result of coevolution (Kliman 2016.)
4.3 Industrial Agriculture
As the need for nutrition and convenience is growing worldwide, the efficiency for
agriculture is increasing at an unprecedented pace. To counter effects of environmental change and responding to a growing demand, more land and new technologies are developed and applied worldwide. International development and
agricultural land use are intertwined and particularly visible in East and South
Asia and the Middle East. As an example, a consequence of a growing demand of
The Future of Agricultural Land
417
An interesting question concerns the origin of weeds on arable land. Historicalgeographic research has shown that the species in question all have their own story,
as was already demonstrated by Tüxen in 1958. Charred seed residues from the
German Rhineland showed that species such as White Goosefoot (Chenopodium
album), Black Bindweed (Fallopia convolvulus), Redshank (Persicaria maculosa)
and Hairy Vetch (Vicia hirsuta) were already present in cultivated fields from about
5000 years BC, in plant assemblages that were described as the Bromo-Lapsanetum
praehistoricum (Knörzer 1971). A number of arable plants derive from nearby
natural ecosystems, such as scree vegetation on mountain slopes, pioneer vegetation
on riverbanks, and natural forest fringes. The name-giving Nipplewort (Lapsana
communis) of the plant community mentioned is an example of the last group. Quite
some species were present as local wild plants in human-affected environments
before cultivation took place; with the establishment of systematic farming, they
evolved into weeds or functioned as weeds without further evolution (Snir et al.
2015). Most species, however, originate from naturally appearances much further
away. They mainly derive from a vast area from the Iberian Peninsula to West Asia,
far more extensive than the ‘fertile crescent moon’ of Southwest Asia, where arable
farming has its origins (Weeda et al. 2003).
Due to strong selective forces on agricultural land, crops and weeds may
co-evolve a process that has been described and discussed in many scientific papers
(Baker 1974; Radosevich et al. 1997; see Guglielmini et al. 2007 for a debate). A
well-known example is the occurrence of specific weeds in flax fields, plant species
that are hardly found outside these agro-ecosystems, making them vulnerable. In the
Netherlands, for example, species like Flax Field Ryegrass (Lolium remotum), Flax
Dodder (Fig. 5, Cuscuta epilinum) and False Flax (Camelina sativa) have all become
extinct after the collapse of the flax cultivation in the fifties last centuries. The
occurrence of coevolution is also demonstrated for crops and their rust fungi, and
again flax provides a nice example, which already has been described by Flor in
1955. He discovered that genetically different strains of the fungus could only infect
specific lines of flax, on which observation he concluded that the parasite and its host
had complementary genetic systems as a result of coevolution (Kliman 2016.)
4.3 Industrial Agriculture
As the need for nutrition and convenience is growing worldwide, the efficiency for
agriculture is increasing at an unprecedented pace. To counter effects of environmental change and responding to a growing demand, more land and new technologies are developed and applied worldwide. International development and
agricultural land use are intertwined and particularly visible in East and South
Asia and the Middle East. As an example, a consequence of a growing demand of
The Future of Agricultural Land
417