This research seeks to investigate the potential to restore agricultural systems with the use of weeds and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and thereby increase biodiversity within the agricultural landscape. A mail survey was conducted during the spring of 2001 to determine farmer perceptions of weeds and current management practices. Survey respondents provided information on their farming practices, the weed species found associated with their practices, changes in weed communities that corresponded to changes in their practices, and the weed species that they find most troublesome.; We further investigated the interactions of several agronomically important weeds species that are either hosts or non-hosts of AMF. We tested the response of these weeds to (1) soil types that reflect three different agriculture systems (organic, transitional, conventional), and (2) presence or absence of AMF. Our hypotheses were that (i) host weed species would show positive response to AMF presence compared to non-AMF controls, (ii) non-host weed species would show negative response to AMF presence, and (iii) different AMF communities would have different effects oil weed species.; Finally an investigation of nutrient transfer from weeds to crop plants via AMF was conducted in outdoor mesocosms. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
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