Field boundary effects on soil seed banks and weed vegetation distributionin an arable field without weed control (Vaucluse, France)

Studies on the distribution of arable weed species relative to the field bo undary have already been performed, although most of these studies have bee n realised in north-western Europe on intensively managed arable fields. Ne vertheless, it is important to examine arable weed communities in more exte nsive cropping systems to increase our knowledge on how arable plant commun ities are constructed. Plant composition and seed bank of an arable weed co mmunity were sampled in an arable wheat field in Vaucluse (south-eastern Fr ance) at 1-m intervals along five 25-m perpendicular transects from the her baceous field boundary. The-results showed that seed bank distribution and plant composition are primarily influenced by distance from the field bound ary in the crop edge rather than soil characteristics or wheat density. ((C ) 1999 Inra/Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.)