Environmental and management factors determining weed species composition and diversity in France
Multivariate analysis of data from approximately 700 arable fields from France was carried out to partition the respective importance of environmental factors versus management practices on weed species richness and composition. Overall, canonical correspondence analysis indicated that the major variations in species composition between fields were associated with human management factors; (1) the current crop type and (2) the preceding crop type. Three main weed communities were identified according to sowing season: winter, spring and summer-sown crops.