Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T07:59:41.668Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ecology in the management of Indian jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

Anthony C. Grice
Anthony C. Grice*
Affiliation:
CSIRO Tropical Agriculture, Private Bag, P.O. Aitkenvale, Queensland, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Strategies for controlling invasive plants in northern Australian ecosystems must be designed to use limited resources. This paper examines the potential contribution of ecology to develop management strategies for Indian jujube, an invasive shrub in northern Australian tropical woodlands. Its fleshy fruits are dispersed by a variety of birds and mammals. Domestic cattle are the major dispersal vector, whose movements can be controlled at critical times to minimize the risk of new infestations. Containment of Indian jujube must include avoiding cattle movement from infested to weed-free paddocks and from infested to weed-free areas. The species has a capacity to sprout following topkill due to fire or mechanical treatment. This means that current options for effectively treating established plants are limited to the application of herbicides and the more expensive mechanical techniques. In single paddocks, concentrating limited resources on large reproductive plants may be more effective than concentrating on plants spatially peripheral to an infestation. At the property level, the first priority should be to prevent weed-free paddocks from becoming infested, the second should be to minimize increases in lightly infested paddocks, and the third to treat heavily infested paddocks that are major potential sources of new infestations. At the regional level, distributional outliers become important; their control may significantly reduce the length of the front from which local range expansion will occur.

Keywords

Indian jujube, Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.Dispersalphenologyseed production
Type
Weed Management
Information
Weed Science , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , August 1998 , pp. 467 - 474
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 by the Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Anderson, E. 1993. Plants of Central Queensland. Brisbane: Queensland Department of Primary Industries, p. 120.Google Scholar
Bass, D. A. 1996. Pied currawongs and invading ornamentals: what's happening in northern New South Wales? Pages 362-365 in Proceedings of the XI Australian Weeds Conference. Melbourne, Australia: Weed Science Society of Victoria.Google Scholar
Brown, J. R. and Carter, J. 1998. Spatial and temporal patterns of an exotic shrub (Acacia nilotica) invasion in an Australian tropical grassland. Landscape Ecol. 13: 93–102.Google Scholar
Brown, J. R., McIvor, J. G., and Ash, A. J. 1993. Managing woody weeds in grazed ecosystems: applications for the tropical woodlands of northeastern Australia. Pages 1911-1912 in Proceedings of the XVII International Grassland Congress, Rockhampton. Palmerston North, New Zealand: New Zealand Grassland Association and Tropical Grassland Society.Google Scholar
Fox, M. D. 1991. Developing control strategies for environmental weeds. Plant Prot. Q. 6: 109–110.Google Scholar
Grice, A. C. 1996. Seed production, dispersal and germination ecology of Cryptostegia grandiflora and Ziziphus mauritiana, invasive shrubs in a tropical woodland in northern Australia. Aust. J. Ecol. 21: 324–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grice, A. C., 1997. Post-fire regrowth and survival of the invasive tropical shrubs Cryptostegia grandiflora and Ziziphus manritiana . Aust. J. Ecol. 22: 49–55.Google Scholar
Grice, A. C. and Brown, J. R. 1996a. An overview of the current status of weed management in Australian rangelands. Pages 195-204 in Proceedings of the XI Australian Weeds Conference. Melbourne, Australia: Weed Science Society of Victoria.Google Scholar
Grice, A. C. and Brown, J. R. 1996b. Fire and the population ecology of invasive shrubs in the tropical woodlands. Pages 589-597 in Floyd, R. B., Sheppard, A. W., and De Barro, P. J., eds. Proceedings of the Nicholson Centenary Meeting, Frontiers of Population Biology, Canberra. Collingwood, Victoria: CSIRO.Google Scholar
Grice, A.C., Westoby, M., and Torpy, C. 1994. Dynamics and population structure of Acacia victoriae Benth. Aust. J. Ecol. 19: 10–16.Google Scholar
Harland, R. 1992. Mechanical woody weed control techniques. Pages 44-47 in Woody Weed Management Strategy. Proceedings of National Workshop 1992. Cobar, New South Wales, Australia: NSW Soil Conservation Service.Google Scholar
Harrington, G. N. 1981. Effects of soil moisture on shrub seedling survival in a semi-arid grassland. Ecology 72: 1138–1149.Google Scholar
Hatton, T. J. 1989. Spatial patterning of sweet briar (Rosa rubiginosa) by two vertebrate species. Aust. J. Ecol. 14: 199–205.Google Scholar
Hobbs, R. J. 1993. Dynamics of weed invasion: implications for control. Pages 461-465 in Proceedings of the 10th Australian and 14th Asian-Pacific Weed Conference. Brisbane, Australia: Weed Society of Queensland.Google Scholar
Husband, B. C. and Barrett, S.C.H. 1996. A metapopulation perspective in plant population biology. J. Ecol. 84: 461–469.Google Scholar
James, P. 1995. Chinee apple. Pages 37-38 in March, N., ed. Exotic Woody Weeds and Their Control in North West Queensland. Brisbane: Queensland Department of Lands.Google Scholar
Lonsdale, W. M. 1994. Inviting trouble: introduced pasture species in northern Australia. Aust. J. Ecol. 19: 345–354.Google Scholar
Lunter, M. G. 1988. The Role of Cattle in the Spread of Chinee Apple (Zizyphus mauritiana). Ph.D. thesis. University of Wageningen. 92 p.Google Scholar
Moody, M. E. and Mack, R. N. 1988. Controlling the spread of plant invasions: the importance of nascent foci. J. Appl. Ecol. 25: 1009–1021.Google Scholar
Noble, J. C. 1975. The effects of emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae Latham) on the distribution of the nitre bush Nitraria billardieri DC. J. Ecol. 63: 979–984.Google Scholar
Parsons, W. T. and Cuthbertson, E. G. 1992. Noxious Weeds of Australia. Melbourne: Inkata Press, p. 564.Google Scholar
West, N. E. and Wein, R. W. 1971. A plant phenological index technique. Bioscience 21: 116–117.Google Scholar
Williamson, M. H. and Brown, K. C. 1986. The analysis and modelling of British invasions. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci. 314: 505–522.Google Scholar