Glyphosate-resistant (GR) cropping systems are popular and used extensively
by producers. However, the long-term impacts of heavy reliance of this
technology on weed community structure are not known. Five fully phased
field experiments (two no-tillage and three conventional tillage) were
established at four locations in southwestern Ontario where the effects of
herbicide system (glyphosate or conventional) in corn and soybean and crop
rotation (corn–soybean or corn–soybean–winter wheat) on midseason weed
communities were examined. Multivariate analysis on data over the last 3 yr
of the 6-yr experiment showed that weed communities were distinctly
different among the treatments within each experiment. At several locations,
midseason weed communities were more similar in corn and soybean treated
with glyphosate compared to the same crops treated with conventional
herbicides, reflecting the continuous application of the same selection
pressure in both crops. Analysis of trait-densities revealed an increase in
species with late initiation of seedling recruitment at the expense of weed
species with medium time of initiation of seedling recruitment rather than
early recruiting species. Increases in perennial species, species with a
short interval between recruitment and anthesis, and wind-dispersed species
were also observed. Trait-density–based analysis of the weed community was
an effective method for reducing the complexity of divergent weed
communities that enabled direct quantitative comparison of the
herbicide-induced effects on these weed communities.