Can noxious weeds lower plant diversity?
Yes. Plant diversity is needed to maintain healthy plant communities that resist weed invasion. Many noxious weeds such as Russian knapweed, leafy spurge, and spotted knapweed, reduce plant diversity of native range land. Plant diversity is needed to maintain the ecological integrity of the habitat, provide resistance to weed invasion, and preserve genetic material necessary to adapt to long-term changing and environmental factors. Plus, many people agree that a diverse plant community is just more beautiful. Can noxious weeds change the way a plant community works? Yes. Each plant community has evolved certain ways to cycle nutrients, cycle water, capture energy from sunlight, and store energy in a form useable by animals. Noxious weeds alter the way these processes work. By increasing surface erosion, noxious weeds cause a loss of organic matter and nutrients that are normally concentrated in soil surface layers. The removal of organic matter also reduces infiltration capacity, there
