Reproductive efficiency and growth of Emex australis in relation to stress

The reaction of Emex australis to different degrees of stress was examined in a pot experiment by varying pot size and in a field experiment by varying density. In pots, the proportion of energy in seeds was more stable to the imposition of stress than in roots and stems; that in roots increasing with increasing stress and that in stems declining. Similarly in the field, there was little difference between densities of 1–32 plants m^?2 in the proportion of seeds in biomass. There were no significant differences in mean individual seed weights in either experiment and all plants set seed. Again in both experiments, high stress plants were more precocious than low stress ones. In pots, this took the form of earlier attainment of maxima in calorific values, ‘reproductive effort’, root, stem and seed weights and in the field, a shorter life cycle and earlier senescence. In pots, estimates of the overall mean reproductive effort were 62% for the low and medium stress plants and 36% for the high stress plants. The results are discussed in terms of the high values for reproductive effort, the plasticity and precocity of E. australis under stress and the implications for weed control.