ruderal

[′rüd·ə·rəl]

(ecology)

Growing on rubbish, or waste or disturbed places.

A plant that thrives in such a habitat.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Ruderal

a plant that grows, as a rule, along fences and roads, at garbage dumps, and in other waste places. Examples are jimsonweed, henbane, nettle, burdock, and cocklebur. Ruderals have various adaptations (poisonous substances, thorns, stinging hairs) for protection from destruction by man and animals. Ruderals and segetal plants make up the weed group.

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References in periodicals archive

Sus plantas crecen en los claros humedos de las selvas tropicales y subtropicales, selvas en galeria, en las orillas de rios, arroyos, canales y zanjones, o en tierras humedas bien drenadas y removidas, como elementos ruderales, suburbanos, o palustres en zonas de esteros o banados.

Morfologia, nueva distribucion geografica de Canna amabilis en la Argentina, afinidades y diferencias con otras especies del genero/Morphology, new geographic distribution of Canna amabilis in Argentina, affinities and differences with other species of the genus

The possible reasons why European vascular plant species have successfully established in the US are by Muller (2010) (1) deliberate and unintended introductions of large quantities of European plant material by the early European settlers and (2) specific biological attributes of European taxa for urban habitats, resulting from millennia of evolution in ruderal and/or disturbed areas.

Indigenous and alien vascular plant species in a northern European urban setting (Tallinn, Estonia)/ Soontaimede parismaine ja voorfloora Tallinnas

Verbena bonariensis); Guenes, Arbuio, 30TVN9987, ruderal land close to Cadagua stream, 40 m, 12-X-1995, S.

New contributions to the native and alien flora in riparian habitats of the Cantabrian watershed (Northern Spain)/Nuevas aportaciones a la flora aloctona y nativa en habitats riparios de la Cuenca Cantabrica (Norte de Espana)

When determining evolutionary relationships between cultivated plants and their ruderal relatives the continuum of their physical characteristics causes considerable confusion, and we may be better able to understand Cannabis evolution once we have access to genome data.

Letter to the editor: Small, Ernest. 2015. Evolution and classification of Cannabis sativa (Marijuana, Hemp) in relation to human utilization. Botanical review 81(3): 189-294

A significant amount of herbaceous vegetation is represented by ruderal species.

Successional dynamics of forest ecosystems composition and productivity

The species observed in the field were mostly typical bog species, while in the greenhouse mainly forest or ruderal species appeared.

Factors affecting the re-vegetation of abandoned extracted peatlands in Estonia: a synthesis from field and greenhouse studies

--the control of weed and ruderal plant species to be executed by a control of the number of the animals, pasture prohibition early in the spring and in the late autumn and pasture on dry soil;

Environmental sustainability model and biodiversity preservation in Central Rhodopes

However, grasses and ruderal herbaceous species are often common in endozoochorous and epizoochorous seed burdens of wild large herbivores (Heinken et al.

Mammalian herbivores as potential seed dispersal vectors in ancient woodland fragments

The earliest successional species were common ruderal annuals (especially non-native species) followed by perennials, Solidago altissima and Symphyotrichum pilosum.

Floristic quality assessment along an old-field chronosequence

Melanoplus differentialis is a common species in disturbed ruderal environments in this region.

Habitat associations of grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in the heterogeneous cedar glade landscape of the Central Basin of Tennessee