Back Мімікрыя Вавілава Byelorussian Mimetisme vavilovià Catalan Mimetismo vaviloviano Spanish Mimétisme vavilovien French Mimetismo vaviloviano Italian ヴァヴィロフ型擬態 Japanese 바빌로프 의태 Korean Mimetismo vaviloviano Portuguese Мимикрия Вавилова Russian Vavilovs mimikry Swedish
In plant biology, Vavilovian mimicry (also crop mimicry or weed mimicry[1][a]) is a form of mimicry in plants where a weed evolves to share one or more characteristics with a domesticated plant through generations of artificial selection.[2] It is named after Nikolai Vavilov, a prominent Russian plant geneticist.[2] Selection against the weed may occur by killing a young or adult weed, separating its seeds from those of the crop (winnowing), or both. This has been done manually since Neolithic times, and in more recent years by agricultural machinery.
Vavilovian mimicry is a good illustration of unintentional selection by humans. Although the human selective agents might be conscious of their impact on the local weed gene pool, such effects go against the goals of those growing crops. Weeders do not want to select for weeds that are increasingly similar to the cultivated plant, yet the only other option is to let the weeds grow and compete with crops for sunlight and nutrients. Similar situations include antibiotic resistance and, also in agricultural crops, herbicide resistance. Having acquired many desirable qualities by being subjected to similar selective pressures, Vavilovian mimics may eventually be domesticated themselves. Vavilov called these weeds-become-crops secondary crops.
- ^ Maran, Timo. "Mimicry". In Bouissac, Paul; Lewis, Ann; Lynch, Alejandro (eds.). Semiotics Encyclopedia Online. E. J. Pratt Library, Victoria College, University of Toronto. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
- ^ a b Pasteur, Georges (1982). "A classificatory review of mimicry systems". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 13: 169–199. doi:10.1146/annurev.es.13.110182.001125.
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