Herbicide resistance modelling: past, present and future

Abstract

Computer simulation modelling is an essential aid in building an integrated understanding of how different factors interact to affect the evolutionary and population dynamics of herbicide resistance, and thus helps in predicting and managing how agricultural systemswill beaffected. In this review,why computer simulation modelling is such animportant tool and framework for dealingwith herbicide resistance is first discussed. The questions related to herbicide resistance that have been addressed to date using simulation modelling are then explained, and the modelling approaches that have been used are discussed, focusing first on the earlier, more general approaches, and then on some newer, more innovative approaches. How these approaches could be further developed in the future, by drawing on modelling techniques that are already employed in other areas, such as individual-based and spatially explicit modelling approaches, is then considered, aswell as the possibility of better representing genetics, competition and economics, and finally the questions and issues of importance to herbicide resistance research and management that could be addressed using these new approaches are discussed. It is concluded that it is necessary to proceed with cautionwhen increasing the complexity of models by adding newdetails, but,with appropriate care, more detailed models will make it possible to integrate more current knowledge in order better to understand, predict and ultimately manage the evolution of herbicide resistance.