ABSTRACT
The development and spread of herbicide resistance in weed populations is an evolutionary phenomenon. Evolution occurs when populations respond to selection and it depends on the existence within these populations of genetic variability. In plant populations from natural ecosystems, genetic variability is maintained by environmental heterogeneity. This chapter provides novel approaches to the development of simulation models of herbicide resistance. It provides examples of the use of these models as tools for long-term resistance management. Herbicide resistance may be conferred on individuals within a population by any of a number of mechanisms, each of which is under genetic control. The basic structure for any model of the population dynamics of a weed species is determined by its life cycle. The life cycle is central to most models of the population dynamics of weeds. The part of the life cycle that remains to be calculated is seed production.
