Weeds
A weed can be described as any plant growing out of place and can be both a symptom and a cause of land degradation.
Weeds can impact negatively on landusers and land managers through the affect they may have on environmental, cultural, social or economic values placed on the land.
Environmental values and ecosystem functions can be impacted on through the invasion and replacement of native plant species, the altering of habitats for native animals and impact that weeds may have on ecosystem functions such as nutrient and water cycles in addition to changing fire regimes.
The impact of weeds on natural ecosystems also has the potential to influence Traditional land use values through the restriction of access to areas for hunting and other activities and also through the displacement of sought after native plants and animals. Recreational land use activities such as bushwalking, fishing and camping can be impacted on in a similar manner.
Alternatively, weeds may impact on the economic value of production systems through increasing the cost of production and decreasing the potential production value through the reduction in the area of productive land.
Weeds are serious natural resource management issue in the NT, often occurring in landscapes damaged by intense fires, feral animals or overgrazing and as such effective management is usually only achieved through the management of the landscape as a whole.
