Estimating the Life of Short-lived, Cyclic Weeds with Markov Processes

Some annual weeds, perennial herbs, and suffrutescent half shrubs are unique in that their populations are cyclic in nature and relatively short-lived. This variability presents a confounding factor that makes management decisions about control of these weeds difficult. This paper presents a procedure, using Markov processes, that gives additional information for managing cyclic weed populations. The Markov chain model is used to evaluate the interyear patterns of broom snakeweed survival when growing on New Mexico rangeland.