ruderal
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- adjective In botany, growing in waste places or among rubbish.
Examples
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Such remnants are expected to lose a significant part of their biodiversity due to the increase of lianas and ruderal species.
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Reliance upon wind dispersal is common among many weedy or ruderal species.
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Large-scale slope failures, such as active layer detachment, destroy plant communities but open niches for colonization by new generations of existing species or immigrant species with ruderal characteristics (fast growth, short life span, large reproductive capacity, and widespread dispersal of seeds).
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Somewhere in the hollows and spaces between our carefully-managed wilderness areas and the creeping, flattening effects of global capitalism, there are still places where an overlooked England truly exists; places where ruderal shrub plants familiar here since the last ice sheets retreated have found a way to live with each successive wave of new arrivals; places where the city's dirty secrets are laid bare and successive human utilities scar the earth or stand cheek by jowl with one another; complicated, unexamined places that thrive on disregard.
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One of the most surprising findings from the analysis is that "ruderal" ( 'weedy') butterfly species that breed on 'weedy' plants in disturbed habitats and are highly mobile are actually declining faster than 'non-weedy' species -- those that specialize in one habitat type,
Note
The word 'ruderal' comes from Latin 'rūdus' meaning 'rubbish'.
