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Microbes as Targets and Mediators of Allelopathy in Plants

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Abstract

Studies of allelopathy in terrestrial systems have experienced tremendous growth as interest has risen in describing biochemical mechanisms responsible for structuring plant communities, determining agricultural and forest productivity, and explaining invasive behaviors in introduced organisms. While early criticisms of allelopathy involved issues with allelochemical production, stability, and degradation in soils, an understanding of the chemical ecology of soils and its microbial inhabitants has been increasingly incorporated in studies of allelopathy, and recognized as an essential predictor of the outcome of allelopathic interactions between plants. Microbes can mediate interactions in a number of ways with both positive and negative outcomes for surrounding plants and plant communities. In this review, we examine cases where soil microbes are the target of allelopathic plants leading to indirect effects on competing plants, provide examples where microbes play either a protective effect on plants against allelopathic competitors or enhance allelopathic effects, and we provide examples where soil microbial communities have changed through time in response to allelopathic plants with known or potential effects on plant communities. We focus primarily on interactions involving wild plants in natural systems, using case studies of some of the world’s most notorious invasive plants, but we also provide selected examples from agriculturally managed systems. Allelopathic interactions between plants cannot be fully understood without considering microbial participants, and we conclude with suggestions for future research.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge financial support from the Ohio Plant Biotechnology Consortium, USDA-APHIS, and Wright State University (DC and CR), as well as the Freie Universität—Berlin (EKB) during the preparation of this manuscript. Comments by two anonymous reviewers substantially improved this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences PhD Program, Wright State University, Dayton, OH, USA

    Don Cipollini & Chad M. Rigsby

  2. Institut für Biologie, Dahlem Center of Plant Sciences, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany

    E. Kathryn Barto

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  1. Don Cipollini
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  2. Chad M. Rigsby
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  3. E. Kathryn Barto
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Correspondence to Don Cipollini.

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Cipollini, D., Rigsby, C.M. & Barto, E.K. Microbes as Targets and Mediators of Allelopathy in Plants. J Chem Ecol 38, 714–727 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-012-0133-7

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