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Allelopathy and Exotic Plant Invasion

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Plant Communication from an Ecological Perspective

Part of the book series: Signaling and Communication in Plants ((SIGCOMM))

Abstract

Biologists have long searched for an explanation as to why some plant invaders become much more dominant in their naturalized range than in their native range, and, accordingly, several nonexclusive hypotheses have been proposed. Plants are unparalleled factories for the production of diverse biochemicals, and allelochemistry has recently re-emerged as a possible mechanism for the success of some invasive plants. The idea is that some invaders may succeed because they possess unique allelopathic biochemistry to which naïve natives have not adapted. Indeed, there are a number of studies that support this hypothesis. In this chapter, we revise and expand this biochemical hypothesis and discuss experimental and conceptual advances and limitations.

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Acknowledgements

H.P.B. acknowledges the support from University of Delaware and University of Delaware Research Foundation (UDRF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19711, USA

    Amutha Sampath Kumar & Harsh P. Bais

  2. Delaware Biotechnology Institute, 15 Innovation Way, Newark, DE, 19711, USA

    Amutha Sampath Kumar & Harsh P. Bais

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  1. Amutha Sampath Kumar
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  2. Harsh P. Bais
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Correspondence to Harsh P. Bais .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. Zelluläre und Molekulare, Botanik (IZMB), Universität Bonn, Kirschallee 1, Bonn, 53115, Germany

    František Baluška

  2. Agricultural Sciences, Department for Ecology, Swedish University of, Uppsala, 750 07, Sweden

    Velemir Ninkovic

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Kumar, A.S., Bais, H.P. (2010). Allelopathy and Exotic Plant Invasion. In: Baluška, F., Ninkovic, V. (eds) Plant Communication from an Ecological Perspective. Signaling and Communication in Plants. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12162-3_4

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