The ecosystem and evolutionary contexts of allelopathy

Inderjit, David A. Wardle, Richard Karban, Ragan M. Callaway

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

325 Scopus citations

Abstract

Plants can release chemicals into the environment that suppress the growth and establishment of other plants in their vicinity: a process known as 'allelopathy'. However, chemicals with allelopathic functions have other ecological roles, such as plant defense, nutrient chelation, and regulation of soil biota in ways that affect decomposition and soil fertility. These ecosystem-scale roles of allelopathic chemicals can augment, attenuate or modify their community-scale functions. In this review we explore allelopathy in the context of ecosystem properties, and through its role in exotic invasions consider how evolution might affect the intensity and importance of allelopathic interactions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)655-662
Number of pages8
JournalTrends in Ecology and Evolution
Volume26
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2011

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