Allelopathy and Exotic Plant Invasion

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.