Pyrus calleryana extracts reduce germination of native grassland species, suggesting the potential for allelopathic effects during ecological invasion.

ABSTRACT: Invasive plant species' success may be a result of allelopathy, or the release of secondary metabolites that are harmful for surrounding plant species. Allelopathy can be mediated through the abiotic environment by chemical sorption or transformation, so the substrate on which interactions occur can lead to differential outcomes in allelopathic potential. One aggressive invader, Pyrus calleryana, has become dominant in many ecosystems throughout Eastern US, and has reduced the abundance of native species where it invades. Thus, our goal was to identify if P. calleryana had allelopathic potential by testing the impact of leaf and flower leachate on gemination of six common grassland species (three grasses and three forbs) in either sterilized sand or field collected soils. Ger

SUBMITTER: Woods MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10143590 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature