Invasive plants

Brown, B. J. and Mitchell, R. J. (2001). Competition for pollination Effects of pollen of an invasive plant on seed set of a native congener. Oecologia 129 43-49. Brown, B. J., Mitchell, R. J. and Graham, S. A. (2002). Competition for pollination between an invasive species (purple loosestrife) and a native congener. Ecology 83 2328-2336. 

Rea G, Metoui O, Infantino A, Federico R, Angelini R (2002) Copper amine oxidase expression in defense responses to wounding and Ascochyta rabiei invasion. Plant Physiol 128 865-875 Roeder V, Collen J, Rousvoal S, Corre E, Leblanc C, Boyen C (2005) Identification of stress gene transcripts in Laminaria digitata (Phaeophyceae) protoplast cultures by Expressed Sequence Tag analysis. J Phycol 41 1227-1235... 

Whether a plant is a weed or not depends on the identity of the particular plant, where it is growing, and the effect it may have on the plants around it. Simply put, a weed is an invasive plant, growing where you do not want it. The aim in an organic garden is not to eradicate every weed, but to keep them at an acceptable level appropriate to the situation. Plants we call weeds can also make a positive contribution to a garden—in which case they are no longer weeds ... 

Callaway, R.M. Aschdiough, E.T. (2000) Invasive plants versus their new and old neighbors a mechanism for exotic invasion. Science, 290, 521-3. 

In medieval times, cities commonly erected walls as a protective barrier to invasion. Plants have evolved similar protective mechanisms. Thorns and nettles which repel most herbivores are two examples of protective barriers. To ward off Insect attack, plants have evolved non-glandular trichomes which act in a similar fashion. Thus, in some plants, the density, length, or branching of trichomes have been negatively correlated with insect survival (10). 

Konvalinkova, P., Generative and vegetative reproduction of Helianthus tuberosus, an invasive plant in central Europe, in Plant Invasions Ecological Threats and Management Solutions, Child, L.E., Brock, J.H., Brundu, G., Prach, K., Pysek, P., Wade, P.M., and Williamson, M., Backbuys Pub., Leiden, The Netherlands, 2003, pp. 289-299. 

Healing ceremonies that involved the use of mushrooms, morning glory seeds. Salvia divinorum, or peyote were a basic part of Mesoamerican health systems before the Spanish invasion. Plant-based healing methods were generally tolerated by colonists and colonial authorities, but entheogens (certain psychoactive plants or other substances) were identified as means for invocation and communication with the devil, and as evidence of pacts with the devil. 

An old gardening adage goes like this A weed is just a flower that is growing where you don t wont it. Landscape gardener Caroline Sutliff works to eradicate those hardy, invasive plants, such as Taraxacum officinale (better known as dandelions). In this interview, she tells about how she wages her weed battles with garden tools and chemicals. 

Thomson DM. 2005. Matrix models as a tool for understanding invasive plant and native plant interactions. Conserv Biol 19 917-928. 

However, phytoremediation does have certain disadvantages and limitations. This technology is limited by depth (roots) and also by the solubility and the availability of the pollutant. Although it is faster than natural attenuation, phytoremediation requires long time periods and is restricted to sites with low contaminant concentrations. The plant biomass obtained from phytoextraction requires proper disposal as hazardous waste. Phytoremediation depends on the climate and season. It can also lose its effectiveness when damage occurs to vegetation from disease or pests. The introduction of inappropriate or invasive plant species should be avoided (non-native species may affect biodiversity). Contaminants may be transferred to another medium, the environment, and/or the food chain. Amendments and cultivation practices may have negative consequences on contaminant mobiUty. 

Grove S, Haubensak KA, Parker IM. Direct and indirect effects of allelopathy in the soil legacy and an exotic plant invasion. Plant Ecol 2012 213(12) 1869-82. 

Homoy B, Atlan A, Tarayre M, Dugravot S, Wink M. Alkaloid concentration of the invasive plant species Ulex europaeus in relation to geographic origin and herbivory. Naturwissenschcften 2012 99(11) 883-92. 

Macel M, de Vos RCH, Jansen JJ, van der Putten WH, van Dam NM. Novel chemistry of invasive plants Exotic species have more unique metabolic profiles than native... 

To demonstrate the applicability of the mathematical approach we compare our model with population data taken from the literature for different invasive plants. Data from the native and exotic ranges of Echium plantagineum, Cytisus scoparius, and Carduus nutans [172, 344, 397,398,479] were used to establish that the model predicts their invasive behavior when the fecundity of these species in their exotic ranges is considered. Finally, the invasion rates recently found experimentally [221] for Carduus acanthoides are shown to fit closely the analytical predictions of the model. 

Control of Invasive Plants. Throughout history, nonnative plants have been introduced intentionally or by accident for purposes such as food, medicine, and aesthetics, sometimes with negative results, such as lost revenues. Once introduced, about one out of every ten of these nonnative plants becomes difficult to control and can destroy ecosystems and habitats. Some of the ways that silviculture methods can be used to overcome these negative outcomes is to plant... 

Allelopathic processes via (-)-catechia (2S,3R-enantiomer) (Fig. 1) have been invoked to partially explain the snccess of Centaurea maculosa (spotted knapweed) in North America [46-48], Throngh bioassays, root exnded (-)-catechin was identified as the pntative allelochemical of spotted knapweed, and mnltiple stndies have examined varions facets of the role of this compound as an allelochemical [46-51 ]. The 2R,3S-(+)-catechin enantiomer is also produced by the plant, but was reported essentially to be nonphytotoxic. This work supported the novel weapons hypothesis, which states that the success of some exotic invasive plant species may be due to the production of allelochemicals that native species have never encountered and, thus, to which they have not evolved defenses [52]. 

Thelen, C.C. et al. (2005) Insect herbivory stimulates allelopathic exudation by an invasive plant and the suppression of natives. Ecol Lett. 8,209-217... 

Quinoline-4-carbaldehyde derivatives also occur in higher plants (Table Vlll). For example, 8-hydroxyquinoline-4-carbaldehyde oxime (J.3.1 Scheme 9) was isolated from Broussonetia zeylanica (Moraceae) (151-153). (+)-Tuberosine B (J.1.2), an unprecedented tetrahydroquinoline alkaloid, has been reported in the inaccessible Chinese literature as a new metabolite of Allium tuberosum (Alliaceae) (157). Eichhornia crassipes (Pontederiaceae) is an invasive plant and often jams rivers and lakes with uncounted thousands of tons of floating plant matter. It has yielded 1,4-dimethylquinolinium iodide (J.4) (142). 

Syed, Z. and P. M. Guerin, Tsetse flies are attracted to the invasive plant Lantana camara. J Insect Physiol, 2004. 50(1) 43-50. 

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