Economically feasible strategies to cope with invasive species are urgently needed. Plant density can be increased to reduce competitive effects on target plants. This study indicates that increasing native plant density can be used to reduce the effect of invasive Ageratina adenophora. Seedlings...

Secondary plant metabolites may influence plant-plant interactions and plant invasions. Distinguishing such chemicals requires integrating varying chemical ecology approaches, information on the amounts and persistence of specific chemicals in nature, and measures of effects (e.g., phytotoxicity...

Soybean sudden death syndrome (SDS) was detected in South Africa for the first time during pathogen surveys conducted in 2013 to 2014. The primary objective of this study was to characterize the 16 slow-growing Fusarium strains that were isolated from the roots of symptomatic plants. Molecular...

Parasitic Echinochloa colona (L.) Link has globally invaded paddy fields that could devote to severe grain yield loss. Prolonged extensive application of commercial synthetic herbicides could pose the weed evolved resistance, bioaccumulation and environmental deterioration. Hence, this paper...

Invasive species are considered a main driver of pollinator declines, yet the direct effects of invasive alien plants on pollinators are poorly understood. Abundant, invasive plant species can provide a copious nectar resource for native pollinators. However, the nectar of some plants contains...

Secondary compounds in nectar can function as toxic chemical defences against floral antagonists, but may also mediate plant-pollinator interactions. Despite their ecological importance, few studies have investigated patterns of spatial variation in toxic nectar compounds in plant species, and none ...

The invasive thistle Carduus nutans has been reported to be allelopathic, yet no allelochemicals have been identified from the species. In a search for allelochemicals from C. nutans and the closely related invasive species C. acanthoides, bioassay-guided fractionation of roots and leaves of each...

The grass Brachiaria brizantha, native to eastern Africa, becomes naturalized and dominant quickly in the non-native areas. It was hypothesized that phytotoxic chemical interaction between this plant and native plants may play an important role in the invasion of B. brizantha. However, no potent...

The allelopathic impact of aqueous extract (2.5 and 5%) and residues (2 and 4%) of five aquatic weeds namely Alternanthera philoxeroides, Alternanthera sessilis, Conyza stricta, Polygonum barbatum and Echinochloa crus-galli was investigated on the germination and early growth of wheat (Triticum...

The papers in this special issue cover both agro- and natural ecosystems. Regarding the former they: summarized years of research and several long-term studies on major food crops specifically, sorghum, rye, rice, and other cereals; addressed emerging problems of soil legacy effects, and fungal...