In this article, we review allelopathy studies conducted in Brazil or involving plant species that occur in the country. Conceptions and misconceptions associated with allelopathy, as well as some international criteria to be applied in allelopathic research, are presented and discussed. We observed a sharp increase in the number of papers on this subject conducted in Brazil between 1991 and 2010. However, most studies are conducted under laboratory conditions, lack a clear hypothesis or a solid justification, and typically make use of target species that do not co-exist with the donor species under natural conditions. We also found that most studies do not take the additional steps in order to purify and identify the bioactive molecules. We recommend that further studies be conducted in order to explore the potential of plant biodiversity in Brazil. Such studies could lead to the development of new molecular structures (allelochemicals) that could be used in the control of pests and weeds, thereby reducing the use of the harmful synthetic herbicides that are currently being widely employed.

The search for and identifi cation of new molecules for the development of herbicides has grown in recent decades. With the objective of developing effi cient, environmentally friendly herbicides, we evaluated the phytotoxic activity of 13 synthetic chalcones on the development of sesame Sesamum indicum L. and brachiaria Urochloa decumbens (Stapf) R.D. Webster. Growth experiments were conducted at 30°C within a photoperiod of 12 hours. The positive control was distilled water whereas the negative control was the herbicide Glyphosate®. Two chalcones (3,13) signifi cantly inhibited the growth of the target species, being this inhibition comparable to that produced by Glyphosate®. The inhibitory eff ects of these chalcones on the growth of sesame and brachiaria deserves deeper investigation, since the methodology for their synthesis is simple and the reagents employed are of low cost, what make their large-scale production economically viable. Also, these molecules do not produce toxic residues such as those generated by synthetic herbicides.

Studies have identified the phytotoxicity of many native species of the Cerrado; however, most of them were conducted either in inert substrates, or using exaggerate proportions of plant material. We investigated the phytotoxicity of pequi leaves added to substrate soil in quantities compatible with the litter produced by this species. Pequi leaves were triturated and added to red latosol in concentrations of 0.75%, 1.5% and 3%; the control was constituted of leafless soil. These mixtures were added to pots and irrigated daily to keep them moist. Germinated seeds of the cultivated sorghum and sesame, of the invasive brachiaria and of the native purple ipê, were disposed in the pots to grow for five to seven days at 30 °C within a photoperiod of 12 h. Seedlings of all the species presented a reduction in their initial growth in a dose-dependent way. In general, the root growth was more affected by the treatments than the shoot growth; moreover, signs of necrosis were observed in the roots of the sorghum, sesame and brachiaria. The phytotoxic effects generated by relatively small quantities of leaves, in a reasonable range of species within a soil substrate, suggest potential allelopathy of pequi leaves under natural conditions.

Vegetation pattern formation is a widespread phenomenon in resource-limited environments, but the driving mechanisms are largely unconfirmed empirically. Combining results of field studies and mathematical modeling, empirical evidence for a generic pattern-formation mechanism is demonstrated with the clonal shrub Guilandina bonduc L. (hereafter Guilandina) on the Brazilian Island of Trindade. The mechanism is associated with water-conduction by laterally spread roots and root augmentation as the shoot grows – a crucial element in the positive feedback loop that drives spatial patterning. Assuming precipitation-dependent root-shoot relations, the model accounts for the major vegetation landscapes on Trindade Island, substantiating lateral root augmentation as the driving mechanism of Guilandina patterning. Guilandina expands into surrounding communities dominated by the Trindade endemic, Cyperus atlanticus Hemsl. (hereafter Cyperus). It appears to do so by decreasing the water potential in soils below Cyperus through its dense lateral roots, leaving behind a patchy Guilandina-only landscape. We use this system to highlight a novel form of invasion, likely to apply to many other systems where the invasive species is pattern-forming. Depending on the level of water stress, the invasion can take two distinct forms: (i) complete invasion at low stress that culminates in a patchy Guilandina-only landscape through a spot-replication process, (ii) incomplete invasion at high stress that begins but does not spread, forming isolated Guilandina spots of fixed size, surrounded by bare-soil halos, in otherwise uniform Cyperus grassland. Thus, drier climates may act selectively on pattern-forming invasive species, imposing incomplete invasion and reducing the negative effects on native species.

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