Abstract
In this review, we discuss the unrealized potential of incorporating plant–microbe and microbe–microbe interactions into invasive plant management strategies. While the development of this as a viable strategy is in its infancy, we argue that incorporation of microbial components into management plans should be a priority and has great potential for diversifying sustainable control options. We advocate for increased research into microbial-mediated phytochemical production, microbial controls to reduce the competitiveness of invasive plants, microbial-mediated increases of herbicidal tolerance of native plants, and to facilitate increased pathogenicity of plant pathogens of invasive plants.
Highlights
Plants serve as habitats for microbes and microbial communities, which can colonize every plant tissue type [1,2,3]
Prominent examples of mutualistic plant-microbe interactions are the symbioses between plants and nitrogen fixing bacteria and/or mycorrhizal fungi, that help plants grow in soils with low nutrient quality [6]
An additional mechanism to confer tolerance to herbicides in native plants could be priming tolerance through microbial-based induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers within native plants [89,90] or induction of jasmonic acid, oxylipins and salicylic acid production, leading to induction of tolerance responses to herbicide oxidative stress [90]. Another ecologically sound approach to boost native plant tolerance to oxidative stress from herbicides is inoculation with plant growth promoting microbes (PGPM) and certain mycorrhizal fungi
Summary
Plants serve as habitats for microbes and microbial communities, which can colonize every plant tissue type [1,2,3]. Unraveling the mechanisms through which microbes control the production of secondary metabolites like allelochemicals and vice versa will help us to pursue the development of management strategies that imitate the structure and function of native plant ecosystems while reducing chemical inputs on the environment. We view this as an important but understudied potential management tool and one that desperately needs additional research to harness this potential
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