Allelopathy Research: Past, Present and Future I. Allelopathy in Natural Ecosystems.

This essay aimed to describe the allelopathy researches in the past, present and future, dealing with the allelopathy in natural and managed ecosystems. The unique allelopathic patterns of chaparral, coniferous forests, fern vegetations, tropical and subtropical vegetations from forests to grassland communities and introduced and invasive species are presented. The aforementioned species exhibit unique inhibitory effects on the growth of the adjacent plants or understory species. The allelopathy plays an important role in vegetation dominance and succession. The potential of allelochemicals are often modified by environmental stresses (soil pH, drought, nutrients deficiency, light etc.) and physiological or biochemical interactions. The allelopathic interactions among the aquatic organisms, such as algae, seaweeds and coral are also presented. Of which, the formation of algae red-bloom and the effects of global climatic change on ocean acidification to marine organisms is also presented. The modes of action allelochemicals on the structure and function of plants via physiological, molecular interactions are expressed. The allelochemicals cover very broad aspects of chemical interactions among organisms, thus, the fundamental studies of natural products from organisms need trainings of multidisciplinary sciences. The authors create a new scientific term called “Allelochemicology”, which hopefully, inspires young scientists in life sciences to explore this field to solve the most difficult tasks in Ecology, Sustainable Agriculture, Pharmaceutical and Medicine that can be beneficial to human welfare in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals. This eassy covers the research in the past, present and future in 3-parts: Part I. Natural Ecosystems, Part II. Managed Ecosystems and Part III. Allelochemicals use in Pharmaceutical Agents and Biomedical Sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]