Teaching Tools in Plant Biology: Plant-Plant Interactions

Vocabulary flashcards covering core terms and concepts related to plant-plant interactions, behavioral responses, signaling, allelopathy, and facilitation.

Signals

Intended information broadcasts in plant communication, which can include hormones, bacterial metabolites, electrical signals, light quality, and stress signals.

Cues

Information vectors considered to be produced without intent, including nutrient resources, water, and light.

Plant behavior

What a plant does in the course of its lifetime in response to an event or change in its environment, such as phototropic curvature towards a light source.

Phytochrome

A photoreceptor system in plants that identifies the ratio of Red to Far-red light ($R:FR$) to sense vegetative shading.

Somatic competition

Internal competition occurring when a plant competes with itself among redundant organs, optimizing performance by allocating resources into more successful organs.

Phytomer

A modular structural unit of the plant shoot that includes a node, internode, axillary bud, and leaf.

Allelochemicals

Chemical substances produced and released by plants that interfere with the growth of nearby competing plants.

Sorgoleone

An allelochemical produced in Sorghum bicolor root hairs and exuded as oily drops into soil, acting as a pre-emergence herbicide that inhibits photosynthesis in young seedlings.

Juglone

An allelochemical produced by the black walnut tree (Juglans nigra) that suppresses surrounding vegetation.

Nurse plant

A plant, such as Palo verde (Parkinsonia spp.), that buffers harsh abiotic conditions to assist in the establishment of delicate seedlings like the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea).

Momilactones

Allelopathic compounds (such as Momilactone B) exuded by rice plants to suppress the growth of barnyard grass (Echinochloa crus-galli).

Alliaria petiolata

An invasive plant species, commonly known as garlic mustard, that suppresses surrounding vegetation through a negative allelopathic effect.

Three Sisters

An ancient Native American polyculture system consisting of maize, bean, and squash, which utilizes complementary shoot structure and root architecture to reduce resource competition.