Ecología química y su aplicación potencial en el manejo forestal sostenible
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Chemical ecology (CE) is a relatively recent discipline that began to be studied in the middle of the 20th century, obtaining promising results for the management of natural resources. Its main objective is the study of secondary metabolites (SM) and the interactions mediated by these compounds synthesized by all living organisms. SM condition behaviors such as growth, productivity, allelopathy, biological synergies, defense, resistance to pests and diseases, wood lignification, pollination, and the production of exudates such as latex, among others. In general, SM synthesis is mainly determined by the gene pool; however, different studies have confirmed that the interaction of the organism with the environment, both biotic and abiotic, significantly affects the quantity, quality and presence or absence of these compounds, generating changes in the behavior of organisms even within the same species. The forestry sector has several aspects that could be optimized to achieve greater competitiveness and environmental, social and economic benefits. One of these aspects is the management of the ecological component, which involves reducing the impact of pests and diseases, improving productivity, obtaining higher quality and value-added products, enhancing the ecosystem services of forests, increasing the effectiveness of rehabilitation and assisted restoration of degraded areas, among others. However, ecological studies and their application to forest management have neglected the CE approach, which has shown great potential in agricultural sciences, becoming a key tool for the management of important crops worldwide. The main objective of this monograph is to identify the potential application of CE in sustainable forest management in order to increase its effectiveness and enhance the competitiveness of the sector. To this end, an extensive literature review is carried out to establish a conceptual framework for understanding the theoretical scope of CE and its main concepts, methods and tools. This is followed by a research framework to show the application potential of this discipline in different areas of agricultural and forestry management. Then, we describe how CE can be implemented in multiple areas of forest engineering. Finally, three lines of applied research are proposed in which CE can contribute important techniques that could be incorporated into forestry activities, thus generating a document that allows students and foresters to establish a starting point for future applied research that, in the medium term, will be a significant and highly effective advance to solve and/or improve multiple problems still unresolved in sustainable forest management.