Found in every plant species, the diversity of endophytic micro-organisms can be extremely high within different plant organs and tissue types. In trees, their ecological roles with respect to host tree can vary from latent pathogens or saprophytes to neutral commensalists and mutualists. Given their high diversity, and their bio-active nature, endophytes are currently being associated with a role in tree health against insect herbivores and fungal pathogens, as well as improving tree properties in phytoremediation. Meanwhile there is increasing interest in the potential of some tree endophytes as new sources of drug compounds. The first book on tree endophytes in several years, and containing contributions from leading authors in the field, this book provides an important reference text for professional researchers and advanced students.

Endophytes are commonly known as microorganisms, mainly bacteria and fungi, which live inside plant tissues without inducing symptoms. Considering the long-lived trees, endophytes have a fundamental role in preparing their hosts to face extreme weather conditions, drought, heat, cold, and pathogen and herbivore attacks. The current knowledge clearly demonstrates the importance of endophytes in shaping the plant diversity in a forest. Endophytes have an important capacity for biocontrol of forest diseases. Considering endophyte diversity and the range of various compounds and enzymes they can produce, endophytes can be used for various biotechnological applications.

Discusses the role of endophytes in food security, forestry and health. It outlines their general biology, spanning theory to practice.

Abstract: Terrestrial plants including forest trees are generally known to live in close association with microbial organisms. The inherent features of this close association can be commensalism, parasitism or mutualism. The term "microbiota" has been used to describe this ecological community of plant-associated pathogenic, mutualistic, endophytic and commensal microorganisms. Many of these microbiota inhabiting forest trees could have a potential impact on the health of, and disease progression in, forest biomes. Comparatively, studies on forest tree microbiomes and their roles in mutualism and disease lag far behind parallel work on crop and human microbiome projects. Very recently, our understanding of plant and tree microbiomes has been enriched due to novel technological advances using metabarcoding, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metaproteomics approaches. In addition, the availability of massive DNA databases (e.g., NCBI (USA), EMBL (Europe), DDBJ (Japan), UNITE (Estonia)) as well as powerful computational and bioinformatics tools has helped to facilitate data mining by researchers across diverse disciplines. Available data demonstrate that plant phyllosphere bacterial communities are dominated by members of only a few phyla (Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes). In bulk forest soil, the dominant fungal group is Basidiomycota, whereas Ascomycota is the most prevalent group within plant tissues. The current challenge, however, is how to harness and link the acquired knowledge on microbiomes for translational forest management. Among tree-associated microorganisms, endophytic fungal biota are attracting a lot of attention for their beneficial health- and growth-promoting effects, and were preferentially discussed in this review

This is the first book dedicated to the interactions of non-mycorrhizal microbial endophytes with plant roots. The phenotypes of these interactions can be extremely plastic, depending on environmental factors, nutritional status, genetic disposition and developmental stages of the two partners. This book explores diversity, life history strategies, interactions, applications in agriculture and forestry, methods for isolation, cultivation, and both conventional and molecular methods for identification and detection of these endophytes.

The leaf surface or phyllosphere is a major habitat for microorganisms. Microbes on or within leaves play important roles in plant ecology, and these microbes can be manipulated to enhance plant growth or reduce plant disease. This book presents a number of critical reviews by internationally recognized experts on the microbial ecology of leaves. Topics include methods of assessment of microbial populations on leaf surfaces, leaves as reservoirs of ice nucleation phenomenon, and leaves as microbial habitats in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. The book will be of interest to students and scientists in numerous disciplines, including botany, aerobiology, meteorology, ecology, agriculture, and microbiology.