Applicative and Ecological Aspects of Mycorrhizal Symbioses

Book excerpt: Mycorrhizal symbioses, a mutual association between plants and fungi plays a vital role in shaping and balancing the ecosystem of our planet. Approximately 80% of vascular plant species form mycorrhizal associations between their roots and soil borne fungi. Moreover, such association between plants and mycorrhizal fungi drastically affect the water and nutrient absorption by plant roots as well as provides protection against soil-borne pathogens. Hence, mycorrhizal symbioses might be advantageous for plants and our ecosystem under the drastically changing climate, which is threatening and distorting our ecosystem. Threats to our ecosystem should therefore encourage investigations and inventories of mycorrhizal diversity, function, and their application. Although numerous research has been done in this area, some issues remain unsolved because of the dramatic diversity of mycorrhizal associations along with their specificity in response to host plants especially under different climate and soil conditions in different ecosystems. Therefore, the collection under this research topic aim to provide up-to date applicative thorough studies on mycorrhizal symbioses through ecological perspective. For this Research Topic, we welcome both reviews and original articles that address the following research agenda but not limited to: - the diversity, structure and function of mycorrhizal fungi associated with plants, trees, crops in different ecosystems - the impacts of mycorrhizae on plant species under different environmental condition (i.e., warmer climate, drought) - the interaction between mycorrhizal fungi and plant species in soil with different water level, nutrients and salinity - the application of the mycorrhizae on regeneration and dynamics of ecosystems, as well as their biomass production