This research focuses on genetic, species and functional diversity of endophytic fungi by emphasizing the importance of habitat diversity and consequences of human activities.
Endophytic fungi live asymptomatically and intercellularly within plant tissues.
Endophytic fungi in many grasses are considered to be mutualists because they provide increasing plant resistance to herbivores, pathogens and drought and flooding stress, and enhancing competitive abilities while they receive nutrition and protection from the host. This purported mutualism has been studied in agricultural grasses, but very few studies have examined the interaction of endophytes and their host plants in natural settings and in woody plants, and even fewer still have addressed the ecological and evolutionary implications of endophyte infections. Plenum Press, New York, 165-166. Helander, M.L . A.M. Helander, M .