ABSTRACT
Trichoderma and Gliocladium are ubiquitous soil dwellers. They sporulate profusely and hence are widely recorded in all manners of surveys. These general saprophytes have minimal nutritional requirements and can grow rapidly, besides producing a scintillating array of secondary metabolites. Additionally, they have the ability to transform an extraordinarily wide variety of organic materials of both natural and xenobiotic origin. They are well-known hyper-producers of degradative enzymes including chitinases involved in lysis of fungal mycelia (Volume 2, Chapter 7) and cellulases (Volume 2, Chapter 1). With such virtues, it is perhaps not surprising that they appear as adept colonizers and have been promoted indirectly as biocontrol agents (Volume 2, Chapters 8-1 0) and plant growth stimulators (Volume 2, Chapter 6), besides being noxious pests of the mushroom industry (Volume 2, Chapter 11). There are also periodic reports of Trichoderma causing infections of humans (Loeppky et al., 1983) and attacks on immunocompromised patients (Seguin et al., 1995). In spite of their wide occurrence and general importance, relatively few reviews address their ecology (Eveleigh, 1985; Papavizas, 1985; Samuels, 1996). This chapter attempts to set their ecological status in general perspective. The taxonomy, methodology for identifying populations, and general physiology are briefly discussed and then examined in ecological perspective, namely interactions between Trichoderma, its environment and other organisms in that environment.
