APPLYING ARTIFICIAL MYCORRHIZAE IN PLANTING URBAN TREES

Urban habitats are unique and harsh environments for established plant communities, basically due to the increased stress (disturbance, pollution, drought etc.). However, ever increasing is the need for extending the green areas of the cities. There are several possibilities for urban afforestation, yet most of them require the use of chemicals that burden the soil. A feasible solution is applying artificially modified microbiota to enhance the growth and stress tolerance of the ornamental species. Mycorrhiza is mutualistic interaction between plant roots and fungal hyphae that increases the ecological fitness of both partners, especially among harsh environmental conditions. As a consequence, exploiting the advantages of this symbiosis can be a proper and sustainable strategy for establishing artificial plant communities in urban areas. In the present article we review the most important questions of urban afforestation and describe the most important general features of mycorrhizae that are related to their extended use by the humankind. Afterwards, we sum up the actual knowledge on mycorrhizae of plants living in urban areas. Then we report about the Bavarian research project "Urban Green 2021". Finally, we introduce an extensive ongoing study aiming to gain new results on this topic among Hungarian conditions.