Checking the balance between pathogenic and mutualistic pine needle fungi of the genus <i>Lophodermium</i> in forested and urban areas of Slovakia

<i>Lophodermium</i> species are well known to be among the dominant endophytic fungi colonizing pine needles. The occurrence of two species with different life strategies on different <i>Pinus</i> trees across Slovakia was detected by PCR using species-specific primers. In general, the commensalistic species <i>L. pinastri</i> was more frequent than parasitic <i>L. seditiosum</i>. There were no significant differences observed between urban and natural environments, but natural environments have more frequent colonization by <i>L. pinastri</i> and less frequent were trees negatively tested to <i>Lophodermium</i> colonization. Among the most frequently sampled trees were non-native <i>P. nigra</i> and native <i>P. sylvestris</i>. A significant difference in <i>Lophodermium</i> incidence was detected between these two species in a natural environment, with increased frequency of <i>L. pinastri</i> on native Scots pine. In addition to one clade of <i>L. pinastri</i>, culture based species identification confirmed the presence of <i>L. corconticum</i> and an undescribed clade of <i>L. seditiosum</i> that is not sensitive to used PCR primers for the species detection.