This volume consists of the edited and revised papers presented at a conference of the British Society for Plant Pathology held at the University of Wolverhampton in December 1992. Chapters are grouped into four sections. The first covers certain general ecological issues, integrating growth habit, population interactions with the host or with differing agricultural ecosystems. The second focuses on methodology, including rapid molecular methods for detection of pathogens and protocols for selection and application of biological control agents. A wide range of aspects of pathogen behavior is covered in the third section on autecology, while the final group of chapters considers microbial interactions. Written by authors from the USA, France, the Netherlands, and the UK , the book is a broad-ranging compilation for plant pathologists in a field that is attracting much attention in the context of sustainability of agricultural ecosystem.