XVI Congress of European Mycologists

Halkidiki, 19-23 September 2011

 http://www.xvicem.org/

 

Report

For the first time in its long history, the Congress of European Mycologists was held in Greece. The meeting was organized by the NAGREF-Forest Research Institute under the auspices of the European Mycological Association [EMA], and held from 18-23 September 2011 at the coastal resort of Neos Marmaras on the Sithonia Peninsula of Halkidiki in northernGreece. The Congress is held every four years, the present meeting being the sixteenth in an unbroken series which dates back to 1956, making the event the world’s oldest international scientific gathering about fungi. It was attended by 235 participants from 28 European and 11 non-European countries (Armenia,Australia,Azerbaijan,Brazil,Canada,Egypt,Iran,Kazakhstan,South Africa,South Korea,USA), and 245 scientific papers were presented.

Numerous thematic areas were covered and the Congress Organizing Committee made special efforts to promote important topics which have not received adequate attention in past congresses. These included aeromycology, alien and invasive fungi which threaten agricultural crops and forest ecosystems, fungus-insect associations, the effects of climate change on fungal diversity, cultivation of edible and medicinal mushrooms, biological control of problems involving fungi, new trends in fungal taxonomy based on molecular methods, fungal recording, and conservation of fungi including use of IUCN criteria in preparing fungal red lists.

To achieve this aim, the following eminent keynote speakers were invited to highlight plenary sessions: Dr P.F. Cannon, CABI & Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK; Dr A. Dahlberg, Swedish Species Information Centre, Uppsala, Sweden; Prof. J.L.F. Kock, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa; Prof. C.A. Rogers University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA; Prof. J. Stenlid, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden; Prof. J. Taylor, University of Berkeley, California, USA (President of the International Mycological Association); Prof. M.A. Typas, University of Athens, Greece.

The Congress of European Mycologists regularly attracts scientists from outside Europe, but the present meeting was exceptional, having the participation of scientists from every inhabited continent - not only Europe, but also Africa, Asia, Australasia, North America andSouth America. This is very encouraging for European mycology and provides a clear indication that these meetings are maintaining high scientific standards. The presence of a substantial cadre of young enthusiastic mycologists was impressive and reassuring, since they will be the people who ensure continuation of mycological research inEurope.

The Congress of European Mycologists is the main occasion when the EMA meets. Since the EMA was established at the XIV Congress in Crimea, Ukraine in 2003, European mycology has seen many changes. Given its very limited resources, the EMA has only been able to contribute to some of these. Its biggest success since the XV Congress in St Petersburg, Russia in 2007 has been to play a leading role in founding the International Society for Fungal Conservation [ISFC], the first society anywhere in the world with the explicit objective of protecting fungi: the EMA can be proud to have done so much to promote the message that fungi merit conservation just as much as animals, micro-organisms and plants. The EMA has also acted as a voice for European mycology within the international framework for the science and particularly through representation on the executive of the International Mycological Association. Other activities carried out by the EMA include the important tasks of raising awareness in the general public about fungi, and of reminding governments and NGOs that fungi are not only organisms of immense importance in medicine and other aspects of human life, but also an essential component of all major ecosystems and necessary for sustainable life on this planet.

Resolutions

The following resolutions were made by the XVI Congress.

1. Taking account of the ancient Greek saying that strength lies in numbers (Η δύναμις εν τω πολλώ), mycologists are urged not only to join the EMA and ISFC but also actively to participate in these societies.
2. The EMA should continue in efforts to expand its scientific coverage of mycology beyond its traditional strengths in fungal biodiversity, conservation, distribution and systematics. This should take the form of additional scientific meetings organized where possible in collaboration with national mycological societies of individual European countries.
3. The EMA should press the EU, national governments ofEurope, the FAO, IUFRO and other organizations to increase funding for mycological research, bearing in mind the virtually unlimited perspectives for fungi as providers of ecosystem services, and in food, medicine and many other aspects of human life.
4. The EMA should support the ISFC in efforts to ensure fungi receive higher priority as organisms worthy of conservation, and action for their protection is more co-ordinated given their irreplaceable role in sustainable life on this planet. Particular attention should be paid to a review of threats to fungi inEurope and beyond.
5. The EMA should strengthen its efforts through the European Council for Conservation of Fungi to update existing national fungal red lists, and should revive the project for a checklist of all European fungi, as these are two critically important building blocks for any work with threatened species of fungi on the European continent.

 

Stephanos Diamandis [Organizing Committee Chair]

David Minter [EMA President]

 

5^th  October 2011

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