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Protist, Vol. 165, 805–807, December 2014 http://www.elsevier.de/protis Published online date 23 October 2014 PROTIST NEWS Meeting Report: 7th International Symposium on Testate Amoebae (ISTA-7), Pozna ´ n, Poland, 8–12 September 2014 - Research Priorities, Progress and Present Status of Testate Amoeba Research Studies on testate amoebae have recently been developing very dynamically within the framework of interdisciplinary scientific projects. Each year more is known about their ecology, phylogeny, evo- lution and biogeography. The tree of life has been changing considerably and so is the position of this ecologically important group of microorganisms. Progress in taxonomy and ecology has enhanced the value of testate amoebae in palaeoecological and archaeological studies. The 5th ISTA meet- ing took place in Montbelliard (France). The ISTA-7 meeting was organized two years after the sympo- sium in Xiamen, China, that was organized by Jun Yang and Satoshi Shimano. These symposia are usually organised every three years; however, the current dynamic state of testate amoeba research has led us to increase the frequency of meetings from every three years to every two years. Between September 8 and 12, 2014, over 70 scientists from 21 countries and 4 continents met in Pozna ´ n, Poland, during the 7 th International Symposium for Testate Amoebae. There were 36 talks and 35 posters. The conference took place in the auditorium of Pozna ´ n Archaeological Museum (http://www.muzarp.poznan.pl/en/), located in the centre of Pozna ´ n Old Town. The meeting consisted of two days of scientific sessions, a half-day trip around Pozna ´ n and a half-day taxonomic work- shop. The ISTA-7 was jointly organized by the Lab- oratory of Wetland Ecology and Monitoring & the Department of Biogeography and Palaeoe- cology, Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University, with a signif- icant support from the Polish Limnological Society, the Polish Association for Environmental Arche- ology, Pozna ´ n Archeological Museum, the Polish Association for Environmental Archaeology, the Quaternary Research Committee (Polish Academy of Sciences), Nikon Poland and the Lower Vistula River Society. A book of abstracts is available from the website (www.ista7.pl ). The conference was divided into four sessions: (1) Ecology and Bioindication, (2) Palaeoecology, Palaeoclimatology and Archaeology, (3) Taxonomy and Phylogeny and (4) Biogeography, Physiology and Evolutionary Biology. Ecology and Bioindication This session began with a keynote lecture by Vin- cent E. J. Jassey who presented an interesting lecture exploring trophic interactions between tes- tate amoebae and other microbial groups in bogs and fens. One of his most significant discoveries was the dominant impact of phenolic compounds on the structure of testate amoeba communities. Then, Enrique Lara showed the importance of the trait approach for palaeoecological studies where a molecular approach is not applicable. An interest- ing oral presentation that eventually won the Prize for the Best Lecture was presented by Matthieu Mulot. In a very attractive way, he presented ground breaking data on the adaptation of testate amoebae to manipulated hydrological conditions in the microcosm experiment in Neuchatel, Switzer- land. Afterwards, Helen Roe presented interesting results on lake salt pollution from Canada and the indicative value of testate amoebae. Barry Warner continued the problem of contamination using another case - oil sand processed materi- als. He demonstrated the potential of some testate amoeba species for use in pollution monitoring. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.protis.2014.10.002 1434-4610/© 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Meeting Report: 7th International Symposium on Testate Amoebae (ISTA-7), Poznań, Poland, 8–12 September 2014 - Research Priorities, Progress and Present Status of Testate Amoeba

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Page 1: Meeting Report: 7th International Symposium on Testate Amoebae (ISTA-7), Poznań, Poland, 8–12 September 2014 - Research Priorities, Progress and Present Status of Testate Amoeba

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rotist, Vol. 165, 805–807, December 2014ttp://www.elsevier.de/protisublished online date 23 October 2014

ROTIST NEWS

eeting Report: 7th Internationalymposium on Testate Amoebae (ISTA-7),

oznan, Poland, 8–12 September 2014 -esearch Priorities, Progress and Presenttatus of Testate Amoeba Research

tudies on testate amoebae have recently beeneveloping very dynamically within the frameworkf interdisciplinary scientific projects. Each yearore is known about their ecology, phylogeny, evo-

ution and biogeography. The tree of life has beenhanging considerably and so is the position of thiscologically important group of microorganisms.rogress in taxonomy and ecology has enhanced

he value of testate amoebae in palaeoecologicalnd archaeological studies. The 5th ISTA meet-

ng took place in Montbelliard (France). The ISTA-7eeting was organized two years after the sympo-

ium in Xiamen, China, that was organized by Junang and Satoshi Shimano. These symposia aresually organised every three years; however, theurrent dynamic state of testate amoeba researchas led us to increase the frequency of meetings

rom every three years to every two years.Between September 8 and 12, 2014, over 70

cientists from 21 countries and 4 continents metn Poznan, Poland, during the 7th Internationalymposium for Testate Amoebae. There were 36

alks and 35 posters. The conference took place inhe auditorium of Poznan Archaeological Museumhttp://www.muzarp.poznan.pl/en/), located in theentre of Poznan Old Town. The meeting consistedf two days of scientific sessions, a half-day tripround Poznan and a half-day taxonomic work-hop.The ISTA-7 was jointly organized by the Lab-

ratory of Wetland Ecology and Monitoring &he Department of Biogeography and Palaeoe-ology, Faculty of Geographical and Geologicalciences, Adam Mickiewicz University, with a signif-

cant support from the Polish Limnological Society,he Polish Association for Environmental Arche-logy, Poznan Archeological Museum, the Polish

Association for Environmental Archaeology, theQuaternary Research Committee (Polish Academyof Sciences), Nikon Poland and the Lower VistulaRiver Society. A book of abstracts is available fromthe website (www.ista7.pl).

The conference was divided into four sessions:(1) Ecology and Bioindication, (2) Palaeoecology,Palaeoclimatology and Archaeology, (3) Taxonomyand Phylogeny and (4) Biogeography, Physiologyand Evolutionary Biology.

Ecology and Bioindication

This session began with a keynote lecture by Vin-cent E. J. Jassey who presented an interestinglecture exploring trophic interactions between tes-tate amoebae and other microbial groups in bogsand fens. One of his most significant discoverieswas the dominant impact of phenolic compoundson the structure of testate amoeba communities.Then, Enrique Lara showed the importance of thetrait approach for palaeoecological studies where amolecular approach is not applicable. An interest-ing oral presentation that eventually won the Prizefor the Best Lecture was presented by MatthieuMulot. In a very attractive way, he presentedground breaking data on the adaptation of testateamoebae to manipulated hydrological conditions inthe microcosm experiment in Neuchatel, Switzer-land. Afterwards, Helen Roe presented interestingresults on lake salt pollution from Canada andthe indicative value of testate amoebae. BarryWarner continued the problem of contaminationusing another case - oil sand processed materi-als. He demonstrated the potential of some testateamoeba species for use in pollution monitoring.

ttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.protis.2014.10.002434-4610/© 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Page 2: Meeting Report: 7th International Symposium on Testate Amoebae (ISTA-7), Poznań, Poland, 8–12 September 2014 - Research Priorities, Progress and Present Status of Testate Amoeba

806 M. Lamentowicz et al.

Valentyna Krashevska focused on the litter speciesof testate amoebae in tropical montane forestsand then David Singer talked about the bioindica-tive value of the Nebela collaris complex (withthe use of molecular biology). David suggestedthat high-resolution taxonomy might be very use-ful for bioindication in ecology and palaeoecology.Later, Isabelle Koenig presented material froman experiment conducted in the Jura mountains,Switzerland, where a pig cadaver has been usedfor the forensic study of testate amoebae. The lasttwo presentations were focused on testate amoe-bae response to manipulated water tables in NPoland (Monika Reczuga) and an evaluation oftransfer function usage in the monitoring of peat-lands (Graeme Swindles).

Palaeoecology, Palaeoclimatology andArchaeology

The session began with a keynote lecture byGraeme Swindles who spoke about the impor-tance of testate amoebae for answering scientificquestions in archaeology and palaeoclimatology.Important case studies from Ireland were presentedthat proved the lack of a link between human activityand historic climatic change. Then, Richard Paynepresented an intriguing lecture on the uncertain-ties in testate amoebae based transfer functions.The lecture provoked a lively discussion on theimprovement and validation of palaeohydrologicalreconstructions. Afterwards, we were impressedby a presentation by Andrew Macumber who dis-cussed material from the Canadian arctic usinglake testate amoebae. Then, Emmanuela DazaSecco talked about lake testate amoebae as indi-cators of peat extraction. Mariusz Lamentowiczgave the lecture which was focused on palaeohy-drological reconstructions from ombrotrophic bogsthat were supported by the analysis of functionaltraits of testate amoebae. The study showed astrong link between aperture position and watertable depth in Sphagnum peatlands. The nextspeaker was Tim Patterson who showed the valueof testate amoebae in global change studies, withthe main focus on the Canadian lakes. Then,Katarzyna Marcisz presented a peatland palaeoe-cological multi-proxy study which assessed testateamoeba community response to fire activity dur-ing the last 2000 years. The last speaker inthe palaeological session was Thomas Rolandwho presented the results on Antarctica testateamoebae and their potential use in palaeoclimaticstudies.

Taxonomy, Phylogeny andBiogeography

This session began with a keynote lecture by DanielJ. G. Lahr who talked about Arcellinida phylogeny,palaeontology, cryptic species and the conse-quences of evolutionary interpretations. The lectureprovoked a debate on the evolutionary history oftestate amoebae. Then, Anush Kosakyan gave atalk about a monograph of the family Hyalospheni-idae (Amoebozoa, Arcellinida) that may becomean important guide for identification by ecologistsand palaeoecologists, as well as a model taxo-nomic monograph for later studies on other testateamoeba families. The next speaker was YangminQin, who presented a new species Nebela jiuhuen-sis and the problem of the ecological protection oflakes in which the species is found. Afterwards,Dave Wilkinson talked about European mountainsummit testate amoebae diversity. The study wasa part of the GLORIA project that establishedpermanent quadrats at the summits of Europeanmountains. A colleague from Chile, Leonardo D.Fernández, presented a large spatial scale studywhere he tried to explore testate amoebae latitu-dinal patterns in South America. Then, CarolineMeyer discussed the response of testate amoe-bae communities to different types of atmosphericpollution along the elevation gradient. The nextspeaker - Edward Mitchell - presented data onGondwana-tropical testate amoebae taxa that hadbeen recorded in Jura Mountains and Swiss Alps.Andrey Tsyganov presented interesting data ontestate amoebae ecology in various spatial scalesin different habitats of the Russian taiga. Intersti-tial testate amoebae were the topic of the talk byVassil Golemansky, who also mentioned the firstISTA meeting that took place in Sophia, Bulgaria,38 years ago. Then, Sigala Itzel presented noveldata on testate amoebae ecology in lakes in Mex-ico. The session ended with a presentation by JunYang, revealing testate amoebae distribution anddiversity in lakes in China along the trophic andelevation gradient.

Physiology and Evolutionary Biology

A keynote lecture by Andrzej Bodył opened thelast session of ISTA-7. The talk was focusedon the evolution of endosymbiotic cyanobac-teria in a very spectacular testate amoebae,Paulinella chromatophora. He tried to answer thequestion of whether the cyanobacterium-derivedcompartments of Paulinella chromatophora are

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Meeting Report: ISTA-7 807

endosymbionts or true cell organelles. The nextspeaker was Ralf Meisterfeld, who presented meth-ods of culture techniques. He showed proceduresthat he had successfully used for many yearsto isolate, grow and maintain testate amoeba.Then, Yuri Mazei explored the issue of how thestorage of testate amoebae samples affects theirpreservation. The fourth talk in this session wasgiven by Júlia Katalin Török who reviewed thetopic of Arcella endosymbiont bacteria. She sug-gested that the possession of such microbiotamight strengthen host clones, thus improving theircompetitive ability in diverse natural assemblages.Daniel Gilbert talked about an exceptional studyaimed at quantifying the level of oxygen respira-tion of testate amoebae using microsensors, aspreviously described for benthic foraminifera. Thenext speaker, Maxence Delaine (prize for the bestposter), discussed the mineral diversity of particlesbuilding the shells of testate amoebae which weredetermined with Environmental Scanning ElectronMicroscopy (ESEM) equipped with Energy Dis-persive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). The last butdefinitely not least presentation was given by Ekate-rina Volkova, who talked about regeneration of thetest and behaviour of Arcella gibbosa and Arcellavulgaris.

The Trip and Taxonomic Workshop

The last day of the Symposium was dividedbetween a field trip and a taxonomic work-shop. During the trip, Mirosław Makohonienko andMagdalena Dworzynska explained the history ofPoznan and the Polish nation, which has its originin the Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) region wherePoznan is located. Participants visited the placewhere the largest iron meteorite shower in CentralEurope took place, near the present Morasko dis-trict of the city of Poznan. Mirosław Makohonienkotalked about the intriguing Holocene history of thehornbeam (Carpinus betulus) forest.

The half-day taxonomic workshop was held byRalf Meisterfeld (Germany) and Yuri Mazei (PenzaUniversity, Russia). During the workshop, testateamoebae identification problems were demon-strated and discussed. Yuri Mazei presented his

interesting work on the Ogden slide collection fromthe London Natural History Museum. Then, RalfMeisterfeld presented three problems: preparationof permanent mounts, identification of Nebela (Arg-ynnia) bipes, N. trangulata and N. bicornis as wellas Difflugia australis. Júlia Katalin Török showeda set of slides for potential identification. Finally,Edward Mitchell presented several testate amoe-bae slides from his trip to South Africa.

Final Remarks and the Future

The meeting was very inspiring and full of livelydebates. During the final discussion, the futureof the International Society of Testate Amoe-bae Researchers (ISTAR) and the future ofthe ISTAR website (http://istar.wikidot.com) wasdebated. The symposium strengthened the rela-tionships between colleagues that profited withnovel ideas for new publications and projects. Thenext ISTA Meeting will be organised in São Paulo,Brazil by Dan Lahr and members of his laboratory.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Polish LimnologicalSociety, the Polish Association for Environmen-tal Archeology, Poznan Archeological Museum,the Polish Association for Environmental Archae-ology, the Quaternary Research Committee (PolishAcademy of Sciences), Nikon Poland and the LowerVistula River Society for their assistance in theorganisation of ISTA-7.

Mariusz Lamentowicz1,Katarzyna Marcisz, Monika Reczuga,

Małgorzata Zielinska,Anna Basinska and Katarzyna Kajukało

Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan,Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Monitoring &Department of Biogeography and Palaeoecology,

Dziegielowa 27, 61-680 Poznan, Poland

1 Corresponding author;e-mail [email protected] (M. Lamentowicz)

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

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