Progress and prioritizing needs for future research on testate amoebae: a meeting report on the International Symposium on Testate Amoebae, Antwerp, Belgium, September 12-14, 2006.

An international group of 44 scientists from 16 countries assembled at the University of Antwerpen to share experiences and assess current research progress concerning testate amoebae. It had been 23 years since the last testate amoebae workshop was held in Aachen, Germany and 30 years since the first testate amoebae workshop before it was organized in 1976 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Interest in testate amoebae has accelerated greatly in recent years. Thus a meeting of testate amoebae specialists from around the world was long overdue. More than 50 oral and poster presentations were given during the 3-day meeting. Topics included morphology, taxonomy, phylogeny, biogeography, ecology and paleoecology of testate amoebae. In opening comments, L. Beyens expressed the wish that this meeting would encourage more testate amoebae research and greater involvement in major research consortia in the future. The workshop featured three keynote lectures. Each presentation was an overview aimed to highlight three important areas where testate amoebae research has made major advances since the last meeting in Germany.