14th Acarological Colloquium

The Acarological Colloquium was established in 1997 as a purely German-language meeting, bringing together mite researchers every two years to exchange the latest findings in the field. Due to growing international interest, the event gradually evolved into an international conference with English as the presentation language and participants from around the world.

From September 11–13, the 14th Acarological Colloquium took place at the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Görlitz. More than 20 talks on mites and soil were presented and could also be followed online. The University of Graz was represented by Tobias Pfingstl, who gave a talk on lichen–mite interactions, and David Fröhlich, who presented his work on genomic research in oribatid mites.

The main focus of the meeting was the increasing threat to soils and their organisms caused by human impact — not least through climate change.

Presentations by the University of Graz:

• Tobias Pfingstl, V. Vtipilová, H. Ghlimová, J. Mourek, J. Steinová, T. P. Hessinger, S. Schäffer & P. Resl
  Lichen–mite interactions: Three species of the lichen Cladonia in Europe and their oribatid mite fauna

• David Fröhlich, C. Hahn, P. Resl, P. Klimov, M. Bodner, G. Raspotnig
  Welcome to the jungle – trees upon trees in oribatid mite phylogenomics