NEWSCORNER Mycorrhiza for science and society—5th International Conference on Mycorrhiza (ICOM5) Miroslav Vosatka & Jana Albrechtova # Springer-Verlag 2006 Welcome to Granada! It is not only an important city in Andalusia (Spain) but for many years, it has been the base of the strong and productive mycorrhizal research group at the Experimental Station of Zaidin. In July 2006, it was the venue of the International Conference on Mycorrhiza (ICOM5). For those who have ever ventured to organize an international event of any extent, it is clear that planning for such a grandiose meeting is a great challenge that requires immense effort, devotion, time, nerves and sacrifices. ICOM5 was no exception with about 700 participants representing more than 50 countries from around the world. Apart from the excellent organization and the splendid social events that have shown us the jewels of Andalusian culture, we have heard about a considerable amount of new scientific ideas and actions, research achievements and outstanding presentations. The meeting was structured into sessions, workshops, keynote lectures and poster presentations. The 16 oral sessions covered practically the entire range of mycorrhiza research from basic research, via ecological and applied research, to commercial applications. Almost one third of the sessions was dedicated to fundamental aspects that prevalently employ recently emerging molecular methods. These sessions included the aspects of Cell Programmes, Signals and Perceptions, Genetics and Genomics, and the Evolution and Phylogeny of mycorrhizal fungi. The largest group of sessions dealt with the ecological and agricultural aspects of mycorrhizal research, which usually employs a combination of different methods on different hierarchical levels. These ranged from molecular methods to the well established physiological, anatomical, taxonomic and field trial approaches. Here, the sessions targeted Population Biology and Biodiversity of mycor- rhizal fungi, Mechanisms in Stress Resistance and Toler- ance, Functional Diversity in Mycorrhiza, Biodiversity and Ecological Impacts, Anthropogenic Impacts on Mycorrhizal Diversity and Functioning, Biome-related Functional Ecol- ogy, Mycorrhizal Networking and Mycorrhizosphere Inter- actions and Biology. The third and smallest group of sessions addressed the applied aspects of mycorrhizal research and the technology of using mycorrhizal fungi in plant production. These sessions included Mycorrhiza in Alternative Production Systems and Improved Inoculum Technology. This cluster of sessions was supported by a specific session, organized for the first time at ICOMs, entitled Narrowing the Gap between Science and Technol- ogy where interactions of fundamental and applied research with industrial production and use of mycorrhizal fungi were discussed. In total, 16 workshops were organized as short oral pre- sentations to cover additional topics to those in the sessions: (1) For basic research, there were workshops on Cellular Aspects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi or Novel Meth- odological Approaches, (2) for ecological and agricultural aspects, there were workshops on, for example, Ericoid, Orchid and Dark Septate Endophytes Associations, Mycor- rhiza and Abiotic Stress Alleviation, and (3) for applied research and commercial applications, there were workshops on Mycorrhiza in Land Use and Crop Management. The four keynote lectures addressed the main “hot” is- sues of current research on soil microbes that are useful to plant production and survival. They dealt with linking above and belowground multitrophic interactions of microbes and plants (W. van der Putten), strategies for the development Mycorrhiza DOI 10.1007/s00572-006-0087-0 M. Vosatka (*) : J. Albrechtova Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Pruhonice 272 53, Czech Republic e-mail: vosatka@ibot.cas.cz