Preconference Workshop 2
Identification, Taxonomy and Systematics of Glomales
Rooms 208-209 Genetics and Plant Biology Building
8:30am (above Pat Brown's Grill)

Instructors:	Joseph B. Morton, Stephen P. Bentivenga, Sidney L. Stürmer
Dates:	August 1 - August 4 (arrival by July 31 required)
Cost:	$200 regular/ $135 student. Costs includes all supplies, material and instruction, but not food or lodging.

Description: This three and a half day workshop will focus on practical techniques for the identification of common species of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi (Order Glomales). It will be a "hands on" workshop and participants will observe spores of a representative range of species in all genera and mount permanent slides, which can be taken home for future reference. Many published species descriptions are incomplete or inaccurate, and therefore often confuse a diagnosis. In this workshop, all named (and a few unnamed) species are based on living reference cultures in INVAM or the Bank of European Glomales (BEG) with written documentation. We will use this documentation to define represented species according to new character concepts generated from developmental studies. A simple and efficient CD-ROM "Expert System" developed by BEG and expanded with species from INVAM, will be demonstrated and discussed.

Lecture topics:

• Procedures for extraction, handling, and mounting of spores
• Familial and generic differences: their utility and limitations; evolutionary patterns
• Developmental models used to differentiate families, genera, and species
• Characteristics of species in the genera Acaulospora, Entrophospora, Gigaspora, Glomus, and Scutellospora
• Limitations of field spore-count data
• Establishment of trap cultures and single-species cultures; methods for maintenance and storage
• Techniques to revitalize old (or attenuating) cultures
• Problems and some solutions to taxonomy and classification of AM fungi.

Maximum number of participants:	30
For additional information contact:	Joseph B. Morton 401 Brooks Hall P.O. Box 6057 West Virginia University Morgantown, WV 26506-6057 email: jmorton@wvnvm.wvnet.edu

Information and updates on participants, topics, schedule, listings of species to be provided, etc. will be posted on INVAM's Web Site at http://invam.caf.wvu.edu.

Additional information about the workshop can now be found at: http://invam.caf.wvu.edu/invam/workshop/workshop.htm.

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ICOM 1

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Last updated: Tuesday June 25 1996

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