News Times of 24 June 2008. The fungi utilize hydrocarbon air pol<strong>lu</strong>tants and assimilation products of algae, acidify their environment, and finally turn all buildings black. Aspects of this behaviour were explained in a special issue of Studies in Mycology (61, 2008: ‘Black Fungal Extremes’, GS de Hoog & M Grube, eds), while medically significant species were presented in one of Medical Mycology (47(1), 2009; ‘The Dark World of Black Fungi’, Vitale et al., eds). Fungal Biology will also devote a special issue to black yeasts shortly, entitled ‘The Emerging Potential of Black Yeasts’ (Gunde-Cimerman et al., eds). Black fungi are remarkable for their odd ecology, which we still have a long way to go towards understanding. In ‘Abenteuer Wissen’, Axel Brakhage explained his research on Aspergil<strong>lu</strong>s fumigatus, a ubiquitous compost fungus which is hypothesized to express factors enhancing escape from phagocytosis when confronted with human alveolar macrophages (Behnsen et al. 2007). Similar processes are to be expected when black yeasts invade our homes and our bodies from the specialized niches somewhere in nature (Sudhadham et al. 2008). They differentially adapt to a highly deviating environment using different combinations of the essential factors determining their natural habitat. Gerrits van den Ende et al. (2011) applied the term ‘ecological fitting’ to this process enabling rapid host and environmental shifts, eventually leading to sympatric speciation. Many extremophiles, however, already occupy their ultimate habitat and don’t have an adaptive space around them. They are likely to have entered a dead-end street and are likely to become extinct when climate changes dramatically, as it is expected to do. Sybren de Hoog (s.hoog@cbs.knaw.nl) Behnsen J, Narang P, Hasenberg M, Gunzer F, Bilitewski U, et al. (2007) Environmental dimensionality controls the interaction of phagocytes with the pathogenic fungi Aspergil<strong>lu</strong>s fumigatus and Candida albicans. PLoS Pathogens 3: e13. Fürst HM (2000) Ökologie des Hyphenpilzes Hormoconis resinae und Eigenschaften seines n-Alkan-induzierten P450-Monooxygenasesystems. Thesis. Technische Universität Berlin. Gilgado F, Cano J, Gené J, Guarro J (2005) Molecular phylogeny of the Pseudallescheria boydii species complex: proposal of two new species. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 43: 4930–4942. Guarro J, Kantarciog<strong>lu</strong> AS, Horré R, Rodriguez-Tudela JL, Cuenca Estrella M, et al. (2006) Scedosporium apiospermum: changing clinical spectrum of a therapy-refractory opportunist. Medical Mycology 44: 295–327. Lackner M, Gerrits van den Ende AHG, Hoog GS de, Kaltseis J (<strong>2010</strong>) Barcoding of the therapy-refractory species of Pseudallescheria and Scedosporium. Medical Mycology: in press. Mursch K, Trnovec S, Ratz H, Hammer D, Horré R, et al. (2005) Successful treatment of multiple Pseudallescheria boydii brain abscesses and ventriculitis/ependymitis in a 2-year-old child after a near-drowning episode. Child’s Nervous System 22: 189–192. Prenafeta-Boldú FX, Summerbell R, Hoog GS de (2006) Fungi growing on aromatic hydrocarbons: biotechnology’s unexpected encounter with biohazard? FEMS Microbiology Reviews 30: 109–130. Satow MM, Attili-Angelis D, Hoog GS de, Angelis DF, Vicente VA (2008) Selective factors involved in oil flotation isolation of black yeasts from the environment. Studies in Mycology 61: 157–163. Selbmann L, Hoog GS de, Mazzaglia A, Friedmann EI, Onofri S (2005) Fungi at the edge of life: cryptendolithic black fungi from Antarctic desert. Studies in Mycology 51: 1–32. Sudhadham M, Prakitsin S, Sivichai S, Chaiyarat R, Dorrestein GM, et al. (2008) The neurotropic black yeast Exophiala dermatitidis has a possible origin in the tropical rain forest. Studies in Mycology 61: 145–155. Zhao J, Zeng J, Hoog GS de, Attili-Angelis D, Prenafeta-Boldú FX (<strong>2010</strong>) Isolation and identification of black yeasts by enrichment on atmospheres of monoaromatic hydrocarbons. Microbial Ecology 60: 149–156. Executive Committee and Officers of the International Mycological Association (2006–<strong>2010</strong>). (6) i m a f U N G U S
REPORTS IMC9 Edinburgh: a selection of memorable moments featuring some of those who helped to make it such a success. v o l u m e 1 · n o . 2 (7)