Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Copepoda, held in Curitiba, Brazil, 25-31 July 1999

Ecology and Morphology of Copepods is organized under the following general topics: Behavior, Feeding, Genetics, Horizontal Variations, Morphology, Phylogeny, Reproduction, Seasonal Changes, Vertical Distribution, plus two special sessions on copepods of the genus Acartia and cyclopid/mosquito interactions. The Maxilliped Lecture, given by Dr. Arthur G. Humes of Boston University, clearly established the importance of copepods to the earth's organic diversity. The book consists of selected research articles from the different sections. The articles published here reflect the diverse research interests of copepodologists today, and are distinguished by their high quality. Their impact will ensure that this volume is consulted by a wide range of research biologists.

Ecology and Morphology of Copepods is organized under the following general topics: Behavior, Feeding, Genetics, Horizontal Variations, Morphology, Phylogeny, Reproduction, Seasonal Changes, Vertical Distribution, plus two special sessions on copepods of the genus Acartia and cyclopid/mosquito interactions. The Maxilliped Lecture, given by Dr. Arthur G. Humes of Boston University, clearly established the importance of copepods to the earth's organic diversity. The book consists of selected research articles from the different sections. The articles published here reflect the diverse research interests of copepodologists today, and are distinguished by their high quality. Their impact will ensure that this volume is consulted by a wide range of research biologists.

Bernard Dussart's contributions to limnology and freshwater copepodology comprise over 200 scientific papers, and his frequent travels have greatly stimulated interest in freshwater biology world-wide. This book presents a selection of recent research on the Copepoda of continental waters: a worthy tribute.

Copepods, or more commonly referred to as the insects of the sea, have successfully colonised every aquatic environment, equating insects in terms of absolute and relative success. They represent up to 90-97% of the marine zooplankton biomass, but may also be conspicuous in freshwater systems. Copepods are the linchpin of aquatic foodwebs; they prey upon phytoplankton while simultaneously acting as a staple food for higher trophic level organisms, contribute to the vertical fluxes of carbon and sustain recycled production through the excretion of ammonia. Copepods can also signal possible climate change and are indicators of the effects of ocean acidification. They are also used as model animals for ecotoxicological and molecular studies, and might be adopted as control agents of disease vectors. Current studies are rapidly exploring multiple lines of research with an intended purpose to provide an up-to-date snapshot of some hot topics in the study of the distribution, biology and ecology of these ubiquitous crustaceans. The chapters collected in this volume, written by leading scientists in different fields of investigation, focus on a wide range of processes and scales, from global distribution to molecular investigations, witnessing the interest of the scientific community at different levels. These contributions point out the latest developments and case studies on a number of research issues, and will promote discussion and stimulate advances in each field of investigation. The editor is confident that readers will appreciate the contents of each chapter and will find in them inspiring suggestions for their research, or even just to satisfy their curiosity.

This volume contains the Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Copepoda, held at the British Museum (Natural History) in London during August 1987. The central theme of the conference was the biology of marine planktonic copepods, although the scientific programme was extremely varied reflecting the wide range of life styles adopted by copepods. The three invited symposia held during the conference focussed attention on particular topical areas of research within the field of marine plankton, and also provided reviews of chosen aspects of copepod biology. These symposia were highly successful. The papers they contained were both informative and stimulating and they bring to this volume a lasting significance. Each symposium was organised by its chairman; Bruce Frost (University of Washington) decided on the balance of topics, selected the speakers and introduced the session on 'The biology and taxonomy of Calanus', Roger Harris (Marine Biological Association) performed the same vital role for 'Experimental studies: rate processes in field populations of planktonic copepods', and Howard Roe (Institute of Oceanographic Sciences) for 'Oceanic and deep-sea copepods'. The impact of these papers will be much enhanced by the large number of high quality contributed and poster papers on marine plankton and by the invited review of 'Copepod luminescence' by Peter Herring (Institute of Oceano graphic Sciences). The fascinating review of 'Copepod eyes' by Mike Land FRS (University of Sussex) is not published here.