The Third International Symposiumn on Aquatic Oligochaeta was organized by Drs. 0. Giere, M. Dzwillo, R. Grimm and colleagues. Over 50 scientists attended, and while the number of nationalities dropped from 17 to 12, we were pleased to welcome our first Chinese delegation. At a brief business meeting, the invitation to attend the Fourth Symposium at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, US.A., hosted by Walter Harman in 1988 was approved. The meeting is scheduled to begin on March 15. An invitation to hold the meeting in the Soviet Union was presented for Thrmo Timm in his absence, and it was agreed unanimously that the 1991 meetings be held there, perhaps at Thllin on the Gulf of Finland. Christer Erseus has agreed to consider G6teborg, Sweden as an alternate for 1991 and as a positive invitation for 1994, so we are well prepared for the future. Olav Giere has recently expressed opinions about publishing the proceedings of conferences that make it clear why he is not the editor of this volume. Michael Dzwillo was prevented from completing the task by pres sure of other business, and so we undertook the task somewhat late. While we share much of Olav Giere's concern about such volumes, an honest attempt to review the papers does help to maintain quality, and both of us wish to thank contributors for their positive response to our often quite drastic re-writing of manuscripts.

At the First International Symposium on Aquatic Oligochaete Biology in Sidney, B. C. , the suggestion was made to hold the second in Pallanza, on Lake Maggiore, at the C. N. R. -Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia. At the same time it was decided that there should be a symposium every third year. The organization of the symposium was made considerably easier by the Senior Editor's having been in personal contact with several Russian colleagues (courtesy of a kind invitation from the U. S. S. R. Academy of Sciences), the 'Hamburg Group' and the Junior Editor. Correspondence with various students of Oligochaeta also furnished many useful suggestions. The Second International Symposium on Aquatic Oligochaete Biology was therefore held in Pallanza in late September 1982 and was attended by 53 scientists from 16 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. No review papers were formally invited as this had already been done at the first symposium: all the papers were accordingly allotted the same time for oral presentation. These proceedings contain all papers Hrabe and Slepukhina, which were given in absentia, as it presented at the symposium, including those by was impossible for the authors to join the group. The main topics were taxonomy and evolution of Oligo chaeta, life-cyle and population studies, the role of Oligo chaeta in assessing water pollution, physiolog ical studies, community and distribution studies. Special taxonomic workshops took place in the evenings.

In aquatic ecosystems, the oligochaetes are often a major component of the community. Their relevance in sediment quality assessment is largely related to their benthic and detritivorous life habit. In this book, we aim to present the state of the art of Pollution Biology using oligochaete worms in laboratory and field studies. Future research will require the combination of a variety of methodological approaches and the integration of the resulting information, avoiding fragmented and often conflicting visions of the relationships of the species with their environment. Current approaches to ecotoxicology and bioaccumulation using ecological risk assessment provide the opportunity to relate community studies with probability of effects. This book addresses three main themes: Ecological and Field Studies using the composition and structure of oligochaete communities, Toxicology and Laboratory Studies, and Bioaccumulation and Trophic Transfer Studies. Two appendices list values of toxicological parameters (LC50, EC50) and several bioaccumulation variables (bioaccumulation factors, biological half-life, toxicokinetic coefficients, and critical body residues) for different oligochaete species. Additional information is provided on Methodological Issues and on the Taxonomy of several oligochaete families, with information on the most recent taxonomic debates. Each chapter includes a critical view, based on the authors’ experience, of a number of current issues which have been raised in the literature.

The book contains papers on the biology of aquatic oligochaetes and some related groups. They cover a wide range of topics including phylogeny, taxonomy, geographic distribution, freshwater and marine ecology, population dynamics, histology and ultrastructure, physiology and behaviour. The wide scope is in line with recent trends in annelid research with less emphasis on pollution studies and faunistics and a renewed interest in experimental biology using new techniques.

Bristle worms, or oligochaetes, are a large and diverse group of invertebrates. Most oligochaetes living in this region live in fresh or brackish water: no fewer than 136 species in total. They play an important ecological role thereby giving much information about the condition of the ecosystem. This important, bulky book is the first reference work on the freshwater and brackish water polychaetes in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. It offers a wealth of ecological and taxonomic background information. Includes a new user determination key. The key is based on characteristics that are relatively easy to distinguish, without specialized equipment. • a comprehensive overview on morphology, collecting and preservation, identification and ecology • 136 species including the oligochaete fauna of Germany • a new, practical key for the identification based on characteristics that are relatively easy to distinguish • many photographs and schematic drawings • backgroundinformation on ecology and distribution An unique tool for aquatic ecologists and water quality management.

Recent studies on diverse aspects of the biology of clitellate works (oligochaetes and leeches) are found in the Proceedings of the most recent International Symposium on Aquatic Oligochaete Biology - from development to population dynamics and from ultrastructure to evolution. The majority of the contributions, which have a very broad geographic scope, are investigations of the biology and ecology of oligochaete works in natural and polluted waters.