The origins of this volume date back to the 1978 American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) meetings in Victoria, British Columbia. Interest in the ecology of mysids, particularly Mysis relieta. was growing rapidly, so a meeting of active workers was held at the ASLO conference. Although the small group of researchers attending that first meeting were primarily North American and interested in Mysis relieta. the group quickly expanded to include researchers from every continent with interests in all aspects of mysid biology (see Appendix). The group, informally called the Mysid Research Group, formed to serve two basic functions·. The first was to facilitate communication among mysid researchers by publishing a member ship list and periodic newsletters. The second was to organize an international symposium on mysid ecology. After several false starts, a symposium was successfully held in conjunction with the 1981 ASLO meetings in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The symposium lasted over parts of two days with an evening workshop the second day. Altogether, 1 poster and 21 oral presentations were given by 42 researchers. This volume is an outgrowth of that symposium and includes 15 of the papers originally presented at the conference. In order to make the volume as comprehensive as possible, contributions from individuals who could not attend the symposium were solicited. Thus, a total of 22 original contributions make up the present work.

Describes the ecology of important elements of southern Australian sub-tidal reef flora and fauna, and the underlying ecological principles.

What sight is more beautiful than a high-energy beach facing lines of rolling white breakers? What battleground is more ferocious than where waves and sand meet? What environment could be more exciting to study than this sandy interface between sea and land? And yet how much do we know about sandy beaches? Open sandy beaches are amongst the most neglected fields of scientific study in the coastal environment. This situation exists despite their great extent along most temperate and tropical coastlines and their value as recreational areas and buffer zones against the sea. The traditional oceanographer does not venture into the surf zone while the terrestrial ecologist stops short at the high water mark. Only a few coastal engineers have grappled with the problem of sand and sediment movement as it influences their construction of harbours and pipelines. The marine biologist on the other hand has regarded estuaries, coral reefs and rocky shores, obviously teeming with life, as more fruitful areas for study than the apparently poor animal life on sandy beaches. Sandy beaches have therefore tended to become a scientific no man's land. Over the last decade this situation has begun to improve. Recent work on high-energy beaches has revealed that they may in fact be rich and productive and fertile areas for study. It has even been suggested that beaches and their adjacent surf zones may constitute viable marine ecosystems.

This part B of the fourth volume of The Crustacea contains chapters on: ● Crustaceans in the Biosphere ● Crustaceans and Mankind ● Crustaceans in Art ● Orders Lophogastrida, Stygiomysida, and Mysida [collectively known as Mysidacea] As evident from the number 4B tagged to this volume, vol. 4 as originally planned had to be split into two fascicles, 4A and 4B, simply because of the numbers of pages covered by the various contributions meant for volume 4. The chapters in this book grew out of those in the French edition volumes 7(II) and 7(III)(A). Overall, this constitutes the seventh tome published in this English series, viz., preceded by volumes 1 (2004), 2 (2006), 9A (2010), 9B (2012), 3 (2012), and 4A (2013). Readers/users should note that from vol. 4A onward we have had to abandon publishing the chapters in the serial sequence as originally envisaged by the late Prof. J. Forest, because the various contributions, i.e., both the updates and the entirely new chapters, have become available in a more or less random order.

The Antarctic represents the last of the world's still unexplored continents. Since 1985, Italy has sent 10 expeditions to this region, three of those have been exclusively devoted to research on the marine ecology of the Ross Sea region. This volume presents a global picture of this research. It includes contributions on water mass characteristics, particulate organic matter and nutrient utilization, and physiological aspects of primary production. Further topics are zooplankton, krill and top predator interactions in relation to physical and biological parameters, ecological features of coastal fish communities and the spatio-temporal variability of benthic biocenoses.

The series is an essential reference text for research workers and students in all fields of marine science and related subjects. An ever increasing interest in oceanography and environmental issues makes it especially relevant.