The papers in this volume have been grouped according to the main sub-themes of the congress and primarily deal with the biodiversity issues of invasive crustacea, ecology and behaviour and fisheries and aquaculture.

This important and extensive volume presents part of the Proceedings of the Fourth International Crustacean Congress held in Amsterdam in 1998. As the title implies, 'Crustaceans and the Biodiversity Crisis' was the general, underlying theme of all contributions at the congress. With the turn of the century, someone ought to 'assess the balance' of our natural environment and of the various branches of biology that study its rapidly declining diversity. From the five subthemes covered at the conference, those of (1) Diversity in Time and Space (including Systematics, Phylogeny, and Palaeontology), (2b) Biogeography, (3c) Larvae, and (4) Physiology and Biochemistry (including Molecular Biology and Genetics) are represented in this volume, along with a few contributions from other subthemes (e.g. (2a) Invasive Crustacea, (3a) Ecology, (3b) Behaviour, and (5) Fisheries and Aquaculture). The book is primarily meant for scientists working at institutes involved in research on the group (Crustacea: marine, freshwater, or terrestrial) and/or the disciplines covered. Individual carcinologists working on one of the themes discussed in this volume, will find a wealth of interesting and timely contributions, as will other scientists working in marine or freshwater biology or in soil ecology.

This important and extensive volume presents part of the Proceedings of the Fourth International Crustacean Congress held in Amsterdam in 1998. As the title implies, 'Crustaceans and the Biodiversity Crisis' was the general, underlying theme of all contributions at the congress. With the turn of the century, someone ought to 'assess the balance' of our natural environment and of the various branches of biology that study its rapidly declining diversity. From the five subthemes covered at the conference, those of (1) "Diversity in Time and Space" (including Systematics, Phylogeny, and Palaeontology), (2b) "Biogeography," (3c) "Larvae," and (4) "Physiology and Biochemistry" (including Molecular Biology and Genetics) are represented in this volume, along with a few contributions from other subthemes (e.g. (2a) "Invasive Crustacea," (3a) "Ecology," (3b) "Behaviour," and (5) "Fisheries and Aquaculture"). The book is primarily meant for scientists working at institutes involved in research on the group (Crustacea: marine, freshwater, or terrestrial) and/or the disciplines covered. Individual carcinologists working on one of the themes discussed in this volume, will find a wealth of interesting and timely contributions, as will other scientists working in marine or freshwater biology or in soil ecology.

Crustaceans adapt to a wide variety of habitats and ways of life. They have a complex physiological structure particularly with regard to the processes of growth (molting), metabolic regulation, and reproduction. Crustaceans are ideal as model organisms for the study of endocrine disruption and stress physiology in aquatic invertebrates. This book

As evident from the number 4A 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 present volume, then, comprises the fourth part in the series The Crustacea, i.e., the revised and updated texts from the Traité de Zoologie – Crustacea. The chapters in this book grew out of those in the French edition volume 7(II). The exception is chapter 49, which has been newly conceived; it was never published in French. Overall, this constitutes the sixth tome published in this English series, viz., preceded by volumes 1 (2004), 2 (2006), 9A (2010), 9B (2012), and 3 (2012). Readers/users should note that we have had to abandon publishing the chapters in the serial sequence as originally conceived 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. This fourth volume, part A, of The Crustacea contains chapters on: • Genetic variability in Crustacea • Class Cephalocarida • Class Remipedia • Subclass Hoplocarida: order Stomatopoda • Superorder Syncarida

This book introduces updated information on conservation issues, providing an overview of what is needed to advance the global conservation of freshwater decapods such as freshwater crabs, crayfish, and shrimps. Biodiversity loss in general is highest in organisms that depend on intact freshwater habitats, because freshwater ecosystems worldwide are suffering intense threats from multiple sources. Our understanding of the number and location of threatened species of decapods, and of the nature of their extinction threats has improved greatly in recent years, and has enabled the development of species conservation strategies. This volume focuses on saving threatened species from extinction, and emphasizes the importance of the successful implementation of conservation action plans through cooperation between scientists, conservationists, educators, funding agencies, policy makers, and conservation agencies.