BookOlav Giere.
Summary: PRELIMINARY Although of high abundance, diversity and ecological importance, meiofauna is little covered by relevant scientific media. How can this negligence be overcome? The present treatise highlights promising meiofauna research fields, selected both from basic and applied science, as well as new methods that could strengthen the potential of meiobenthology. Selected recent meiofauna studies, often supported by rapidly advancing gene-based methods, underline the relevance and potential of meiobenthology revealing characteristics and harassments of ecosystems, not the least in extreme habitats. Also in the more classical domains such as taxonomy and phylogeny, progress in meiobenthos research defines a new and deeper scientific understanding.
Contents:
Intro; Preface and Acknowledgements; Contents; List of Figures; 1 Introduction; References; 2 Fields of General Scientific Importance and Public Interest; 1 New Areas, Novel Communities, Exotic Biotopes; 2 The Deep-Sea-More Than an Interesting 'No Man's Land'; 3 Newly Accessible Polar Regions; References; 3 Pollution and Meiofauna-Old Topics, New Hazards; 1 Water Acidification by CO2 Increase; 2 Microplastics and Plastic Fibres; 3 Oil Spills at the Deep-Sea Floor; 4 Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Groundwater Aquifers; References; 4 Future Trend Lines in Ecological Meiobenthos Research 1 Aspects of Biodiversity 2 Reflections on Distribution, Dispersal and Colonization; 3 Organismic Interactions-Meiofauna Between Microbiota and Macrofauna; References; 5 Physiology, Biochemistry and Meiofauna-A Rarely Touched Terrain; 1 Hypoxia, Anoxia and Hydrogen Sulphide-Fields of Challenge; 2 Temperature-A Principal Physiological Driver; 3 Fatty Acids and Stable Isotopes as Biomarkers; 4 Physiological Pathways Revealed by the Genetic Background; References; 6 Towards an Integrated Triad: Taxonomy, Morphology and Phylogeny; 1 Advances at the Methodological Basis 2 New Trends Reviving 'Old Morphology'3 Phylogeny and Evolution-Meiofauna at the Deep Nodes; References; 7 Epilogue; References