This volume is one of those published from the proceedings of the invited lectures to the First International Congress of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry I organized at Liege (Belgium) in August 1984 under the auspices of the Section of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry of the International Union of Biological Sciences. In a general foreword to these different volumes, it seems to me appropriate to consider briefly what may be the comparative approach. Living organisms, beyond the diversity of their morphological forms, have evolved a widespread range of basic solutions to cope with the different problems, both organisma1 and environmenta1 with which they are faced. Soon after the turn of the century, some biologists realized that these solutions can be best comprehended in the frame­ work of a comparative approach integrating results of physiologica1 and biochemica1 studies done at the organismic, cellular and molecular levels. The development of this approach amongst both physiologists and biochemists remained, however, extremely slow until recently.

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Symposium I The Physiology of Exercise: Comparative Approaches.- Respiratory, Circulatory, and Metabolic Adjustments to Exercise in Fish.- Respiratory and Cardiovascular Adjustments to Exercise in Reptiles.- Exercise in Normally Ventilating and Apnoeic Birds.- Muscle Function During Locomotion in Mammals.- Cardiopulmonary System Responses to Muscular Exercise in Man.- Symposium II Comparative Physiology of Gas Exchange and Transport.- Gas Transport Properties of Fish Blood.- Ammonia Transfer Across Fish Gills: A Review.- The Regulation of Cutaneous Gas Exchange in Vertebrates.- Ventilation-Perfusion Relationships in Amphibia.- Mechanisms of Intracardiac Shunting in Reptiles.- Gas Exchange in Intermittently Breathing Turtles.- Cardiopulmonary Adaptations in Birds for Exercise at High Altitude.- Symposium III The Biochemistry of Exercise: Insights from Comparative Studies.- Low and High Power Output Modes of Anaerobic Metabolism: Invertebrate and Vertebrate Strategies.- Metabolic Biochemistry of Insect Flight.- Lactate: Glycolytic End Product and Oxidative Substrate During Sustained Exercise in Mammals -The "Lactate Shuttle".- Closed Systems: Resolving Potentially Conflicting Demands of Diving and Exercise in Marine Mammals.- Thoroughbreds and Greyhounds: Biochemical Adaptations in Creatures of Nature and of Man.- Exercise Limitations at High Altitude: The Metabolic Problem and Search for Its Solution.- Scaling of Oxidative and Glycolytic Enzyme Activities in Fish Muscle.- Enzyme Catalysed Fluxes in Metabolic Systems. Why Control of Such Fluxes in Shared Among All Components of the System.- Symposium IV Comparative Aspects of Erythrocyte Metabolism.- Metabolism of Invertebrate Red Cells: A Vacuum in Our Knowledge.- Sugar Uptake by Red Blood Cells.- The Relationship Between Erythrocyte Phosphate Metabolism, Carbon Dioxide, and pH on Blood Oxygen Affinity in Birds.- ATP Metabolism in Mammalian Red Blood Cells.- Erythropoiesis: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms.- Mechanisms of the Maturation of the Reticulocyte.- Symposium V Comparative Cardiac Metabolism in Ectotherms.- Molluscan Circulation: Haemodynamics and the Heart.- Cardiac Energy Metabolism in Relation to Work Demand and Habitat in Bivalve and Gastropod Mollusks.- Role of Free Amino Acids in the Oxidative Metabolism of Cephalopod Hearts.- Cardiovascular and Hemodynamic Energetics of Fishes.- Relationship Between Cardiac Energy Metabolism and Cardiac Work Demand in Fishes.- Effects of Hypoxia and Acidosis on Fish Heart Performance.- Symposium VI Intracellular pH: Role and Regulation.- Alphastat Regulation of Intracellular Acid-Base State?.- Intracellular pH Regulation of Renal-Epithelial Cells.- 31P NMR Studies of Intracellular pH in Skeletal and Cardiac Muscle.- The Role of Intracellular pH in Hormone Action.- Intracellular pH in Response to Ambient Changes: Homeostatic or Adaptive Responses.- The Activation of Protein Synthesis by Intracellular pH.- Regulatory Mechanisms of Intracellular pH in Excitable Cells.- Symposium VII Comparative Aspects of Adaptation to Cold.- Seasonal Acclimation and Thermogenesis.- Biochemical Mechanisms of Thermogenesis.- Neural Control of Mammalian Hibernation.- Physiological and Biochemical Aspects of Mammalian Hibernation.- The Adaptation of Membrane Structure and Lipid Composition to Cold.- Biochemical Adaptation to the Freezing Environment - Structure, Biosynthesis and Regulation of Fish Antifreeze Polypeptides.