Photoreception and Vision in Invertebrates

I see a man's life is a tedious one. Cymbeline, Act III, Sc. 6. It is well known that the best way to learn a subject is to teach it! Along the same lines one might also say that a pleasant way of learning a subject and at the same time getting to know quite a few of the workers active in it, is to arrange and to attend an Advanced Study Institute (ASI) or a workshop lasting about two weeks. This was and is the wisdom behind the NA TO-ASI programme and much as people fear that a fortnight may be too long, before it is over everyone feels that it was too short, especially if the weather had cooperated. Organising this ASI which resulted in this volume has been a very good learning experience. I started my career in research with invertebrates and retained an interest in them over the years due to my teaching a course and working sporadically on various aspects of photoreception in Polychaetes, Crustaceans and Insects. Thus, the thought of organising an ASI on photoreception and vision in invertebrates had been brewing in my mind for the past half a dozen years or so. It was felt that it will be desirable to do a bit of stock taking and discuss possible new approaches to the study of this matter.

Inhalt

Prologue.- Visual Pigments of Invertebrates.- Natural Polarized Light and Vision.- Photoreception in Protozoa, an Overview.- Evolution of Eyes and Photoreceptor Organelles in the Lower Phyla.- Photomovement Behavior in Simple Invertebrates.- Photoreceptors and Photosensitivity in Platyhelminthes.- Photoreceptors and Photoreceptions in Rotifers.- Photoréception et Vision chez les Annélides (Photoreception and Vision in Annelids).- Photoreceptor Structures and Vision in Arachnids and Myriapods.- Crustacea.- The Retinal Mosaic of the Fly Compound Eye.- The Roles of Parallel Channels in Early Visual Processing by the Arthropod Compound Eye.- Functional Neuroanatomy of the Blowfly's Visual System.- The Lobula-Complex of the Fly: Structure, Function and Significance in Visual Behaviour.- Behavioural Analysis of Spatial Vision in Insects.- Neuroanatomical Mapping of Visually Induced Nervous Activity in Insects by 3H-Deoxyglucose.- The Rules of Synaptic Assembly in the Developing Insect Lamina.- Morphologie et Développment des Yeux Simples et Composés des Insectes (The Morphology and Development of Simple and Compound Eyes of Insects).- Molluscs.- Photoreception in Chaetognatha.- Photoreception in Echinoderms.- Epilogue.- Author Index.- Species Index.