The present volume was conceived as a companion to 'Antarctic Oasis: Terrestrial environments and history of the Vestfold Hills' edited by J. Pickard and published in 1986 by Academic Press, Sydney. Pickard's book contains accounts of the Vestfold Hills' climate (N. A. Streten) and recent geomorphological history (D. A. Adamson & J. Pickard) which provide a valuable context for understanding their present day biology. Pickard also gives a history of human discovery and occupation of the Vest fold Hills. There is some overlap in the coverage, to the extent that both this volume and Pickard's book describe the terrestrial flora and fauna. The reader specifically interested in the terrestrial ecosystems of the Vestfold Hills should draw from both sources. Together, these works present a broad and descriptive account of the largest truly coastal antarctic oasis: a region that holds a unique variety of opportunities for future scientific investigation. There are several tasks I wish to accomplish here, apart from expressing my sincere thanks to the many people who have contributed to the completion of this volume. I wish to briefly introduce the Vestfolds and to list some of the features that, in my opinion, make them biologically varied, and unique in the context of other coastal ice-free areas. I wish to describe the phases of biological research in this region, including the directions that have been pursued since the 1984 symposium and to comment upon the future of the Vestfold Hills.

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One: Lake and Near-Shore Marine Studies.- The ecology of photosynthetic bacteria in Burton Lake, Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- Photosynthetic bacteria in meromictic lakes and stratified fjords of the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- Sulfate reduction rates and some aspects of the limnology of four lakes and a fjord in the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- Preliminary observations on psychrotrophic and psychrophilic, heterotrophic bacteria from antarctic water samples.- Pigment and lipid compositions of algal and bacterial communities in Ace Lake, Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- Annual cycle of phytoplankton in Ace Lake, an ice-covered, saline meromictic lake.- Annual primary productivity of an antarctic continental lake: Phytoplankton and benthic algal mat production strategies.- Comments on the antarctic Rotifera.- Iodine distribution in an antarctic saline lake.- Trace element distributions in some saline lakes of the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- The annual cycle of heat content and mechanical stability of hypersaline Deep Lake, Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- The inshore marine ecosystem off the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- Animal associations with the dominant species of shallow water macrophytes along the coastline of the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- Temporal distribution and brooding behaviour of selected benthic species from the shallow marine waters off the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- The inshore marine fishes of the Vestfold Hills region, Antarctica.- A device for remote sampling of benthic algae under ice.- A device for reaming holes in ice.- Two: Terrestrial Studies.- Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems: The Vestfold Hills in context.- Plants and landscape in the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- A survey of the terrestrial Tardigrada of the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- Cuticle structure and habitat in the Nanorchestidae (Acari: Prostigmata).- Foraminiferida from Neogene sediments, Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- Changing distribution of late Quaternary terrestrial lacustrine and littoral environments in the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.- Three: Bird and Seal Studies.- Birds of Prydz Bay, Antarctica: Distribution and abundance.- The breeding season diet of Adelie penguins at the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica.- Predicting the swimming and diving behaviour of penguins from muscle biochemistry.- Studies of viruses in penguins in the Vestfold Hills.- Marking and monitoring studies of the Kerguelen stock of southern elephant seals Mirounga leonina and their bearing on biological research in the Vestfold Hills.- Variations in underwater vocalizations of Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddelli) at the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica as a measure of breeding population discreteness.