After some conversations with Professor Dr. H. Caspers and other participants at the triennial congress of the International Association of Theoretical and Applied Limnology (S. I. L. ) held in Copenhagen, Denmark (1977), the senior editor approached the international delegates at the business meeting for approval of the concept of holding the First International Symposium on Aquatic Oligochaete Biology at Sidney (near Victoria) British Columbia on May 1-4, 1979. The S. I. L. agreed to sponsor such a meeting, and this sponsorship in turn led to the provision of space and technical facilities at the Institute of Ocean Sciences Patricia Bay, the Pacific Regional headquarters of the Ocean and Aquatic Sciences component of the federal Fisheri~s and Oceans Department. The National Research Council of Canada provided travel support for a number of non-Canadian participants. Invitations were sent to as many active workers in the field as the senior editor could name, and in addition two representatives of closely allied fields were invited - Dr. V. Standen who works with closely related but terrestrial species, and Dr. J. Grassle who works with polychaetes but especially with Capitella capitata which is much like an oligochaete in some aspects of its biolog- so much so that the senior editor in his salad days succumbed to some ill-founded advice and described Capitella as a new marine tubificid! The addition of these "outside" influences prevented the group from making a number of unfounded assumptions during discussions, and provided valuable cross-linkages.

Inhalt
Taxonomic Studies.- Specific and Generic Criteria in Freshwater Oligochaeta, With Special Emphasis on the Naididae.- Specific and Generic Criteria in Marine Oligochaeta, With Special Emphasis on Tubificidae.- Polychaete Sibling Species.- Ecophenotypic Variation in Setae of Naididae (Oligochaeta).- On the Question of Hybridization and Variation in the Oligochaete Genus Limnodrilus.- Zoogeographic Studies.- Distribution of Aquatic Oligochaetes.- The Aquatic Oligochaeta of Argentina: Current Status of Knowledge.- The Aquatic Oligochaeta of St. Lawrence Great Lakes Region.- Aquatic Oligochaeta of Southern England.- Life History and Production.- Life Cycles of Mass Species of Tubificidae (Oligochaeta).- Population Dynamics of Tubifex tubifex, Studied by Means of a New Model.- Production Biology of the Tubificidae (Oligochaeta).- The production biology of Terrestrial Enchytraeidae (Oligochaeta).- Ecological Studies.- Ecological Studies of Aquatic Oligochaetes in the USSR.- Aquatic Oligochaeta of the Rhône-Alpes Area: Current Research Priorities..- Affects of Tubificid Oligochaetes on Physical and Chemical Properties of Lake Erie Sediments.- Ecology of Freshwater and Estuarine Tubificidae (Oligochaeta).- The Ecology of Tubificids in the Thames Estuary with Particular Reference to Tubifex costatus (Claparède).- Seasonal Movements of Subtidal Benthic Communities in the Fraser River Estuary, British Columbia (Abstract)..- Tolerance and Preference Reactions of Marine Oligochaeta in Relation to Their Distribution.- Oligochaeta in Relation to Human Activity.- Oligochaeta Community Structure and Function in Agricultural Landscapes.- Oligochaete Communities in Pollution Biology: The European: Situation With Special Reference to Lakes in Scandinavia.- Structure of Tubificid andLumbriculid Worm Communities, and Three Indices of Trophy Based Upon These Communities, as Descriptors of Eutrophication Level of Lake Geneva (Switzerland).- Pollution Biology the North American Experience.- Heavy Metal Studies With Oligochaetes.- The Relationship of Saprobial Conditions to Massive Populations of Tubificids.- Postscript.- Participants.- Systematic Index.