Anyone who attempts to study crustaceans soon realizes that there are many science fields involved. As a major subphylum of Arthropods--the largest phylum in the animal kingdom--crustaceans exhibit an extraordinary diversity of taxa, shapes, physiology and styles of life. These invertebrates play key ecological roles in all aquatic environments, while only a few species are adapted to sub-aerial and humid environments. Their evolutionary success is not only due to a wide set of morphological and biological adaptations, but also because of some key features, e.g., their peculiar endocrinology. In addition, crustaceans are characterized by chemical and optical sensors deserving attention because they play important biological roles, linked to chemical ecology issues, and their functioning is impaired by global changes and ocean acidification. Several crustaceans have critical roles in aquatic ecology (e.g., copepods in the plankton, amphipods and isopods in the benthos). Select species are technologically important as "models" for scientific research. Furthermore, aquaculture of several decapod crustaceans is important for providing high protein products to meet the need for nutrition. Understanding the physiology and ecology of crustaceans is important to fulfill these diverse purposes and practical applications.
In this book, leading world scientists have pooled their excellence to provide vibrant and expert views of fundamental biological and physiological mechanisms involving crustaceans. To this end, a comprehensive view of crustacean endocrinology and reproductive ecology is provided, along with information about their molecular physiology, adaptations, aquaculture and welfare. In particular, we attempted to span the breadth of their adaptations, presenting behavioral and physiological peculiarities, considering key groups of crustaceans to describe general features and global biodiversity. This book is offered as a tool for students and scientists in various fields of physiological, ecological, biotechnological and aquacultural research.
Valerio Zupo grew up as a marine biologist at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, in a very fertile scientific environment corroborated by the presence of eminent scientists like R. Riedl, J. Romero, E. Fresi and L. Mazzella. His love for benthic ecology studies increased during a Fullbright fellowship at the Florida Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. at the University of Bruxelles. He cooperated with various institutes and centres in the world, from the Office of Naval Research (USA) to the University of Zurich, the Ben Gurion University in Israel, the University of Koeln in Germany, the University of Tasmania, the U.S. EPA, the UERJ in Brazil, the University of Barcelona in Spain, the Aix-Marseille University in France and many others, through a splendid scientific network that still produces plenty of exciting publications. He was a contract teacher for a course in Management of Marine Resources at the University Federico II of Naples (Italy) and served as a Unit Head at the Stazione Zoologica, for the production of model organisms for the scientific research. Dr. Zupo is a professional journalist and has published several books and hundreds of articles on various scientific topics, as well as for science dissemination. He is presently president of the International Society for Invertebrate Reproduction and Development (ISIRD) and has met various Nobel laureates during his career, providing motivation and hints, from Konrad Lorenz in Altenberg to Martin Chalfie and Tim Hunt that enriched the congress he organized in Italy, dedicated to the life rhythms of invertebrates. Presently, he is a researcher at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn of Naples and is associated with the department of eco-sustainable biotechnology. The passion of his life is a protandric shrimp exhibiting remarkable physiologic peculiarities, but his research spans from theoretical ecology to biodiversity issues, culture of sea urchins, global changes, ocean acidification, ecological modeling, chemical ecology, seagrass biology and aquaculture.
