VIII
Foreword
The close collaboration between Chilean and Italian scientists in recent years
has been auspicious and will hopefully continue to contribute to the greater
understanding of the biogeography of this region.
Coordinador Programa Antarctico
Universidad de Chile
VICTOR M. MARIN
Regional faunal studies have proved their usefulness time and time again. They
summarize and provide easy access to the great wealth of scattered information
on local biodiversity. The lack of such studies often hinders the work of
researchers interested in important, but remote and inaccessible regions of the
world. Charles Darwin, in his Journal of Researches, written on the voyage of
H.M.S. Beagle, noted the comparative richness of the marine animal life in the
waters of the Straits of Magellan and around Tierra del Fuego. However, in
more than a century and a half since Darwin's visit, few detailed studies have
been made of the marine animals inhabiting those cold sub-Antarctic waters.
The atlas of Zooplankton of the Straits of Magellan will help to fill this gap.
The first volume of the atlas deals with the copepods, a dominant and often
diverse group in the pelagic community. Knowledge of the composition and
productivity of the copepod fraction of a zooplankton community is essential
for the development of a predictive understanding of fishery dynamics in any
area. This volume should greatly facilitate such work. It enables the identification of the most common copepod species of the region and also provides
information on their distributions and abundances, as well as background data
on the physical and biological environment. Its emphasis is strongly on illustrations, with only brief text descriptions, and the use of top quality scanning
electron micrographs to supplement the traditional line drawings is unique;
thus adding considerably to the information content and aiding interpretation
of the drawings by non-specialists. This volume will serve as a sound platform
for future copepod research in the region and I congratulate the authors on
their innovative presentation.
Museum of Natural History
London, England
GEOFFREY A. BOXSHALL
Foreword
The close collaboration between Chilean and Italian scientists in recent years
has been auspicious and will hopefully continue to contribute to the greater
understanding of the biogeography of this region.
Coordinador Programa Antarctico
Universidad de Chile
VICTOR M. MARIN
Regional faunal studies have proved their usefulness time and time again. They
summarize and provide easy access to the great wealth of scattered information
on local biodiversity. The lack of such studies often hinders the work of
researchers interested in important, but remote and inaccessible regions of the
world. Charles Darwin, in his Journal of Researches, written on the voyage of
H.M.S. Beagle, noted the comparative richness of the marine animal life in the
waters of the Straits of Magellan and around Tierra del Fuego. However, in
more than a century and a half since Darwin's visit, few detailed studies have
been made of the marine animals inhabiting those cold sub-Antarctic waters.
The atlas of Zooplankton of the Straits of Magellan will help to fill this gap.
The first volume of the atlas deals with the copepods, a dominant and often
diverse group in the pelagic community. Knowledge of the composition and
productivity of the copepod fraction of a zooplankton community is essential
for the development of a predictive understanding of fishery dynamics in any
area. This volume should greatly facilitate such work. It enables the identification of the most common copepod species of the region and also provides
information on their distributions and abundances, as well as background data
on the physical and biological environment. Its emphasis is strongly on illustrations, with only brief text descriptions, and the use of top quality scanning
electron micrographs to supplement the traditional line drawings is unique;
thus adding considerably to the information content and aiding interpretation
of the drawings by non-specialists. This volume will serve as a sound platform
for future copepod research in the region and I congratulate the authors on
their innovative presentation.
Museum of Natural History
London, England
GEOFFREY A. BOXSHALL