Actes de la 4ème Conférence Internationale des Polychètes

Every three years, since 1983, an International Polychaete Conference has been organized to provide a forum for the communication of our knowledge of this group. The proceedings of these Polychaete Conferences have remained important reference books for the study of Polychaetes, in the absence of a scientific journal specialized on these organisms. This volume of “Mémoires du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle” publishes all the communications presented at the fourth International Conference held in Angers in 1992, with a total of sixty five papers selected on the basis of a peer review process following the Conference, and 101 abstracts. The papers are classified into five topics as a large amount of studies on polychaete demonstrate the various approaches in this group : Cytophysiology, development and reproduction (seven papers), Genetics and morphology (eight papers), Phylogeny and taxonomy (19 papers), Ecology and biogeography (29 papers) and Culture and valorisation (two papers). Up to date reviews of several subjects are included, with a significant number of new data. The phylogenetic positions of some families are discussed as a basis for new hypotheses on the relationships between Polychaete families. Three genera and 10 species new to science are described in this volume. The future of polychaetes exploitation should be their culture and valorisation.

Jean-Claude Dauvin, Dr ès Sciences, spent thirteen years as a researcher with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at the Biological Station of Roscoff, Brittany, and is now Professor at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Curator of worms. He is particularly interested in benthic communities and Polychaete populations from the English Channel, and focuses on the systematics and the phylogeny of Opheliidae. Lucien Laubier, Dr ès Sciences, Director at the Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), Professor at the Institut Océanographique de Paris, is Counsellor for Science and Technology in the Permanent Representation of France to the European Union in Brussels. He has studied Polychaetes for some 35 years and is still active in systematics, phylogeny and biogeography of Polychaetes, in particular Alvinellids from deep-sea hydrothermal vents and Mediterranean Polychaetes. Donald J. Reish, Ph. D., Emeritus Professor at California State University in Long Beach, is currently consultant with U.S. Bureau of Standard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He has studied Polychaetes for more than 40 years and his classic work “An ecological study of pollution in Los Angeles Long Beach harbors” (1959) is considered to be the corner stone of modern benthic studies in polluted areas. He is currently involved in toxicological studies using Polychaetes as test organisms.