Physiology of the Cladocera, Second Edition, is a much-needed summary of foundational information on these increasingly important model organisms. This unique and valuable review is based on the world's literature, including Russian research not previously widely available, and offers systematically arranged data on the physiology of Cladocera, assisting with explanation of their life and distribution. It features the addition of new sections and a vast amount of new information, such as the latest data on feeding, nutrition, pathological physiology, chemical composition, neurosecretion, and behavior, as well as hormonal regulation, antioxidants, and the biochemical background of effects of natural and anthropogenic factors. Additional expertly updated contributions in genetics and cytology, and a new chapter in embryology, round out the physiological chapters, and provide comprehensive insight into the state of knowledge of Cladocera and their underlying mechanisms. Cladocera crustaceans have become globally studied for many purposes, including genetic, molecular, ecological, environmental, water quality, systematics, and evolutionary biology research. Since the genome of Daphnia was sequenced and published, that system has gained much wider exposure, also leading to a rapidly growing awareness of the importance of understanding physiological processes as they relate to evolutionary and ecological genomics as well as ecogenomic toxicology. However, the physiological background on Cladocera has been fragmentary (including on the other 700 known species besides Daphnia), despite the extensive literature on species identification and morphology. This work addresses this issue by collecting and synthesizing from the literature the state of knowledge of cladoceran physiology, including discussion on both adequately and inadequately investigated fields, and thus directions of future research.

The dictionary contains approx. 40,000 entries covering all fields of biology, from cytology and molecular biology to genetics and behavior, with special reference to zoology. Attention is focused on applied fields too, such as pathology, veterinary science, biological aspects of medicine, phytopathology, agriculture, forestry, biotechnology, nature conservation, etc., as well as descriptive terms commonly used in biological literature. The dictionary will be useful to translators and scientists dealing with various fields of fundamental and applied biology.

"The Physiology of Cladocera "is a much-needed summary of foundational information on these increasingly important model organisms. This unique and valuable summary is based on the world's literature, including Russian research not widely available until now. It offers systematically arranged data on the physiology of Cladocera, assisting with explanation of their life and distribution, as well as discussion on directions of future research. Special expert contributions in genetics, immunology, and cytology round out the physiological chapters and provide comprehensive insight into the state of knowledge of Cladocera and its underlying mechanisms.

Cladocera crustaceans make up a significant part of the natural communities and biological productivity of fresh waters. In recent decades, they have become globally studied for many purposes, including systematics, genetic, molecular, ecological and evolutionary biology studies. They are also used as "sentinel" organisms for assessing water quality and the environment. In addition, the genome of Daphnia (a genus within Cladocera) was recently sequenced and published, giving this system a much wider exposure. It has also led to a rapidly growing awareness of the importance of understanding physiological processes as they relate to evolutionary and ecological genomics and ecogenomic toxicology.

Despite the increasing use of Cladocera in research and study, physiological background information on these creatures is fragmentary. Hundreds of unconnected publications have been accumulated on their physiology, and a synthesis and general representation of the literature has been much needed for the many researchers working with this organism. "The Physiology of Cladocera "stands alone as a valuable and comprehensive offering in this area for many researchers and students.
Collects and synthesizes from the worldwide literature the state of knowledge of cladoceran physiologyForward-looking perspective incorporates information from the emerging technological worlds of genomics, cytology, chemical communication, and immunologyProvides foundational information on Cladocera physiology for researchers in various fields, including conservation and evolutionary biology, genomics, ecology, ecotoxicology, and comparative physiology