Zooplankton of the open Baltic: Extended Atlas - IOW

PREFACE
This volume is the Second Edition (revised and extended by new
information on ciliates) of the third book in a series of zooplankton atlases –
an illustrated inventory of planktonic invertebrates inhabiting the open waters
of the Baltic Sea. The two previous volumes deal with the estuarine
mesozooplankton of the Baltic Sea (Part I, Rotifera: Telesh & Heerkloss,
2002; Part II, Crustacea: Telesh & Heerkloss, 2004).
The necessity of creating a zooplankton inventory of the Baltic Sea had
been under discussion since the 1980-s when Dr. Gerda Behrends headed the
Working Group (WG) “Zooplankton” within the association of the Baltic
Marine Biologists (BMB). In the early 2000-s, the BMB WG No. 29
“Zooplankton Diversity” was established (convener – Dr. Irena Telesh) in
order to continue and facilitate the biodiversity research in the Baltic Sea
region. The present series of zooplankton atlases of the Baltic Sea was
initiated and produced by the members of the BMB WG No. 29 “Zooplankton
Diversity”.
It is worth mentioning here that since 1998 Professor Ulrich Schiewer
(1936-2007) from the University of Rostock, to whom we dedicate the present
volume, enthusiastically supported this work.
This atlas provides information on the zooplankton of the open Baltic
Sea, which is to great extent a mixture of marine species and diverse brackish
water and limnetic faunas typical for the vast estuarine and coastal areas
located mainly in the southern and north-eastern parts of the Baltic. The
specific feature of this volume is the updated species list of meso- and
macrozooplankton of the open Baltic (217 species), and the checklist of
ciliates (814 species) inhabiting open waters of both, central and coastal areas
of the Baltic Sea.
The atlas is illustrated by 31 line drawing and 462 colour photographs.
The photographs are combined into 63 photo plates depicting most common
holo- and meroplanktonic representatives of different invertebrate taxa:
Protozoa (Ciliata), Cnidaria, Ctenophora, Turbellaria, Rotifera, Phyllopoda,
Copepoda, Cirripedia, Polychaeta, Mollusca, Bryozoa, Echinodermata,
Chaetognatha and Copelata.
A new feature of the present edition is the extended chapter “Ciliates of
the Baltic Sea” which contributes substantially to both biodiversity and cytoecological
research directions in the area. The chapter is illustrated by 197
original colour photographs that describe the diverse cell morphology of the
free-living ciliated protists in the Baltic Sea.
Photographs of live ciliates were made with the help of the Research
Microscope LEICA DM-2500 at magnifications 40x and 100x using the
7