The Biology of Nematodes

Nematode worms are amongst the commonest and most widely distributed animals on Earth. Many species cause serious diseases of humans and livestock and as such are responsible for much economic loss in agriculture. However, almost all animals and plants are susceptible to attack by parasitic nematodes.

Although they are probably best known as parasites, most nematodes are free-living and occur in enormous numbers in almost every habitat suitable for life. Although many parasitic species have been extensively studied because of their medical, veterinary or agricultural importance, the most thoroughly studied nematode is the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the complete genome of which has now been elucidated.

This multi-authored reference text has an international list of contributors and aims to synthesize our knowledge of most aspects of the biology of free-living, plant parasitic and animal-parasitic nematodes. The use of molecular techniques, many of which have arisen from work on Caenorhabditis elegans, is increasingly opening up new approaches to the study of nematodes and this is reflected in several chapters in this book.

Topics covered include: * Systematics and phylogeny * Neuromuscular physiology * Locomotion * Sense Organs * Behaviour * Ageing * The nematode genome The Biology of Nematodes is a suitable text for graduate students and for research scientists working on parasitic and free-living nematodes from the point of view of agriculture, control, helminthology, immunology, medical and veterinary parasitology, molecular biology, nematology, plant pathology and zoology.