Walter Koste - a K-strategist? A laudatio -- Walter Koste - a K-strategist? A laudatio -- Phylogeny and Evolution -- On the phylogenetic position of Rotifera — have we come any further? -- Speciation and selection without sex -- Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses of rotifer-acanthocephalan relationships -- Evolutionary dynamics of ‘the’ bdelloid and monogonont rotifer life-history patterns -- Toward a better understanding of the phylogeny of the Asplanchnidae (Rotifera) -- Genetics and Molecular Ecology -- Molecular ecology of rotifers: from population differentiation to speciation -- The potential of genomic approaches to rotifer ecology -- Using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) to study genetic variability in several freshwater rotifer species -- Genetics and Molecular Ecology -- Molecular characterization of Mn-superoxide dismutase and gene expression studies in dietary restricted Brachionus plicatilis rotifers -- Behavioural reproductive isolation in a rotifer hybrid zone -- Taxonomy and Biogeography -- The ‘Frank J. Myers Rotifera collection’ at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia -- Tale of a sleeping beauty: a new and easily cultured model organism for experimental studies on bdelloid rotifers -- Life on the edge: rotifers from springs and ephemeral waters in the Chihuahuan Desert, Big Bend National Park (Texas, USA) -- Morphology and Ultrastructure -- Euryhaline Brachionus strains (Rotifera) from tropical habitats: morphology and allozyme patterns -- Morphological and morphometrical variations of selected rotifer species in response to predation: a seasonal study of selected brachionid species from Lake Xochimilco (Mexico) -- Morphological stasis of two species belonging to the L-morphotype in the Brachionus plicatilis species complex -- Morphological variation of Keratella cochlearis (Gosse) in a backwater of the River Thames -- Trophi structure in bdelloid rotifers -- Study of the trophi of Testudinella Bory de St. Vincent and Pompholyx Gosse (Rotifera: Testudinellidae) by scanning electron microscopy -- Do rotifer jaws grow after hatching? -- External morphology and muscle arrangement of Brachionus urceolaris, Floscularia ringens, Hexarthra mira and Notommata glyphura (Rotifera, Monogononta) -- The musculature of Testudinella patina (Rotifera: Flosculariacea), revealed with CLSM -- Rotifer nervous system visualized by FMRFamide and 5-HT immunocytochemistry and confocal laser scanning microscopy -- Identification of acetylcholinesterase receptors in Rotifera -- Mating, Resting Eggs, Diapause, Anhydrobiosis, Embryonic Development -- Brachionus calyciflorus is a species complex: Mating behavior and genetic differentiation among four geographically isolated strains -- Removal of surface glycoproteins and transfer among Brachionus species -- Maternal effect by stem females in Brachionus plicatilis: effect of starvation on mixis induction in offspring -- Restoration of tropical peat swamp rotifer communities after perturbation: an experimental study of recovery of rotifers from the resting egg bank -- Diapause in monogonont rotifers -- Anhydrobiosis of Adineta ricciae: costs and benefits -- A putative LEA protein, but no trehalose, is present in anhydrobiotic bdelloid rotifers -- The development of a bdelloid egg: a contribution after 100 years -- Population and Community Ecology -- Evolution of rotifer life histories -- Insulin-like growth factor signaling pathway involved in regulating longevity of rotifers -- Combined effects of algal (Chlorella vulgaris) food level and temperature on the demography of Brachionus havanaensis (Rotifera): a life table study -- Factors affecting egg-ratio in planktonic rotifers -- Factors affecting swimming speed in the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis -- An evidence for vertical migrations of small rotifers — a case of rotifer community in a dystrophic lake -- Structure distinctions of pelagic rotifer plankton in stratified lakes with different human impact -- Changes in rotifer species composition and abundance along a trophic gradient in Loch Lomond, Scotland, UK -- Diversity and abundance of the planktonic rotifers in different environments of the Upper Paraná River floodplain (Paraná State — Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil) -- Relationships between rotifers, phytoplankton and bacterioplankton in the Corumbá reservoir, Goiás State, Brazil -- Short time-response of psammic communities of Rotifera to abiotic changes in their habitat -- The influence of biotic and abiotic factors on psammic rotifers in artificial and natural lakes -- Long-term Studies -- Seasonal rotifer dynamics in the long-term (1969–2002) record from Lake Kinneret (Israel) -- Seasonality of rotifers and temperature in Lough Neagh, N. Ireland -- Abiotic vs. biotic factors: lessons drawn from rotifers in the Middle Loire, a meandering river monitored from 1995 to 2002, during low flow periods -- Trophic Interactions -- Freshwater copepods and rotifers: predators and their prey -- Trophic Interactions -- Life history characteristics of Asplanchnopus multiceps (Rotifera) fed rotifer and cladoceran prey -- Susceptibility of ephemeral pool Hexarthra to predation by the fairy shrimp Branchinecta mackini: can predation drive local extinction? -- Decline of clear-water rotifer populations in a reservoir: the role of resource limitation -- Combined effects of food concentration and temperature on competition among four species of Brachionus (Rotifera) -- Application of stable isotope tracers to studies of zooplankton feeding, using the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus as an example -- Aquaculture and Ecotoxicology -- Screening methods for improving rotifer culture quality -- Interaction among copper toxicity, temperature and salinity on the population dynamics of Brachionus rotundiformis (Rotifera) -- Effect of some pesticides on reproduction of rotifer Brachionus plicatilis Müller -- Heat shock protein 60 (HSP60) response of Plationus patulus (Rotifera: Monogononta) to combined exposures of arsenic and heavy metals.This volume reflects the latest developments in the research of a global community of rotifer researchers, who came together at Illmitz, Austria in 2003. Contributions are manifold and span fields from phylogeny and evolution of the phylum Rotifera to practical aspects of aquaculture and ecotoxicology. Major issues include phylogeny and evolution, genetics and molecular ecology, new aspects of rotifer anatomy through the application of confocal laser-scanning microscopy, anhydrobiosis, long-term studies in lakes and rivers, population dynamics and community ecology, trophic relationships between copepods and rotifers, alongside biodiversity studies based on classical taxonomic concepts and molecular approaches. Although primarily focussed on one taxonomic group, the scientific outcome of this meeting is of relevance to the study of other aquatic microinvertebrates as well.