Many authors of this new book were participants at the workshop on diapause in aquatic invertebrates (Pallanza, Italy 2003). This book consists of two major parts: phenomenology of diapause and significance of this adaptation in scientific and practical uses. It combines the theoretical part with the application of knowledge on diapause in the wide spectrum of scientific and applied fields.

Victor R. Alekseev, Research Professor, Head of Taxonomy department, Zoological Institute of The Russain Academy of Sciences, the author of the first monograph on diapause in Crustaceans (1990, Nauka Academic Publishers, Moscow), the organiser of the First International Symposium on Diapause in Crustaceans (September 1994, St. Petersburg, Russia) and Workshop on Diapause in Aquatic Animals (October 2003, Palanza, Italy, together with professor Oscar Ravera and Dr. Riccardo diBernardi).

Ba t De Stasio,Associated Professor, Department of Biology, Lawrence University, USA, a well known specialist in Crustaceans's diapause, the first who applied the very productive idea of seed bank (egg-bank) to aquatic ecosystems.

John J. Gilbert, Professor of ecology, Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire USA a world known specialist in diapause and signal chemicals in the Rotifers.