Dr Anne Brearley, The University of Western Australia (abrear@cyllene.uwa.edu.au)

Dr Lesley Brooker, University of the Sunshine Coast (lbrooker@usc.edu.au)

Dr Gary Kendrick, The University of Western Australia (garyk@)cyllene.uwa.edu.au)

Dr Winston Ponder, Australian Museum (winstonp@austmus.gov.au)

The World Congress of Malacology is an opportunity for malacologists from throughout the world to get together to discuss the animals on which we work. Accordingly, contributed papers and posters on all aspects of malacology are covered.

The symposium was a major step forward in our understanding of molluscan phylogeny. Invited contributions focused on either: (1) on a major taxon and was a state of the art overview of the phylogeny of the group, or (2) examined the state of the art in new areas of molluscan research (genomics, evolution/development). Additional papers dealing with aspects of molluscan phylogeny were also included in the symposium. Organisers: Dr Winston Ponder, Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia, winstonp@austmus.gov.au or wponder@bigpond.net.au and Dr David Lindberg, University of California, Berkeley, USA, drl@uclink.Berkeley.edu

Some species of molluscs are important organisms for both wild caught fisheries and for aquaculture. This symposium brought together researchers working on both wild caught and aquaculture species, both from Australia and overseas, to discuss the latest advances in the field. Selected papers will be published in a leading journal. The symposium was supported by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. Contacts: Dr Fred Wells, Western Australian Museum, fred.wells@museum.wa.gov.au Dr Greg Maguire, gmaguire@fish.wa.gov.au and Dr Lindsay Joll, Western Australian Department of Fisheries, Perth, ljoll@fish.wa.gov.au

The general theme of the ecology symposium was an assessment of threats to molluscan diversity in the changing world. It included invited speakers addressing issues such as habitat loss and fragmentation, effects of introduced species on indigenous diversity, sea-level rise, urbanization and methods of linking individual and assemblage-level changes in response to environmental change. In addition, contributed papers were included in the symposium. Organisers: Prof Tony Underwood and Dr Gee Chapman, University of Sydney, Australia, gee@bio.usyd.edu.au

The International Society for Medical and Applied Malacology met as part of the World Congress. Appropriate papers from ISMAM were incorporated into the symposium on Molluscan Fisheries and Aquaculture. Other papers, largely dealing with medical aspects and molluscs as pests on land, in the sea and in freshwater, were organised into separate ISMAM sessions. Organisers: Prof Jambari Hadji Ali, University Putri Malaysia, Malaysia Jambari@fsas.upm.edu.my

Special sessions on particular groups and other topics were:

Bivalve systematics has taken substantial steps in recent years, but the "Tree" and resulting classifications are still far from stable. The symposium took a journey along major putative branches of the Bivalvia, with each contributor introducing diversity and characters of the group, and discussing hypotheses of relationship as well as resulting classifications. Organisers: Dr Rüdiger Bieler, Field Museum of Natural History, USA, bieler@fieldmuseum.org and Dr Paula M. Mikkelsen, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA, mikkel@amnh.org

The study of reproduction and developmental patterns in molluscs is now based on thorough studies of reproductive anatomy, physiology and biochemistry of reproduction and intracapsular development, as well as sophisticated studies of the embryonic and larval stages. Results from these studies are widely used both in the applied fields of shellfisheries and parasitology, and in more theoretical areas dealing with evolutionary patterns, phylogeny and biogeography. This symposium was a broad venue to present results at the forefront of this field, as well as a discussion forum to analyse future directions and methodologies. Organiser: Dr Helena Fortunado, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama, fortunae@ancon.si.edu

Opisthobranchs are a small, but structurally diverse group of marine gastropods. Their fascinating biology attracts considerable scientific interest, and the relationships between many of the major groups are poorly known. This symposium brought together opisthobranch workers to discuss the latest advances in our knowledge of opisthobranch biology and systematics. Organisers: Dr Gilianne Brodie, James Cook University, Australia gilianne.brodie@jcu.edu.au and Dr Ángel Valdés, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, USA avaldes@nhm.org

Population genetics has consistently played a significant role in the development of evolutionary biology as well as evolutionarily based taxonomy, also in the Mollusca. The session included contributions varying from morphology and allozyme to DNA-based studies, from the level of local subpopulations to groups of closely related species, and focused on mating systems, gene flow, selection, speciation, phylogeography, etc. Organiser: Prof Andrzej Falniowski, Jagiellonian University, Poland Faln@zuk.iz.uj.edu.pl

Twenty years after Alan Solem's global review, many questions remain to be addressed about patterns of land mollusc diversity. This symposium examined these issues at all scales from different regions of the globe. It considered technical and analytic issues, and assessed the evidence for the evolutionary, ecological and historical factors that might contribute to diversity levels. Organisers: Dr. Jeffrey Nekola, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, USA nekolaj@uwgb.edu, Prof Robert Cameron, University of Sheffield, UK robert@vicshef.freeserve.co.uk and Beata Pokryszko.

The venue for the conference was at the University of Western Australia. Plenary talks were held in the Social Science Lecture Theatre. All other sessions will be held in the Arts complex, including the following rooms: Alexander, Murdoch, Fox and number 4 lecture theatres.

Fred Wells is at the Western Australian Museum where he has examined distributional patterns of molluscs in the western third of the continent and placed this in a broader geographical context. Much of the work has involved documentation of molluscan assemblages in areas not previously investigated by scientists, not only in Western Australia, but also biogeographically related areas. His research has included all major habitat types in Western Australia, with a particular focus on coral reefs and mangroves.

Daniel L. Geiger was an undergraduate of the University of Basel, Switzerland and did his Ph.D. at the University of Southern California, Los Angles, where he currently holds a position as adjunct assistant professor and part-time lecturer. His research is focused on the systematics and evolution of Vetigastropoda, previously mainly on abalones but is currently cantered on scissurellids. It is carried out under the auspices of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

Gerhard Haszprunar has been Professor of Systematic Zoology at University of Munich and Director of Zoological Museum Munich since 1995 and was formally Associate Professor at University of Innsbruck. His main interests include the ontogeny and phylogeny of Mollusca and Metazoa, the fine structure and immunocytochemistry of sensory organs of Mollusca and other invertebrates and theoretical systematics.

David R. Lindberg is Chair and Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California Berkeley. He was Director of the UC Museum of Paleontology and is a member of the Center for Integrative Genomics at UC Berkeley. His research is centred on the evolution of Molluscs, especially gastropods, and the interface between organisms, their changing habitat, and the results of these interactions through time. Prof. Lindberg is also actively involved in outreach projects using technology to increase access to scientific resources, and the training of teachers in principals of evolutionary biology.

Michele K. Nishiguchi is an Assistant Professor of Biology at New Mexico State University. She studies symbiosis between Vibrio bacteria and their molluscan hosts, including cospeciation as well as experimental evolution using sepiolid squids as a model system. Her interests also include evolution of virulence, bacteriogenic vs. autogenic light organ evolution in cephalopods, and recognition of symbiotic bacteria that are environmentally transmitted. She is also actively involved with minority student programs.

Alex Nützel is an Assistant Professor (research and teaching) at the Institute for Palaeontology (University of Erlangen, Germany). He is working on gastropod evolution and palaeontology. His current research is focussed on caenogastropods from the Late Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic. It encompasses phylogeny, taxonomy, and palaeodiversity. He is especially interested in gastropod protoconchs as source of characters as well as for reconstructing life histories of fossil gastropods.

Dr. Pavel Yu. Parkhaev is senior scientific researcher at the Laboratory of Ancient Organisms, Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia). He has conducted research at the institute for about 10 years. He has mainly focused on the study of the Cambrian molluscs, their functional morphology and ecology, their origin and early radiation. He also studies Cambrian biostratigraphy and biogeography.

Fabio Bulleri completed his PhD at the University of Sydney in 2003 and is now a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Bologna. His research has included the effects of marine herbivores on algal assemblages on rocky shores of the Mediterranean Sea, particularly the effects of grazing by limpets and the distribution of canopy-forming algae. In Sydney he investigated the effects of the introduction of artificial structures (e.g. seawalls, breakwaters) on intertidal rocky assemblages. He has investigated the effects of urbanisation on biodiversity at large scale as part of a EU funded project (DELOS). He has also focused on the effects of urbanisation (including changes in physical and chemical conditions) on the spreading of invasive species.

Tasman Crowe is a lecturer in environmental biology at University College Dublin. He’s interested in the effects of natural and anthropogenic processes on patterns of biodiversity in marine habitats and consequences of loss of biodiversity for the functioning of marine ecosystems. He is particularly interested in human interactions with the marine environment and the scientific basis for its management and conservation. His research group is part of the EU Network of Excellence MARBEF (www.marbef.org) and comprises students working on a wide range of projects, investigating, for example the effectiveness of marine nature reserves, patterns of movement of harvestable gastropods, the sustainable exploitation of mussel seed for aquaculture, impacts of climate change on population dynamics of limpets and the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Further details are available at www.ucd.ie/zoology/marinbiodiversity.htm.

Sandra Shumway is an Adjunct Professor in Residence at the University of Connecticut, Marine Sciences Program. Her research interests include the physiological ecology of marine invertebrates, shellfish biology, aquaculture and toxic algae. Her current research is focused on the impacts of harmful algal species on shellfish and aquaculture. She has a number of academic awards and honors, including Marshall Scholar, William Evans Visiting Professor at the University of Otago, NZ, and teaching excellence awards from New York City. She is the past president of the National Shellfisheries Association, and is the editor of the Journal of Shellfish Research, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, and the founder and co-editor of Harmful Algae. Further details are available at: http://www.marinesciences.uconn.edu/faculty/shumway.html

Prof Robert Cameron now holds honorary positions at the University of Sheffield and the Natural History Museum, London. His primary interest is in the patterns and causes of land snail diversity at all scales. This has involved him in collaborative programmes  in eastern Europe, in Greece, on Maderia and the Azores, and in North America, but th emost dramatic and instructive programme involved following Alan Solem's footsteps in the Kimberley, Western Australia. He is also involved in stimulating recording and amateur involvement and is the author/co-author of identification guides to British and northern European slugs and snails.