Never heard of harpacticoids, ostracods, gastrotrichs or microturbellarians? This is no surprise, they are so tiny! Yet these taxa and many others more famous (nematodes, rotifers, or tardigrades) show complex behaviours and extraordinary physiologies that allow them to colonize inland waters worldwide. This exuberant fauna is better known as the meiofauna (or meiobenthos). Meiofaunal organisms have been fascinating study objects for zoologists since the seventeenth century and recent research has demonstrated their intermediate role in benthic food webs. This special issue highlights how meiofauna can help freshwater ecologists to describe and predict species distribution patterns, to assess production of biomass and trait functions relationships, as well as to examine the trophic links between microscopic and macroscopic worlds and to better understand species’ resilience to environmental extremes. Overall, meiofaunal organisms are bridging scales, and as such they deserve better integration to develop more comprehensive concepts and theories in ecology.

中文翻译：

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前言：淡水生态系统中小型动物的模式和过程

从未听说过 harpacticoids、ostracods、gastrotrichs 或 microturbellarians？这并不奇怪，它们是如此之小！然而，这些类群和许多其他更著名的类群（线虫、轮虫或缓步动物）表现出复杂的行为和非凡的生理学，使它们能够在世界范围内的内陆水域定居。这种繁茂的动物群被称为小型底栖动物（或小型底栖动物）。自 17 世纪以来，小型动物一直是动物学家引人入胜的研究对象，最近的研究证明了它们在底栖食物网中的中间作用。本期特刊重点介绍小型动物如何帮助淡水生态学家描述和预测物种分布模式，评估生物量和性状功能关系的生产，以及检查微观世界和宏观世界之间的营养联系，并更好地了解物种对极端环境的适应能力。总体而言，小型动物是跨尺度的，因此它们值得更好地整合，以发展更全面的生态学概念和理论。