**Chapter 10 165**

Assemblage of Gastropods in the Rocky Intertidal Zone of Asry Beach, Kingdom of Bahrain *by Belen T. Lumeran*

Preface

A complex process of biological evolution resulted in the birth of multiple species of plants and animals. The basis of a synthetic approach to studying evolution is integration of Mendelian genetics with the theory of natural selection. The concept of an adaptational paradigm rests on the premises of attributes of heritable adaptation and genetic functioning stabilized through the process of natural selection. Most of the extant forms of metazoa evolved during the Precambrian–Cambrian transition. Evolutionary biologists debated on issues like protist ancestry of primitive metazoa, the evolutionary process of multicellularity, and the nature of favorable environment, which facilitated the birth of primitive forms with multicellularity. However, evolution of bilateral anatomy, coelomic organization, and biological defense mechanisms are assumed to be the major milestones of metazoan evolution that led to speciation in many invertebrate groups. Invertebrates are thermo-conformers and uniquely adapted to multiple thermal conditions. Evolution of effective ectothermy enabled their cells and tissues to function in diverse thermal regimes within a homeostatic range. Invertebrates, which represent more than 90 percent of the fauna, exhibit a wide range of diversity and uniqueness in relation to their body plan, physiology, behavior, and preferences for habitat and food. They are suitably adapted and distributed in almost all ecological conditions of earth. Evolution and organisation of coelom is considered as an important trend of evolution culminating in the formation of multidimensional body forms and subsequent adaptation in different bioecological conditions. The resilience of physiological functioning on an ecological stage holds the key of evolutionary success of almost all of the positive

variants in the pathway of adaptation and speciation.

In this book, authors highlight important ecophysiological aspects and management-related issues of invertebrates across the phylogeny. Researchers working in the frontier areas of ecophysiology and animal management present their findings and analyses from different points of view. Science of animal management, in recent years, has been gaining special attention, particularly under the backdrop of environmental contamination and climate change. Animal forms like sponge, corals, and molluscs have already been identified as the major victims of global warming, climate change, chemical contamination, and habitat loss-related crises. Undesirable and unpredictable shifts in ocean current, rain fall, and ecothermal characteristics are the current issues of concern to the scientists working in the fields of ecophysiology, distribution, aquaculture, and animal management.

This book is comprised of informative multidisciplinary articles under two sections entitled "Ecophysiology" and "Management." In the first chapter in the section on "Ecophysiology," authors report the key features of French shell farming technology where the matured garden snails are allowed to hibernate under controlled microenvironmental conditions. Issues of survival, dormancy, and hibernation of all economically important snails are addressed along with the phenomenon of Oblomovism, a less studied physiological feature of many molluscs. This particular chapter bears special significance in applied malacology. In another chapter, scientists report the ecological, biological, and genetic impacts of *Millepora* hydrocorals on coral reefs. Status of taxonomy, biogeography, ecology, and symbiosis of
