This book contains 36 of the papers presented at the meetings covering the many aspects of oligochaete biology from ecological through evolutionary studies, divided into the following sections:

Systematics and Evolution
Taxonomy and Geographic Distribution
Distribution, Abundance and Habitat Types
Ultrastructure
Pollution Studies
Population Dynamics

The volume highlights the single largest contribution of Soviet oligochaete biology presented in English since 1980. Nine of the 36 papers in this collection are written by authors from the former U.S.S.R.