Introduction générale

The population dynamics of small populations is attracting a lot of interest from conservation biologists. This can involve declining populations or on the other hand eruptions often related to human activities; reintroduction programmes are also concerned. In particular, attention should be drawn to the serious threats that certain eruptions represent to the biodiversity of the whole system. These questions also concern more theoretical studies in population biology. Notable progress has been made in this domain and it must be taken into account. The congress at Niederbronn attracted more fundamental contributions, which are presented here in abstract form, and contributions from practising conservation biologists which make up the majority of the present publicatio