Book excerpt: Although the book is largely self-contained, some knowledge of the mathematics of differential equations is necessary. Thus the book is intended for mathematicians who are interested in the application of their subject to the biological sciences and for biologists with some mathematical training. It is also suitable for postgraduate mathematics students and for undergraduate mathematicians taking a course in mathematical biology. Increasing use of mathematics in developmental biology, ecology, physiology, and many other areas in the biological sciences has produced a need for a complete, mathematical reference for laboratory practice. In this volume, biological scientists will find a rich resource of interesting applications and illustrations of various mathematical techniques that can be used to analyze reaction-diffusion systems. Concepts covered here include:**systems of ordinary differential equations**conservative systems**the scalar reaction-diffusion equation**analytic techniques for systems of parabolic partial differential equations**bifurcation theory**asymptotic methods for oscillatory systems**singular perturbations**macromolecular carriers -- asymptotic techniques.