Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2006
We review processes leading to the orbital migration of bodies ranging from dust particles up to protoplanets in the earth mass range in protoplanetary disks. The objects most at risk of being lost from the disk have dimensions of the order of metres. To retain these it may be necessary to invoke either strong turbulence or trapping due to special flow features such as vortices. Migration also becomes important for protoplanets with mass exceeding $0.1M_{\oplus}$. In this case it can also lead to the attainment of commensurabilities for pairs of protoplanets. Such pairs could be left behind after disk dispersal. We review some recent work on the attainment of commensurabilities for protoplanets in the earth mass range.