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© 2007

Life in Extreme Environments

  • Ricardo Amils
  • Cynan Ellis-Evans
  • Helmut Hinghofer-Szalkay
Book

Table of contents

  1. Front Matter
    Pages I-VIII
    PDF
  2. Access to glacial and subglacial environments in the Solar System by melting probe technology
    Stephan Ulamec, Jens Biele, Oliver Funke, Marc Engelhardt
    Pages 1-24
  3. Exploration of Ellsworth Subglacial Lake: a concept paper on the development, organisation and execution of an experiment to explore, measure and sample the environment of a West Antarctic subglacial lake
    M. J. Siegert, A. Behar, M. Bentley, D. Blake, S. Bowden, P. Christoffersen et al.
    Pages 25-43
  4. Thermostable proteins as probe for the design of advanced fluorescence biosensors
    Marcella de Champdoré, Maria Staiano, Vincenzo Aurilia, Olesia V. Stepanenko, Antonietta Parracino, Mosè Rossi et al.
    Pages 45-54
  5. Astrobiological significance of minerals on Mars surface environment
    Jesus Martinez-Frias, Gabriel Amaral, Luis Vázquez
    Pages 55-67
  6. Industrial barrens: extreme habitats created by non-ferrous metallurgy
    M. V. Kozlov, E. L. Zvereva
    Pages 69-97
  7. Viruses in extreme environments
    Marc Le Romancer, Mélusine Gaillard, Claire Geslin, Daniel Prieur
    Pages 99-113
  8. Microbial ecology of submerged marine caves and holes characterized by high levels of hydrogen sulphide
    Francesco Canganella, Giovanna Bianconi, Chiaki Kato, Juan Gonzalez
    Pages 115-124
  9. Extremely halophilic archaea and the issue of long-term microbial survival
    Sergiu Fendrihan, Andrea Legat, Marion Pfaffenhuemer, Claudia Gruber, Gerhard Weidler, Friedrich Gerbl et al.
    Pages 125-140
  10. Planktonic microbial assemblages and the potential effects of metazooplankton predation on the food web of lakes from the maritime Antarctica and sub-Antarctic islands
    Antonio Camacho
    Pages 141-159
  11. Fungi in Antarctica
    Serena Ruisi, Donatella Barreca, Laura Selbmann, Laura Zucconi, Silvano Onofri
    Pages 161-175
  12. Ecology and molecular adaptations of the halophilic black yeast Hortaea werneckii
    Nina Gunde-Cimerman, Ana Plemenitaš
    Pages 177-185
  13. Ultraviolet radiation shapes seaweed communities
    Kai Bischof, Ivan Gómez, Markus Molis, Dieter Hanelt, Ulf Karsten, Ulrike Lüder et al.
    Pages 187-212
  14. Life strategy, ecophysiology and ecology of seaweeds in polar waters
    C. Wiencke, M. N. Clayton, I. Gómez, K. Iken, U. H. Lüder, C. D. Amsler et al.
    Pages 213-244
  15. Life expansion in Sørkapp Land, Spitsbergen, under the current climate warming
    Wieslaw Ziaja
    Pages 245-249
  16. Some views on plants in polar and alpine regions
    F. E. Wielgolaski, S. R. Karlsen
    Pages 251-263
  17. Desiccation-tolerant plants in dry environments
    T.-N. Le, S. J. McQueen-Mason
    Pages 265-275
  18. Energy dependant plant stress acclimation
    Cristina Dobrota
    Pages 277-285
  19. Post-capture investigations of hydrothermal vent macro-invertebrates to study adaptations to extreme environments
    Eniko Kadar, Jonathan J. Powell
    Pages 287-295
  20. Adaptations to hypoxia in hydrothermal-vent and cold-seep invertebrates
    Stéphane Hourdez, François H. Lallier
    Pages 297-313
  21. How does the annelid Alvinella pompejana deal with an extreme hydrothermal environment?
    N. Le Bris, F. Gaill
    Pages 315-339
  22. Pressure and life: some biological strategies
    Florence Pradillon, Françoise Gaill
    Pages 341-355
  23. Molecular evolution of haemoglobins of polar fishes
    Cinzia Verde, Daniela Giordano, Guido di Prisco
    Pages 357-368
  24. Metal detoxification and homeostasis in Antarctic Notothenioids. A comparative survey on evolution, expression and functional properties of fish and mammal metallothioneins
    Clemente Capasso, Vincenzo Carginale, Marilisa Riggio, Rosaria Scudiero, Piero Andrea Temussi, Francesca Trinchella et al.
    Pages 369-383
  25. Predicting the impacts of climate change on the evolutionary adaptations of polar fish
    Guido di Prisco, Cinzia Verde
    Pages 385-397
  26. Human challenges in polar and space environments
    G. M. Sandal, G. R. Leon, L. Palinkas
    Pages 399-414
  27. Hypometabolic induced state: a potential tool in biomedicine and space exploration
    Manuela Malatesta, Marco Biggiogera, Carlo Zancanaro
    Pages 415-428
  28. A proposed classification of environmental adaptation: the example of high altitude
    Jean-Paul Richalet
    Pages 429-435
  29. The challenge of the food sufficiency through salt tolerant crops
    Adriana Galvani
    Pages 437-450

About this book

Introduction

From the deepest seafloor to the highest mountain, from the hottest region to the cold Antarctic plateau, environments labeled as extreme are numerous on Earth and they present a wide variety of features and characteristics. The life processes occurring within these environments are equally diverse, not only depending on stress factors (e.g. temperature, pressure, pH and chemicals) but also on the type of life forms, ranging from microbes to higher species. How is life limited by and adapted to extreme external biotic and abiotic factors? This key question summarises the deliberations raised by this exciting and fascinating research area. Addressing the challenge of answering this question would help to reveal new insights and refine theories concerning the origin and evolution of life on our planet, as well as life beyond Earth. Investigating life processes under extreme conditions can also bring clues for understanding and predicting ecosystems' responses to global changes. Furthermore, this area of research has a wide application potential in the fields of (bio)technoloty, chemical industry, pharmaceutics, biomedicine or cosmetics.

(Investigating Life in Extreme Environments - A European perspective, European Science Foundation, May 2007)

Keywords

Archaea Biosensor ecology ecosystem evolution microbe physiology virus

Editors and affiliations

  • Ricardo Amils
    • 1
  • Cynan Ellis-Evans
    • 2
  • Helmut Hinghofer-Szalkay
    • 3
  1. 1.Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Centro de Biología Molecular del CSICMadridSpain
  2. 2.British Antarctic SurveyCambridgeUnited Kingdom
  3. 3.Institute of PhysiologyMedical UniversityGrazAustria

Bibliographic information