Life at extremes : environments, organisms and strategies for survival /

• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK : CABI, 2012.
• Subjects: Biotic communities.; Extreme environments.; Organisms.; Adaptation (Biology); Acclimatization.; Survival.; Climatic changes.; Seasons.; Pollution.; Aquatic Biology and Ecology.; Water Resources.; Land Resources.; Meteorology and Climate.; Pollution and Degradation.; Plant Ecology.; Animal Ecology.; Microbial Ecology, (New March 2000); Animals.; Plants.; Animal ecology.; Aquatic environment.; Arid lands.; Biotechnology.; Caves.; Climate.; Climatic change.; Cold zones.; Deserts.; Environmental impact.; Freshwater ecology.; Glacial lakes.; Glaciers.; Habitat destruction.; Habitats.; Hypersaline environments.; Marine ecology.; Marine environment.; Microbial ecology.; Microorganisms.; Plant ecology.; Polar regions.; Seas.; Seasonal variation.; Ultraviolet radiation.; Electronic books.
• Online Access: View fulltext via EzAccess
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xxii, 554 pages) : illustrations, maps, charts; Also available in print format.
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• ISBN: 9781845938147 (alk. paper)
• Access: Access limited to subscribing institution.

This book with twenty-eight chapters including the concluding remarks discusses the range of extreme environments that exist on earth, and the organisms that live in them and their evolutionary implications. Particularly, the book explores the following extreme environments: polar marine and terrestrial environments; high altitude and latitude as well as subglacial lakes; cold alpine regions; glacier surface habitats; polar and hot deserts; terrestrial hydrothermal environments; deep-sea hydrothermal vents; high hydrostatic pressure environments; caves and karst environments; deep subterranean and subseafloor environments; acidic and alkaline environments; hypersaline and hypoxic environments; and high ultraviolet radiation environments. The book discusses contemporary issues such as the extreme changes that anthropogenically-created extremes such as climate change, pollution, habitat destruction and over-exploitation will exert upon these environments and their inhabitants. Moreover, the book presents the realized and potential biotechnical and biomedical applications of extremophiles in modern society and conclude with a discussion of how earth's extreme environments are facilitating current research in astrobiology (life on other planets).