Life in Extreme Environments : Insights in Biological Capability Hardback

Edited by Guido (National Research Council of Italy) di Prisco, Howell G. M. (University of Bradford) Edwards, Josef (University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic) Elster, Ad H. L. (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research) Huiskes

Part of the Ecological Reviews series

Hardback

Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks

Description

From deep ocean trenches and the geographical poles to outer space, organisms can be found living in remarkably extreme conditions.

This book provides a captivating account of these systems and their extraordinary inhabitants, 'extremophiles'.

A diverse, multidisciplinary group of experts discuss responses and adaptations to change; biodiversity, bioenergetic processes, and biotic and abiotic interactions; polar environments; and life and habitability, including searching for biosignatures in the extraterrestrial environment.

The editors emphasize that understanding these systems is important for increasing our knowledge and utilizing their potential, but this remains an understudied area.

Given the threat to these environments and their biota caused by climate change and human impact, this timely book also addresses the urgency to document these systems.

It will help graduate students and researchers in conservation, marine biology, evolutionary biology, environmental change and astrobiology better understand how life exists in these environments and their susceptibility or resilience to change.