Life in Extreme Environments

ISBN-13: 9789048175963 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 450 str.

Ricardo Amils Pibernat; Cynan Ellis-Evans; Helmut G. Hinghofer-Szalkay

Opis

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)technology, chemical industry, pharmaceutics, biomedicine or cosmetics. (Investigating Life in Extreme Environments - A European perspective, European Science Foundation, May 2007)

Spis treści

Preface, B. Andersson; Ultraviolet radiation shapes seaweed communities, K. Bischof et al; Planktonic microbial assemblages and the potential effects of metazooplankton predation on the food web of lakes from the maritime Antactica and Sub-Antarctic islands, A. Camacho; Life expansion in Sørkapp Land, Spitsbergen, under the current climate warming, W. Ziaja; Post-capture investigations of hydrothermal vent macro-invertebrates to study adaptations to extreme environments, E. Kadar, J.J. Powell; Extremely halophilic archaea and the issue of long-term microbial survival, S. Fendrihan et al; Astrobiological significance of minerals on Mars surface environment, J. Martinex-Frias et al; Thermostable proteins as probe for the design of advanced fluorescence biosensors, M. de Champdoré et al; Energy dependant plant stress acclimation, C. Dobrota; Metal detoxification and homeostasis in antarctic Notothenioids. A comparative survey on evolution, expression and functional properties of fish and mammal metallothioneins, C. Capasso et al; Desiccaton-tolerant plants in dry environments; T.-N. Le, S.J. McQueen-Mason; Human challenges in polar and space environments, G.M. Sandal et al; Molecular evolution of haemoglobins of polar fishes, C. Verde et al; Predicting the impacts of climate change on th eevolutionary adaptations of polar fish, G. di Prisco, C. Verde; Ecology and molecular adaptations of the halophilic black yeast Hortaea werneckii, N. Gunde-Cimerman, Al. Plemenitaš; The challenge of the food sufficiency through salt tolerant crops, A. Galvani; Viruses in extreme environments, M. Le Romancer et al; Some views on plants in polar and alpine regions, F.E. Wielgolaski, S.R. Karlsen; Hypometabolic induced state: a potential tool in biomedicine and space exploration,M. Malatesta et al; Microbial ecology of submerged marine caves and holes characgterised by high levels of hydrogen sulphide, F. Canganella et al; Access to glacial and subglacial environments in the Solar System by melting probe technology, S. Ulamec et al; Life strategy, ecophysiology and clogy of seaweeds in polar waters, C. Wiencke et al; Fungi in Antarctica, S. Ruisi; Adaptations to hypoxia in hydrothermal-vent and cold-seep invertebrates, S. Hourdez, F.H. Lallier; 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 et al; Pressure and life: some biological strategies, F. Pradillon, F. Gaill; How does the annelid Alvinella pompejana deal with an extreme hydrothermal environment? N. Le Bris, F. Gaill; A proposed classification of environmental adaptation: the example of high altitude, J.-P. Richalet; Industrial barrens: extreme habitats created by non-ferrous metallurgy, M.V. Kozlov, E.L. Svereva

Blurb

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)