Life at the Limits: Organisms in Extreme Environments

by David A. Wharton

• ISBN13: 9780521782128
• ISBN10: 0521782120
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-02-25
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

We are fascinated by the seemingly impossible places in which organisms can live. There are frogs that freeze solid, worms that dry out and bacteria that survive temperatures over 100ÝC. What seems extreme to us is, however, not extreme to these organisms. In this captivating account, the reader is taken on a tour of extreme environments, and shown the remarkable abilities of organisms to survive a range of extreme conditions, such as high and low temperatures and desiccation. This book considers how organisms survive major stresses, and what extreme organisms can tell us about the origin of life and the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. These organisms have an extreme biology, which involves many aspects of their physiology, ecology and evolution.

Author Biography

David Wharton is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago, New Zealand.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction: extreme life	1	(26)
Be it ever so humble...	27	(65)
Life without water	92	(37)
The hot club	129	(21)
Cold Lazarus	150	(48)
More tough choices	198	(21)
'It's life, Jim, but not as we know it!'	219	(27)
An extreme biology	246	(33)
Bibliography	279	(9)
Glossary	288	(13)
Index	301