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.

Table of Contents:
Life in extreme environments: insights in biological capability; Introduction Guido di Prisco, Ad Huiskes, Josef Elster and Howell Edwards; Part I. Extreme Environments: Responses and Adaptation to Change: 1. Physiological traits of the Greenland shark somniosus microcephalus obtained during the TUNU-expeditions to northeast Greenland Guido di Prisco, Nicoletta Ademollo, Stefania Ancora, Jørgen S. Christiansen, Daniela Coppola, Simonetta Corsolini, Sara Ferrando, Laura Ghigliotti, Daniela Giordano, Arve Lynghammar, Julius Nielsen, Eva Pisano, Roberta Russo, John F. Steffensen and Cinzia Verde; 2. Metazoan adaptation to deep-sea hydrothermal vents Stéphane Hourdez and Didier Jollivet; 3. Extremophiles populating a high level natural radiation area (HLNRA) in northern Iran Fatemeh Heidari, Hossein Riahi and Zeinab Shariatmadari; Part II. Biodiversity, Bioenergetic Processes, and Biotic and Abiotic Interactions: 4. Metazoan life in anoxic marine sediments Roberto Danovaro, Cinzia Corinaldesi, Antonio Dell'Anno, Cristina Gambi, Antonio Pusceddu and Michael Tangherlini; 5. How to survive winter? Adaptation and acclimation strategies of eukaryotic algae in polar terrestrial ecosystems Martina Pichrtová, Eva Hejduková, Linda Nedbalová and Josef Elster; 6. Viral infections of vertebrates including humans in the polar areas Jiří Černý, Jana Elsterová, Daniel Růžek and Libor Grubhoffer; Part III. Life in Extreme Environments and the Responses to Change: The Example of Polar Environments: 7. Life in the extreme environments of our planet under pressure: climate-induced threats and exploitation opportunities Melody S. Clark, Cinzia Verde, Silvia Fineschi, Francesco Loreto, Lloyd S. Peck and Guido di Prisco; 8. The ecophysiology of responding to change in polar marine benthos Lloyd S. Peck; 9. The Southern Ocean: an extreme environment or just home of unique ecosystems? Julian Gutt and Gerhard Dieckmann; 10. Microorganisms in cryoturbated organic matter of arctic permafrost soils Jiří Bárta; 11. Chemical ecology in the Southern Ocean Carlos Angulo-Preckler, Paula de Castro-Fernandez, Rafael Martín-Martín, Blanca Figuerola and Conxita Avila; 12. Metabolic and taxonomic diversity in Antarctic subglacial environments Trista J. Vick-Majors, Amanda M. Achberger, Alexander B. Michaud and John C. Priscu; Part IV. Life and Habitability: Introduction: 13. Analytical astrobiology: the search for life signatures and the remote detection of biomarkers through their Raman spectral interrogation Howell G. M. Edwards and Jan Jehlicka; 14. Adaptation/acclimatization mechanisms of oxyphototrophic microorganisms and their relevance to astrobiology Jana Kviderova; 15. Life at the extremes Steven Chown.