A comparison of the adaptations made by invertebrates in polar deserts with those of temperate and subtropical deserts. These regions represent some of the most hostile environments on earth, demanding an array of strategies for survival. Polar species are well adapted to the cold and have to cope with arid conditions due to low precipitation and lack of liquid water during the winter. Similarly, temperate desert invertebrates have adapted to dry conditions and are also exposed to low winter temperatures. Terrestrial arthropods maintain their water-balance through behavioural and physiological adaptations. Tardigrades and nematodes are remarkable in their ability to shed all their water before entering a state of anhydrobiosis only to be revived when moisture once again becomes available.

A description of the structural and functional adaptations of the key organs such as skin, kidneys, bladder, lungs and ovaries, with special emphasis placed on physiological adaptations: water, electrolyte, nitrogen, and thermal balance and their endocrine control. One whole chapter devoted to ecological aspects covers such exciting topics as development and metamorphosis, larval competition for food resources, and reproductive strategies.

Many organisms have evolved the ability to enter into and revive from a dormant state. They can survive for long periods in this state (often even months to years), yet can become responsive again within minutes or hours. This is often, but not necessarily, associated with desiccation. Preserving one’s body and reviving it in future generations is a dream of mankind. To date, however, we have failed to learn how cells, tissues or entire organisms can be made dormant or be effectively revived at ambient temperatures. In this book studies on organisms, ranging from aquatic cyanobacteria that produce akinetes to hibernating mammals, are presented, and reveal common but also divergent physiological and molecular pathways for surviving in a dormant form or for tolerating harsh environments. Attempting to learn the functions associated with dormancy and how they are regulated is one of the great future challenges. Its relevance to the preservation of cells and tissues is one of the key concerns of this book.

This book deals with arid and semi-arid environments and their classification, and the physiological restraints and adaptations of plants to the environment. Further, it discusses economic botany and the needs and methods of conserving economic plants. A broad view is taken regarding the definition of economic plants, taking into account their value to the environment as well as to man and to livestock. The individual deserts and associated semi-arid regions are described in separate chapters, providing background information on the regional environments in terms of climate and major plant formations. The economic plants within these formations, their usages, geographical distribution together with their morphological and physiological adaptations are treated in detail.

The exigencies of life in the desert environment have resulted in the se lection of a diversity of adaptations, both morphological and physiologi cal, in the flora and fauna. At the same time, many plants and most small animals are able not merely to exist but even to thrive under desert conditions - mainly by avoiding thermal extremes and by the refine ment of pre-existing abilities to economise in water. In the same way, the biotic interactions of the flora and fauna of the desert do not involve many new principles. Nevertheless, conditions in arid regions frequently do invoke refinements of the complex interrelations between predators and their prey, parasites and their hosts, as well as between herbivores and the plants upon which they feed. In this book, I shall discuss not only such interactions and their feedback effects, but also community processes and population dynamics in the desert. The physical conditions of the desert that principally affect predators and their prey are its openness and the paucity of cover. This is re stricted to scattered plants, occasional rocks, holes, and crevices in the ground. Furthermore, nightfall does not confer relative invisibility, as it does in many other ecobiomes, because of the clarity of the atmosphere. The bright starlight of the desert renders nearby objects visible even to the human eye, while an incandescent moon bathes the empty landscape with a flood of silver light. Consequently, adaptive coloration is func tional at all hours of the day and night.

Representing the latest knowledge of the ecology and the physiology of cold-adapted microorganisms, plants and animals, this book explains the mechanisms of cold-adaptation on the enzymatic and molecular level, including results from the first crystal structures of enzymes of cold-adapted organisms.

Annual desert plant species of unrelated taxa in the Negev Desert of Israel have developed complementary sets of adaptations and survival strategies as ecological equivalents with physiological, morphological and anatomical resemblances, in the various stages of their life cycles. After 40 years of research in hot deserts Yitzchak Gutterman provides a comprehensive treatise of such adaptations and strategies. In doing so he covers the following topics: post-maturation primary seed dormancy, which prevents germination of maturing seeds before the summer; seed dispersal mechanisms with escape or protection strategies; cautious or opportunistic germination strategies; seedling drought tolerance. The day-length is an important factor in regulating flowering as well as the phenotypic plasticity of seed germination which is also affected by maternal factors.