Life at Extremes

Elanor Bell completed a PhD in 1998 having studied the microbial ecology of Antarctic saline lakes in the Vestfold Hills, Eastern Antarctica. She went on to hold postdoctoral positions at McGill University, Canada, and Potsdam University, Germany, before becoming a lecturer in Marine Microbial Ecology and Marine Conservation at The Scottish Association for Marine Science/ University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. She has wintered twice in the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica, spent an extended season in the Dry Valleys, Antarctica and several seasons in the Arctic. Elanor has recently moved to Tasmania, Australia with her two young children and partner.

• 1: What are extreme environments and what lives in them? 2: Past extremes 3: Polar marine ecosystems 4: Sea ice 5: Polar terrestrial environments 6: Polar freshwaters: high altitude and latitude lakes 7: Subglacial lakes 8: Cold alpine regions 9: Glacier surface habitats 10: Polar deserts 11: Hot desert environments 12: Terrestrial hydrothermal environments 13: Deep-sea hydrothermal vents 14: High hydrostatic pressure environments 15: Deep sea 16: Caves and karst environments 17: The deep biosphere: deep subterranean and subseafloor habitats 18: Acidic environments 19: Life in alkaline environments and alkaliphiles 20: Hypersaline environments and halophiles 21: Hypoxic environments 22: High ultraviolet radiation environments 23: Life in a changing climate 24: Anthropogenic extreme environments 25: Biotechnological applications of extremophiles: promise and prospects 26: Extreme environments on Earth as analogues for life on other planets: astrobiology 27: Concluding remarks