Table of Contents

General Introduction.- Oxygenic Photosynthetic Microorganisms in Extreme Environments.- Phototrophs at High and Low Light.- Effects of Ultraviolet Radiation on Cyanobacteria and their Protective Mechanisms.- The Hidden Life of Algae Underground.- Meromictic Lakes as Habitats for Protists.- Marine Phototrophs in the Twilight Zone.- Phototrophs in the Marine Environment.- Biology of the Chlorophyll D-Containing Cyanobacterium Acaryochloris Marina.- Phylogenetics, Molecular Biology and Ecological Impacts of a Group of Highly Unusual Protists.- Diatoms.- The Margin of the Sea.- Seaweeds on the Abrasion Platforms of the Intertidal Zone of Eastern Mediterranean Shores.- Status of Mangrove Ecosystem.- Intertidal Sandy Beaches as a Habitat Where Plastid Acquisition Processes are Ongoing.- Hydrochemical Key to the Genesis of Calcareous Nonlaminated and Laminated Cyanobacterial Microbialites.- Soil and Freshwater Micro-Algae as a Food Source for Invertebrates in Extreme Environments.- Phototrophs in Cold Environments.- Cold Tolerance in Cyanobacteria and Life in the Cryosphere.- Cyanobacteria in Antarctic Lake Environments.- Green Cryosestic Algae.- Psychrophilic Diatoms.- Algae at Extreme Low Temperatures.- Phototrophs in Hot Alkaline and Acidic Environments and Non-Thermal Acidic Habitats.- Cyanidiophyceae.- Diversity of the Cosmopolitan Thermophile Mastigocladus laminosus at Global, Regional and Local Scales.- The Thermophilic Cyanobacteria of the Zerka Ma'in Thermal Springs in Jordan.- Iron-Tolerant Cyanobacteria.- Extreme Acidophiles.- Eukaryotic Community Structure from Río Tinto (SW, Spain), a Highly Acidic River.- Species Composition of Cyanidiales Assemblages in Pisciarelli (Campi Flegrei, Italy) and Description of Galdieria Phlegrea SP. NOV.- A Genomics Approach toUnderstanding the Biology of Thermo-Acidophilic Red Algae.- Enigmatic Archaeal and Eukaryotic Life at Hydrothermal Vents and in Marine Subsurface Sediments.- Phototrophs Under Water Stress: Dry and Hypersaline Environments.- North American Desert Microbiotic Soil Crust Communities.- Chroococcidiopsis from Desert to Mars.- Chlorophyta on Land.- Aeroterrestrial Algae Growing on Man-Made Surfaces.- The Systematics of Subaerial Algae.- Diversity, Distribution and Ecology of Green Algae and Cyanobacteria in Urban Habitats.- Diversity of Organic Osmotic Compounds and Osmotic Adaptation in Cyanobacteria and Algae.- Adaptation of Algae to Changing Environments.- Cyanobacteria.- Life in a Hypervariable Environment.- Other Microorganisms and Extreme Habitats.- The Fate of Biological Materials in Acidic Environments of the Río Tinto, Southwestern Spain.- Deep-Sea Microbial Eukaryotes in Anoxic, Microoxic, and Sulfidic Environments.- Fungal Associations at the Cold Edge of Life.- The Early Earth's Record of Supposed Extremophilic Bacteria and Cyanobacteria, at 3.8 to 2.5 GA.- Outlook-Summary.- Algae and Cyanobacteria Under Environmental Extremes.

Reviews

From the reviews: "The algae are a remarkably successful group, accounting for the oxygen we breathe and responsible for the greater part of carbon and nitrogen fixation. They are found almost anywhere … from freshwater to brine and from the deserts to the great oceans. How they function in such extraordinary conditions is the subject of this book. … the book’s main readership will be phycologists and ecologists … . This is a very useful book … ." (Mark Burgess, Biochemist e-Volution, April, 2009)