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The bright colors of Grand Prismatic Spring and Yellowstone National Park, are produced by thermophiles, a type of extremophile.. An extremophile (from Latin extremus 'extreme' and Ancient Greek φιλία (philía) 'love') is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e., environments with conditions approaching or stretching the limits of what known ...
Tardigrades are among the most resilient animals known, with individual species able to survive extreme conditions – such as exposure to extreme temperatures, extreme pressures (both high and low), air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, and starvation – that would quickly kill most other forms of life.
Tardigrades live over the entire world, including the high Himalayas. [4] Tardigrades are also able to survive temperatures of close to absolute zero (−273 °C or −459 °F), [5] temperatures as high as 151 °C (304 °F), radiation that would kill other animals, [6] and almost a decade without water. [7]
The most extreme hyperthermophiles live on the superheated walls of deep-sea hydrothermal vents, requiring temperatures of at least 90 °C for survival. An extraordinary heat-tolerant hyperthermophile is Geogemma barossii (Strain 121) , [ 5 ] which has been able to double its population during 24 hours in an autoclave at 121 °C (hence its name).
A great deal of biological and chemical processes undertaken in laboratories take great stretches of time, are extremely delicate and tend to be costly. This is due to the fact that general biological enzymes, proteins and other various organic compounds have very specific requirements for them to function properly. [ 6 ]
A specialist species can thrive only in a narrow range of environmental conditions or has a limited diet. Most organisms do not all fit neatly into either group, however. Some species are highly specialized (the most extreme case being monophagous, eating one specific type of food), others less so, and some can tolerate many different ...
In addition, the ability of a species to disperse over a gradually changing environment could enable a population to survive extreme conditions. (i.e. climate change). As the climate changes, prey and predators have to adapt to survive. This poses a problem for many animals, for example, the Southern Rockhopper Penguins. [20]
Anhydrobiosis in the tardigrade Richtersius coronifer. Anhydrobiosis is the most studied form of cryptobiosis and occurs in situations of extreme desiccation.The term anhydrobiosis derives from the Greek for "life without water" and is most commonly used for the desiccation tolerance observed in certain invertebrate animals such as bdelloid rotifers, tardigrades, brine shrimp, nematodes, and ...