Abstract
Living organisms are ubiquitous; they are observed in almost every ecological niche, from the air to various habitats on land and deep in the oceans. The abiding presence of microorganisms has also a temporal dimension. Living microorganisms have been found from 100 year-old beer bottles to 40 million-year-old amber. Fossil evidence suggests that the Earth’s earliest organisms were themselves “extremophiles.” Extremophiles can be defined as those organisms observed in uncommon habitats (from our anthropocentric viewpoint). Kristjánsson and Hreggvidsson (1995) define an extremophile as one whose optimal growth conditions are found outside of “normal” environments, with normal being those that have a temperature between 4 and 40°C, pH between 5 and 8.5, and with a salinity between that of freshwater and that of seawater. Extremophiles include not only bacteria and archaea but also some eukaryotic organisms, see chapters by Roberts, Elster, Chretiennol-Dinet (q.v.).
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Walsh, M.M., Seckbach, J. (1999). The Versatility of Microorganisms. In: Seckbach, J. (eds) Enigmatic Microorganisms and Life in Extreme Environments. Cellular Origin and Life in Extreme Habitats, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4838-2_12
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