The numerous ways in which man and animals are affected by their physical environment, and the inborn and adaptive responses to change in the "milieu exterieur" have fascinated curious minds since the earliest days of recorded history. Development of the scientific method with its emphasis on evidence obtained through experimentation-perhaps best illustrated in this field by Paul Bert's encyclopedic work-allowed several generations of our predecessors to establish firmly some facts and reject erroneous beliefs, but it was only during the early 1940s that environmental physiology put on its seven-league boots. In 1941, a young physiologist named Hermann Rahn was recruited by Wallace O. Fenn, then Chairman of the Department of Physiology at the University of Rochester, who was engaged in a study of the effects of altitude on human performance. The years that followed witnessed some of Hermann Rahn's early achievements not only in the area of altitude, but in other aspects of environmental physiology as well. In particular, he participated in the definitive studies of human adaptive mechanisms in arid climates which formed the basis of Edward Adolph's classic "Physi ology of Man in the Desert" (Wiley/Interscience, NY 1947). During those golden years, environmental physiology flourished, and important dis coveries were reported in a seemingly endless stream from many labora tories.

This book brings together in-depth information on a wide array of bio-engineering topics and their application to enhance human health, performance, comfort, and survival in extreme environments. Contributions from biomedical engineering, information systems, medicine and physiology, and medical engineering are presented in relation to a broad range of harsh and extreme environmental scenarios, including underwater, terrestrial (both natural and man-made), and space travel. Physicians, engineers, and scientists, as well as researchers and graduate students, will find the book to be an invaluable resource. Details effects of extreme environments on human physiology; Presents human-environment interaction in different scenarios; Overview of engineering challenges and problems in extreme environments.

Actinobacteria are well-known producers of a vast array of secondary metabolites. Compared with actinobacteria from temperate habitats, the community structure, diversity, biological activities and mechanisms of environmental adaptation of those actinobacteria in special and extreme environments are relatively unstudied and unclear, and their functions and utilization are even less reported. These actinobacteria are potential new sources of novel natural products and functions for exploitation in medicine, agriculture, and industry. Recent advances in cultivation, DNA sequencing technologies and -omics methods have greatly contributed to the rapid advancement of our understanding of microbial diversity, taxonomy, function and they interactions with environment. Following the success of the Research Topic “Actinobacteria in special and extreme habitats: diversity, functional roles and environmental adaptations” organized in 2015, we are happy to launch a second edition. This Research Topic second edition, comprising reviews and original articles, highlights recent discoveries on rare actinobacterial diversity, phylogenomics, biological compounds, ecological function and environmental adaptations of actinobacteria in special and extreme habitats; and broadens our knowledge of actinobacterial diversity and their ecophysiological function.

In light of mounting fishing pressures, increased aquaculture production and a growing concern for fish well-being, improved knowledge on the swimming physiology of fish and its application to fisheries science and aquaculture is needed. This book presents recent investigations into some of the most extreme examples of swimming migrations in salmons, eels and tunas, integrating knowledge on their performance in the laboratory with that in their natural environment. For the first time, the application of swimming in aquaculture is explored by assessing the potential impacts and beneficial effects. The modified nutritional requirements of “athletic” fish are reviewed as well as the effects of exercise on muscle composition and meat quality using state-of-the-art techniques in genomics and proteomics. The last chapters introduce zebrafish as a novel exercise model and present the latest technologies for studying fish swimming and aquaculture applications.

An authoritative and stimulating review of theoretical and methodological developments in the area of oxygen transport.

In the past 5 years there has been an enormous increase of evidence that the ion channels activated by mechanical force are common to a wide variety of cell types. Mechanosensitive (MS) ion channels form a small proportion of the total channel population. They are now found in more than 30 cell types from E. coli, yeast, to plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate cells, where they occur in virtually all types of cells from bone to smooth muscle, as well as neurons. The majority of MS channels are permeable to monovalent cations and are slightly selective for K+ over Na +. How 2 ever, there are several reports of anion-selective MS channels, MS Ca + channels, and MS channels with large conductances that do not dis criminate markedly between cations and anions. Recently B. Hille has postulated possible evolutionary relationships between several types of ion channels, with mechanosensitive channels predating even the eukaryotes. Two voltage-gated channel types originate with the stem eukaryotes, as deduced from the presence of voltage-gated K+ 2 and Ca + channels in protozoa, algae, or higher plants. Agonist-gated chan nels as well as voltage-gated Na + channels appear with the earliest metazoan animals, as deduced from the presence of Na + spikes and fast chemical synapses in cnidaria (coelenterates), ctenophores, and all higher animals.

Air Breathing Fishes: Evolution, Diversity, and Adaptation is unique in its coverage of the evolution of air-breathing, incongruously because it focuses exclusively on fish. This important and fascinating book, containing nine chapters that present the life history, ecology, and physiology of many air-breathing fishes, provides an exceptional overview of air-breathing biology.Each chapter provides a historical background, details the present status of knowledge in the field, and defines the questions needing attention in future research. Thoroughly referenced, containing more than 1,000 citations, and well documented with figures and tables, Air-Breathing Fishes is comprehensive in its coverage and will certainly have wide appeal. Researchers in vertebrate biology, paleontology, ichthyology, vertebrate evolution, natural history, comparative physiology, anatomy and many other fields will find something new and intriguing in Air-Breathing Fishes. - Offers a complete overview of an important and immensely interesting area of research - Provides a perspective of air-breathing fish that spans 300 million years of vertebrate evolution - Contains numerous illustrations as well as comprehensive charts - Provides a synoptic treatment of all the known air-breathing species with important data on their morphological and physiological adaptations

The innovative theme of the book entitled Environmental Physiology is basically molecular physiology of abiotic stress response in plants. This has been especially edited for realistic and rational utilization by planners, scientists, investigators, academicians and postgraduate students. This book is an exceptional assimilation of well-timed, crucial and comprehensive twenty-one worthy reviews of diverse significance contributed by sincere dedication of experienced, laudable and well-known scientists/ stalwarts all over the world. The genuineness that due to incredible harmony with the world scientists of various disciplines developed in the last eight years, over nineteen Indian and twenty-nine foreign intellectuals enthusiastically came forward and associated in this extensive project of pragmatic importance. In fact, this kind of momentous work cannot be accomplished effectively and productively by a single person belonging principally to a specific field of specialization. This is also strongly realized that there is progressively more a need of united effort of experts in the ground-breaking work of precise importance above all in the agricultural sciences, which absolutely depends on environmental situations. The intricacies of abiotic and biotic stresses on growth and development of plants have been understood in the last few decades. This is the right time to apply the knowledge acquired in this direction, out of exhaustive research throughout the globe, in anyhow enhancing yield of crop plants cultivated under a variety of environmental stresses, in general, and extending basic research, in particular, for having more insight in establishing new cultivars under higher intensities of abiotic stresses like drought, high and low temperature, salinity, sodicity, flooding, mineral, oxidative, heavy metals, etc. This book too is an endeavour to make aware the young workers with allied techniques comprising destructive and non-destructive methods for extending relevant research incessantly in the years to come to gain further information of both basic and applied significance for sustainability of agriculture under environmental stresses. The manifold ideas on basic problems of the present and the future as well as resolutions have been consolidated through precious reviews by distinguished personnel of plant sciences in twenty-one chapters. In this enthusiastic and forceful enterprise, the real appreciation is due to all notable and brilliant authors, for bringing up most needed unrivalled, practical, thoughtful and comprehensive reviews of international standard on physiology of plants and their responses under wide-ranging environmental stresses. Hopefully, the wonderful multifaceted reviews selected and compiled very systematically in this exclusive book for the first time by genuine experts and distinguished scientists would enable to plan meaningful advanced research and profuse consequential teaching on the extremely crucial theme of abiotic stress responses in plants. This unique collection must be of enormous help for post-graduate studies and higher research in all disciplines of plant science in every university and research institute of the world.