Chemical tolerant describes organisms which can tolerate high concentrations of substances which would be toxic or corrosive to other life. For instance plants that can live in the acidic and low oxygen conditions of peat bogs, flamingos that can tolerate the alkaline waters of soda lakes and brine flies which can live and breed on salt flats.
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Super-heated life cycle
Colonies of algae and insects thrive on the minerals of hot springs.
Colonies of algae and insects thrive on the minerals of hot springs.
Salt seekers
Caribbean flamingos favour shrimp and flies on briny beaches.
Caribbean flamingos favour shrimp and flies on briny beaches.
Salty sea
Chris Packham explains why the sea is 220 times saltier than freshwater and how marine animals cope.
Chris Packham explains why the sea is 220 times saltier than freshwater and how marine animals cope.
A new kind of life?
Dallas speaks to astrobiologist Dr Felisa Wolfe-Simon about the discovery of arsenic-loving microbes.
Dallas speaks to NASA astrobiologist Dr Felisa Wolfe-Simon about the discovery of arsenic-loving microbes.
Salty soil
Miles from the coast, Cheshire plants cope with the remains of a salty prehistoric sea.
Miles from the coast, Cheshire plants cope with the remains of a salty prehistoric sea.
Halotolerance is the adaptation of living organisms to conditions of high salinity. Halotolerant species tend to live in areas such as hypersaline lakes, coastal dunes, saline deserts, salt marshes, and inland salt seas and springs. Halophiles are a group of bacteria that live in highly saline environments, and indeed in many cases require the salinity to survive. Halophytes are salt-tolerant higher plants.
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Other Adapted to extremes behaviours
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