Arctic animals and their adaptations to life on the edge

Abstract

Conceived in order to provide students and those interested in the Arctic with a comprehensive overview of Arctic ecosystems, processes and animal adaptations to life in the cold, this textbook of 10 chapters draws on the 30 year research experience of Dr Arnoldus Blix, an accomplished Arctic physiologist. Topics covered by the book range from the climate, oceanography and ecology of the Arctic region to the distribution, behaviour and life cycles of marine and terrestrial invertebrates and through to higher resident marine and terrestrial predators. The textbook begins with a poetic definition of the Arctic— describing it as the region under Arctos, the polar star— and thereby setting the scene for the rest of the text, which combines concise descriptions of Arctic processes and species distributions interspersed with accounts of the author’s research experience and almost 200 illustrations.