Animals at the extremes: the desert environment

Animal life has adapted to survive in the most unlikely and inhospitable habitats. This free course, Animals at the extremes: the desert environment, looks at the surprisingly diverse desert climates throughout the world and mammals, birds, lizards and amphibians that survive there. It splits these animals into three groups according to their strategy for survival: evaders, evaporators and endurers, then discusses how these strategies work on a biochemical and physiological level.

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 The desert climate: An introduction
• 1 The desert climate: An introduction
• 2 Environments and populations
• 2 Environments and populations
• 2.1 Introduction
• 2.2 How animals interact with the environment is affected by their body size
• 2.3 Behavioural strategies of evaders
• 2.4 Behavioural strategies of evaporators
• 2.5 Behavioural strategies of endurers
• 2.5.1 Summary of Section 2
• 3 Integrating across levels of analysis
• 3 Integrating across levels of analysis
• 3.1 Introduction
• 3.2 Integration of anatomy and behaviour with biochemical and physiological strategies in evaders
• 3.3 Integration of anatomical features and biochemical and physiological strategies in evaporators
• 3.4 Integration of anatomical features and biochemical and physiological strategies in endurers
• 3.5 Summary of Section 3
• 4 Integrating across disciplines
• 4 Integrating across disciplines
• 4.1 Heat-shock proteins
• 4.1.1 Summary of Section 4
• 5 Integrating across species
• 5 Integrating across species
• 6 Phylogeny and cladistic analysis
• 6 Phylogeny and cladistic analysis
• 7 Conclusion
• 7 Conclusion
• 8 Questions
• 8 Questions
• References
• Acknowledgements