Rock surfaces provide a challenging habitat for a broad diversity of micro- or small-sized organisms. They interact with each other forming complex communities as well with their substrate causing biodeterioration of rock. Extreme fluctuation in light, temperature and hydration are the main factors that determine the rock surface habitats. The habitat includes epilithic organisms which thrive on the surface without penetrating the rock, endolithic organisms which live just beneath the surface using a thin layer of the rock surface for protection against adverse conditions of the environment (e.g. light protection, storage of water) and chasmo-endolithic organisms which use fractures of the rock surface for a more habitable environment. The book will provide an overview of the various organismal groups, from prokaryotes to vascular plants and arthropods, as well as survey organism-mediated interactions with the rock surface. The latter include biogenic weathering (biogeochemistry, state-of-the art imaging methods), photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation at and inside the rock surface.

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences. The present volume includes reviews on genetics, cell biology, physiology, comparative morphology, systematics, ecology, and vegetation science.

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences.

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences. The present volume includes reviews on genetics, cell biology, physiology, comparative morphology, systematics, ecology, and vegetation science.

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences. The present volume includes reviews on genetics, cell biology, physiology, comparative morphology, systematics, ecology, and vegetation science.

Time and change characterise the natural world, but in the biological sciences, by comparison with spatial measurements, time is a somewhat neglected parameter. Structural analyses of great depth and elegance have taken our spatial understa- ing to atomic dimensions, where distances are measured in A. To obtain temporal measurements appropriate to this spatial scale, dynamics on an attosecond time- 18 scale (10 s) are required in order to visualise physico-chemical mechanisms (Baum and Zewail 2006). For certain specific reactions of molecular components obtained from biological sources (e. g. the formation of carboxyhaemoglobin by the oxygenation of haemoglobin), probing of picosecond reactions are important (Brunori et al. 1999). In plants, femtosecond lifetimes of excited states of chlo- phyll are key to the photosynthetic light reaction. These considerations underline the extreme range of dynamic interactions that are necessitated for an understa- ing of the living organism, for if we include the long history of evolutionary change 9 (Fenchel 2002), an upper limit to our studies would extend over about 3. 8 x 10 years (Fig. 1). When the dynamic range of biological processes is to be considered, we must be aware that the system as it performs in vivo is a heterarchy with interactions of great complexity that occur, not merely within a level but between levels, and often across widely-separated time domains. The living state is better considered to be homeodynamic rather than homeostatic (Yates 1992; Lloyd et al. 2001)."

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences.

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences. The present volume includes reviews on genetics, cell biology, physiology, comparative morphology, systematics, ecology, and vegetation science.

Time and change characterise the natural world, but in the biological sciences, by comparison with spatial measurements, time is a somewhat neglected parameter. Structural analyses of great depth and elegance have taken our spatial understa- ing to atomic dimensions, where distances are measured in A. To obtain temporal measurements appropriate to this spatial scale, dynamics on an attosecond time- 18 scale (10 s) are required in order to visualise physico-chemical mechanisms (Baum and Zewail 2006). For certain specific reactions of molecular components obtained from biological sources (e. g. the formation of carboxyhaemoglobin by the oxygenation of haemoglobin), probing of picosecond reactions are important (Brunori et al. 1999). In plants, femtosecond lifetimes of excited states of chlo- phyll are key to the photosynthetic light reaction. These considerations underline the extreme range of dynamic interactions that are necessitated for an understa- ing of the living organism, for if we include the long history of evolutionary change 9 (Fenchel 2002), an upper limit to our studies would extend over about 3. 8 x 10 years (Fig. 1). When the dynamic range of biological processes is to be considered, we must be aware that the system as it performs in vivo is a heterarchy with interactions of great complexity that occur, not merely within a level but between levels, and often across widely-separated time domains. The living state is better considered to be homeodynamic rather than homeostatic (Yates 1992; Lloyd et al. 2001)."

Soils have been called the most complex microbial ecosystems on Earth. A single gram of soil can harbor millions of microbial cells and thousands of species. However, certain soil environments, such as those experiencing dramatic change exposing new initial soils or that are limited in precipitation, limit the number of species able to survive in these systems. In this respect, these environments offer unparalleled opportunities to uncover the factors that control the development and maintenance of complex microbial ecosystems. This book collects chapters that discuss the abiotic factors that structure arid and initial soil communities as well as the diversity and structure of the biological communities in these soils from viruses to plants.