Biodiversity of the Southern Ocean.

130 pagesInternational audienceThe almost polar position of the Southern Ocean, its size and its isolation make it a world apart, defined by the violence of storms, very low temperatures and immense ice zones.Such climatic and oceanographic parameters have shaped the biodiversity of this ocean. Endemism, slow metabolism, longevity, gigantism, the absence of larval phases, etc. So many elements characterize an extraordinary “natural laboratory” for the exploration of adaptive, evolutionary and ecological processes at work in these extreme conditions.This book presents the most up-to-date scientific investigations into the Southern Ocean, its climatic history, the evolutionary peculiarities of its biodiversity which is today faced with global change