We Live on a Cold Planet

Anatoly V. BRUSHKOV, Masami FUKUDA

There is hardly another natural factor that would have such a dramatic effect on the plant and animal worlds of the Earth as low temperatures. Only the tropical zone of our planet, except for its high-altitude regions, does not experience the action of cold.

The adverse effect of negative temperatures on organisms appears as a weakening of their life activities, arrest of metabolism, and damages caused by the ice grains formed in their cells and tissues.

During the last 100 years, a large number of facts related to the tolerance of higher organisms to cold have accumulated. In particular, it has been found that certain plants and animals are capable of surviving even when the water in their bodies transforms into crystalline ice. For example, caterpillars of some butterflies freeze-treated beforehand revived after a long-term freezing at a temperature of –78 to –269 °C. Many worms, including helminthes, also remain viable after freezing. The water flea Chydorus sphaericus, a member of the zooplankton found at a depth of 3.5 m in permafrost several thousand years old, revived too.

The large wood frog Rana sylvatica, living in Alaska, is able to hibernate deeply, with its temperature lowering to –6 °C without any detriment to its “health” (Storey, Kenneth, 1990). Perhaps, this frog is the living organism closest to humans, wgich is capable of surviving a true freezing...

More information on these and other subjects you can find in the printed version of our journal.