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Call for papers - Life at the limits: animal adaptations to extreme environments

Guest Editors

Catherine Ivy, PhD, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
C. Nicolai Roterman, DPhil, University of Portsmouth, UK

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 14 January 2026

BMC Zoology is calling for submissions to our Collection on animal adaptations to extreme environments. This Collection welcomes research on animals that inhabit some of the most inhospitable places on Earth, ranging from the scorching heat of deserts to the freezing expanses of polar regions.


New Content ItemThis Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 14: Life Below Water and SDG 15: Life on Land

Meet the Guest Editors

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Catherine Ivy, PhD, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Dr Ivy is a comparative physiologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research focuses on how oxygen uptake and transport is altered in challenging environments, with current research investigating the impact of wildfire smoke particulate matter on songbird physiology and migration.

 

C. Nicolai Roterman, DPhil, University of Portsmouth, UK

Dr Roterman is a deep-sea biologist and Course Leader for the Marine Biology Bachelor of Science (Hons) program at the University of Portsmouth. In 2014, he completed his doctorate in zoology at the University of Oxford on the "Evolution and Population Genetics of Hydrothermal Vent Megafauna from the Scotia Sea.” During that time, he was lucky enough to participate in two expeditions to the Southern Ocean and helped discover several vent-endemic deep-sea taxa, including the Hoff crab, which is a species of Yeti crab—a taxon which has now become a specialty of his. Since then, he has participated in several other expeditions to the Atlantic, Indian, and Southern Oceans, with his research focusing on the biogeography of deep-sea fauna. 

About the Collection

BMC Zoology is calling for submissions to our Collection, Life at the limits: animal adaptations to extreme environments.

Animals inhabit some of the most inhospitable places on Earth, ranging from the scorching heat of deserts to the freezing expanses of polar regions. They also thrive in oxygen-deprived mountain peaks and endure the crushing pressures of the deep sea. This Collection explores the remarkable strategies animals use to survive in extreme environments, including intense heat, extreme cold, chemically harsh conditions, low oxygen levels, limited light, and extreme pressure.

Topics that are welcome include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Thermal adaptations: coping with extreme heat or cold in deserts, polar regions, and high-altitude ecosystems
  • Drought resistance: physiological and behavioral strategies for water conservation
  • Fire ecology: animal survival and recovery strategies in wildfire-prone habitats  
  • Hypoxia tolerance: genetic and physiological adaptations to low-oxygen environments, including high-altitude and subterranean species
  • Deep-sea and volcanic vent adaptations: life in high-pressure, chemically extreme habitats  
  • Cave ecology: sensory and metabolic adaptations to perpetual darkness  
  • Seasonal extremes: behavioral and metabolic adjustments to fluctuating environmental conditions  
  • Symbiosis in extreme environments: the role of mutualistic relationships in survival  
  • Climate change impacts: how climate change is impacting species that inhabit extreme environments

This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 14: Life Below Water and SDG 15: Life on Land

All manuscripts submitted to this journal, including those submitted to collections and special issues, are assessed in line with our editorial policies and the journal’s peer review process. Reviewers and editors are required to declare competing interests and can be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.

Image credit: © Ralph White/Corbis Documentary/Gettyimages

There are currently no articles in this collection.

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Life at the limits: animal adaptations to extreme environments" from the dropdown menu.

All manuscripts submitted to this journal, including those submitted to collections and special issues, are assessed in line with our editorial policies and the journal’s peer review process. Reviewers and editors are required to declare competing interests and can be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.