David Keilin (Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B, 150, 1959, 149–191) coined the term
'cryptobiosis'(hidden life) and defined it as 'the state of an organism when it shows no visible …

Drying to equilibrium with the air kills nearly all animals and flowering plants, including
livestock and crops. This makes drought a key ecological problem for terrestrial life and a …

Loss of sexual reproduction is considered an evolutionary dead end for metazoans, but
bdelloid rotifers challenge this view as they appear to have persisted asexually for millions …

Drying to equilibrium with the air is lethal to most species of animals and plants, making
drought (ie, low external water potential) a central problem for terrestrial life and a major …

Given their dormancy capability (long-term resistant stages) and their ability to colonise and
reproduce, microscopic aquatic animals have been suggested having cosmopolitan …

Most organisms depend on the availability of water. However, some life-forms, among them
plants and fungi, but very few animals, can survive in the desiccated state. Here we discuss …

Rotifers of class Bdelloidea are common invertebrate animals with highly unusual
characteristics, including apparently obligate asexuality, the ability to resume reproduction …

Anhydrobiosis is an extremely dehydrated state in which organisms show no detectable
metabolism but retain the ability to revive after rehydration. Thus far, two hypotheses have …

In this review we analyze the dormancy strategies of metazoans inhabiting “hostile to life”
habitats, which have a strong impact on their ecology and in particular on the traits of their …

Recent work on anhydrobiosis in invertebrates is reviewed. I introduce definition and
classification of cryptobiosis, and review the distinctive features and extremely high stress …