ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the ecological aspects of the extremely halophilic microorganisms and their biotopes, both from a qualitative and quantitative point of view. It explores the methods available for, and the special problems connected with, the study of life at high salt concentrations, and the ecologically important features of the organisms involved. It limits environments in which extremely halophilic microorganisms occur; thus, environments with salt concentrations below 18% are not discussed here. Such as the case in the Great Salt Lake, Utah, the biology of which is discussed in detail further on. When reviewing the work published on the microbial ecology of hypersaline environments, it becomes clear that most of the data collected deal with pure culture studies on the ecophysiological properties of the microorganisms involved, and their mechanisms of salt tolerance.
