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Of the current studies on extremophiles, approximately 30,000 articles by the year 2007, almost two-thirds have been performed on org- isms adapted to outstanding temperatures, but much more attention has been paid to thermophiles than to psychrophiles. However, over the past 10 years, scientific publications on cold-adapted microorganisms have increased by a factor of ten These microorganisms have evolved a number of strategies to thrive success-fully in cold habitats where they play key roles in nutrient cycling, such as nitrogen fixation, nitrification and denitrification, photosynthesis, sulfur oxidation and reduction, methanogenesis, and transformation of organic compounds. This book is focused on psychrophiles and describes, at the edge of knowledge, representative groups of cold-adapted microorganisms as well as the habitats in which they live and their strategies to cope with the cold.