Life at high temperatures. Evolutionary, ecological, and biochemical significance of organisms living in hot springs is discussed.

The time is now ripe for a concerted attack on the evolutionary, ecological, and molecular aspects of life at high temperatures. Hot springs provide nearly ideal ecosystems for such study, since they are natural environments of great antiquity and relative constancy, where organisms have evolved to meet the environmental challenges of high temperatures. Even from our present limited knowledge, we can draw a number of conclusions.