Introduction -- Ice and its formation -- Ice formation in living organisms -- Fish antifreeze proteins -- Insect antifreeze proteins -- Plant antifreeze proteins -- Antifreeze proteins in other species -- Molecular origins and mechanisms of fish antifreeze evolution.

This first volume provides a comprehensive overview on evolutionary, environmental and systematic aspects of antifreeze proteins. It shortly explains the physical properties of ice and further intelligibly describes the biology of the antifreeze proteins in different organisms. It offers a detailed insight into their history of evolution. In addition the book discusses the status of the current knowledge and ongoing research and highlights also those parts, where further investigation needs to be done. Together with the second volume on the biochemistry and molecular biology of antifreeze proteins, this book represents a unique, comprehensive work and a must-have for students and scientists in biochemistry, evolution, physiology and physical chemistry.