The Physiological Ecology Section of the International Workshop ’What’s Special about Desert Ecology?’ was organized to allow examination of the thematic question through prespectives provided by work on a diverse array of desert organisms. The convenors are mindful that desert plants and invertebrates merit far more attention that could be devoted to them in the time available. However, even with the bias toward vertebrates, the material presented by the five speakers ranged sufficiently to provide an overview of prominent adaptive patterns of plants and animals to deserts, and some introduction to the relevant literature. J. A. Teeri provided the account of Crassulacean acid metabolism in plants and M. K. Seely that on desert invertebrates. V. H. Shoemaker, G. A. Bartholomew, and A. Shkolnik contributed the segments of this synopsis dealing with ectothermic vertebrates, endothermic vertebrates and desert ungulates, respectively.