Cadmium Toxicity and Tolerance in Plants: Agronomic, Genetic, Molecular and Omic Approaches presents research and latest developments on mechanisms of cadmium tolerance covering both lab and field conditions. This book contains important insights and options for minimizing Cd accumulation in plants and mitigating Cd toxicity. Topics covered include using various omics approaches to understanding plant responses to Cd, novel technologies for developing Cd tolerance and integrated breeding approaches to mitigate Cd stress in crops. Cadmium Toxicity and Tolerance in Plants: Agronomic, Genetic, Molecular and Omic Approaches is a valuable resource for both researchers and students working on cadmium pollution and plant responses as well as related fields of environmental contamination and toxicology.

This book highlights modern methods and strategies to improve cereal crops in the era of climate change, presenting the latest advances in plant molecular mapping and genome sequencing. Spectacular achievements in the fields of molecular breeding, transgenics and genomics in the last three decades have facilitated revolutionary changes in cereal- crop-improvement strategies and techniques. Since the genome sequencing of rice in 2002, the genomes of over eight cereal crops have been sequenced and more are to follow. This has made it possible to decipher the exact nucleotide sequence and chromosomal positions of agroeconomic genes. Most importantly, comparative genomics and genotyping-by-sequencing have opened up new vistas for exploring available biodiversity, particularly of wild crop relatives, for identifying useful donor genes.

Global change threatens ecosystems worldwide, and tropical systems with their high diversity and rapid development are of special concern. We can mitigate the impacts of change if we understand how tropical ecosystems respond to disturbance. For tropical forests and streams in Puerto Rico this book describes the impacts of, and recovery from, hurricanes, landslides, floods, droughts, and human disturbances in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. These ecosystems recover quickly after natural disturbances, having been shaped over thousands of years by such events. Human disturbance, however, has longer-lasting impacts. Chapters are by authors with many years of experience in Puerto Rico and other tropical areas and cover the history of research in these mountains, a framework for understanding disturbance and response, the environmental setting, the disturbance regime, response to disturbance, biotic mechanisms of response, management implications, and future directions. The text provides a strong perspective on tropical ecosystem dynamics over multiple scales of time and space.

Kalanchoe (Crassulaceae) in Southern Africa: Classification, Biology, and Cultivation provides a highly readable, illustrated account of the Kalanchoe species. The book includes an overview of the family Crassulaceae and genus Kalanchoe in global and subcontinental contexts that is followed by information on the taxonomic history of the genus. The characters and ecology of the species are also discussed, including their distribution ranges, where they occur, their habitat preferences, and where the species were formally recorded for the first time. For each indigenous and naturalized species, comprehensive taxonomic, descriptive and other information of interest is provided. This is the must-have resource for plant scientists, plant taxonomists, ethnobotanists, herbarium curators, ecologists, pharmacologists, invasions scientists, horticulturalists and landscape designers.

Plant endophytes are a potential source for the production of bioactive compounds that can fight against devastating diseases in both plants and humans. Among these endophytic microorganisms, endophytic fungi are one of the dominant group of microorganisms with a potential role in plant growth promotion and the discovery of noble bioactive natural products. Endophytic fungi possess several bioactivities like anticancer, antimicrobial, insecticidal, plant growth stimulants, crop protection, phytoremediation, etc. Presence of modular biosynthetic genes clusters like PKS and NRPS in several endophytic fungi underscores the need to understand and explore such organisms. This volume presents and demonstrates the applied aspects of endophytic fungi. Practical applications of such endophytes are discussed in detail, including studies in pharmaceutical development and agricultural management of important microbial diseases. The beneficial effects that endophytic fungi provide to host plants-enhancing growth, increasing fitness, strengthening tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses through secondary metabolites-are also discussed. The reader is provided with a comprehensive and detailed understanding of such relationships between endophytic fungi and their host.

The sheath nematodes belonging to the superfamily Hemicycliophoroidea are unique amongst all plant parasitic nematodes known to man due to the presence of an extra cuticular covering or sheath over the inner cuticle and body of all juvenile and adult life stages. These plant-parasitic nematodes include species of agricultural and quarantine importance. In Systematics of the Sheath Nematodes of the Superfamily Hemicycliophoroidea John Chitambar and Sergei Subbotin provide a detailed review of the taxonomy and diagnosis of the superfamily, its member genera and 153 related species based on their morphological and molecular analyses, as well as a further understanding of the relationships within the superfamily using molecular phylogenetics. In addition, Chitambar and Subbotin also give detailed information on the global distribution, biology, host-parasite relationships and ecology of sheath nematodes.

Plant Nanobionics, Volume 2 continues the important discussion of nanotechnology in plants, but focuses with a focus on biosynthesis and toxicity. This book discusses novel approaches to biosynthesis of nanoparticles for the increase of plant production systems, controlled release of agrochemicals and management of plant biotic stress. Green biosynthesis of metallic nanoparticles from bee propolis, artificial photosynthesis and hybrid structures are presented. Although engineered nanoparticles have great potential for solving many agricultural and societal problems, their consequences on the ecosystems and environment must be responsibly considered. This volume aims to contribute to the limited literature on this topic through its comprehensive examination of nanoparticle toxicity on plants, microbes and human health. Environmental risks with recent data are discussed as well as risks associated with the transfer of nanoparticles through the food chain. This volume highlights the study of a mechanistic approach and the study of nanoparticles towards nanobionics. The application of polymeric materials for smart packing in the food industry and agriculture sector as well as the future of nanomaterials in detecting soil microbes for environmental remediation are also included.

Ecometabolomics: Metabolic Fluxes versus Environmental Stoichiometry focuses on the interaction between plants-particularly plants that have vigorous secondary metabolites-and the environment. The book offers a comprehensive overview of the responses of the metabolome of organisms to biotic and abiotic environmental changes. It includes an introduction to metabolomics, summaries of metabolomic techniques and applications, studies of stress in plants, and insights into challenges. This is a must-have reference for plant biologists, plant biochemists, plant ecologists and phytochemists researching the interface between plants and the environment using metabolomics.