As agriculture becomes more mechanized and science increases the possibilities for using inputs to enhance production, the role of PGRs becomes more vital. Plant Growth Regulators in Agriculture and Horticulture provides agriculture professionals and researchers with the information needed to effectively tap these versatile resources to enhance crop production.Through discussions of the "classical five" phytohormones--gibberellins, cytokinins, ethylene, abscisic acid, and auxins--and the growing number of nontraditional PGRs such as oligosaccharins and brassinosteroids, Plant Growth Regulators in Agriculture and Horticulture reviews past and present uses of PGRs in managing crop yield and offers some speculation on future directions.Detailed discussions on the use of PGRs in, for example, grain, ornamental, and citrus crops, introduce readers to strategies for enhancing crop quantity and quality, for improving the postproduction quality of life of perishable plants, and for crop load management, respectively. The book also includes informative visuals, such as tables of common, chemical, and trade names of different commercially available PGRs; diagrams of various PGR processes; as well as before-and-after pictures illustrating the effects of PGRs.Plant Growth Regulators in Agriculture and Horticulture is a comprehensive text covering the role of plant growth regulators in: root formation manipulating yield potential plant stress protection ornamental horticulture postharvest life of ornamentals manipulating fruit development and storage quality citriculture reducing fruit drop bloom-thinning strategiesIf the history of agriculture, which is over 10,000 years old, was condensed into a twenty-four-hour span, science-based plant breeding would be only about fifteen minutes old. Still, the role of PGRs in agriculture is modest compared to other agrochemicals, such as fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides. Plant Growth Regulators in Agriculture and Horticulture is an invaluable guide to the varied roles filled by PGRs in the attainment of higher-quality, better-yielding crops.

This volume is the result of a Symposium, held in October, 1985, to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the De partment of Plant Ecology of the University of Groningen. The Department of Plant Ecology was founded by Professor Dingeman Bakker and has, since its incep tion, been involved with studies of grasslands, and especially with the effects of human interference on grassland communities. It has been especially involved in an almost unique enterprise to convert areas of grassland from intensive agricultural production to nature reserves. With over-production of most food commodities in the EEC, and increasing interest in various types of 'set aside' schemes, this initiative now seems to be remarkably prescient. The Netherlands have a long history of human manipulation of the environment. Indeed, the Dutch en vironment is probably more man-made than that of any other country. In view of this, and the Laborato ry's interest in managed grasslands, it is not surprising that 'Disturbance in Grasslands' was selected as the topic for the Laboratory's Jubilee Symposium. Although both the Symposium and the resulting vo lume, have a strong Dutch component, the organisers invited a number of contributors from Europe and elsewhere to provide key chapters. The result is a volume which covers many aspects of disturbance in a variety of grasslands. Disturbance is considered at both the community and the population level, and the principles and processes underlying those responses are explored."

This thesis presents new methods for the characterization of vegetable oils, with focus in olive oil, according to geographical and botanical origin, genetic variety and other issues influencing product quality. A wide variety of analytical techniques have been employed, such as various chromatographic techniques (different gas and liquid chromatography methods), an electronic nose, infrared spectroscopy and expert-panel evaluation. Several families of minor compounds, with interest as adulteration markers, have been used for method development, including tocopherols, sterols, phenolics, alcohols, proteins and others. Most methods have been enhanced by the application of multivariate chemometrics. The proposed analytical techniques are of interest to investigate fraudulent actions and practices which are detrimental to product quality.

The flora is prepared at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in close collaboration with East African Herbarium and in liaison with the University of Dar es Salaam, the University of Nairobi and the Makerere University. Significant contributions are also made by specialists elsewhere. The flora is designed to a high academic standard and should be a useful resource reference for anyone concerned with the identification and utilization of plants in eastern Africa. Each family is published as a separate part.

Our knowledge of the functional characteristics of the plants of mediterranean-cl imate regions has increased greatly in the past decade. In recent times the possibility of large-scale util ization of biomass for energy from these regions has been proposed. In order to assess the feasibil ity of these proposals we must consider the productive structure of these plant communities and how they vary through time and space. This symposium was an attempt to examine our recently acquired basic knowledge of the environmental I imitations on the productivity of Mediterranean plant communities in relation to the consequences of the possible util ization of these communities for energy and chemicals. Specifically in this book we examine the mechanisms by which plants of mediterranean-cl imate regions maintain their productive capacity under the prevail ing conditions of summer draught and winter cold. We consider the characteristics of leaves, their history, morphology and plasticity. Evergreen sclerophyll leaves are common to the dominant plants of all mediterranean-cl imate regions and thus they have significance in terms of enhancing carbon gain and water-use efficiency as well as ensuring survival under the prevail ing cl imatic conditions.

Bamboos constitute one of a few select categories of plants which are taxonomically related, very rich in species and of vital economic and ecological importance. Since the early 20th century the accepted number of species of bamboos, world wide, has tripled. However, until now information was scattered through numerous, often not easily available publications.

"The Bamboos of the World," is the first comprehensive (taxonomic as well as horticultural) reference work that provides basic information on bamboos world wide, whether they are wild or cultivated, well-known or rather unknown. The work, based on bamboo literature, facilitates access to further data by citation and a comprehensive bibliography. Among the main data included are botanical names with synonyms, and geographical distribution of genera and species, varieties with their distinctive characters, common bamboo names, plant introductions to the West, plant size and uses. The distribution of genera is mapped.

"The Bamboos of the World" presents a wealth of essential information in an accessible and structured manner. It gives the opportunity to check under what names, and where, relevant information on any bamboo can be found. For the researcher with management and development interests it provides a convenient means of basing bamboo resource on a sound understanding of generic and species relationships, with names that appear in earlier literature put into context. The work should prove to be invaluable for those interested in the morphology, taxonomy, distribution and cultivation of bamboos. It should support botanical, forestry, horticultural and ecological research, training and resource management.

This volume presents technical papers devoted to development and practical use of computer methods in geotechnical and geoenviromental engineering. It covers issues on space use and construction, soil and rock mechanics, and mining applications amongst other topics.

This volume provides the origins and meanings of the names of genera and species of extant vascular plants, with the genera arranged alphabetically from D to L.

Seagrasses are becoming widely used as in situ indicators of the relative health and condition of subtropical and tropical estuarine ecosystems. To permit meaningful management of our estuaries, there is clearly a need to develop and refine ways of effectively monitoring and assessing seagrasses.
Seagrasses: Monitoring, Ecology, Physiology, and Management includes the peer-reviewed, written results of presentations made at a recent workshop that addressed this very issue. A total of 28 original research and review chapters are organized around four major themes: Ecology and Physiology, Monitoring and Trends, Management, and Restoration. Additional research study results, not completed at the time of the workshop, are also included as they are directly related to the topic of seagrass management ecology.
Overall, Seagrasses: Monitoring, Ecology, Physiology, and Management encompasses the latest research in seagrass management ecology to assist in the promotion of a dialogue between the research and environmental management communities. Not only will this work serve as a cornerstone for continued improvement in effectively monitoring the health and condition of near coastal waters, but also as a reference central to the premise that effective and efficient assessment of seagrasses will aid in estuarine ecosystem management.

This volume considers current and future challenges for nature law and policy in Europe. Following the Fitness Check evaluation of the Birds and Habitats Directives, in 2017 the EU adopted an Action Plan for nature, people and the economy to rapidly improve the Directives' implementation and accelerate progress towards the EU's biodiversity targets for 2020. More recently, the EU has adopted a Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and proposed an EU Nature Restoration Law. This book makes a timely contribution by examining the current state of play in light of recent and historical developments, as well as the post-2020 nature law and policy landscape. While evidence suggests that Natura 2000 and the Habitats and Birds Directives have delivered conservation benefits for wildlife in Europe, biodiversity loss continues apace. The book reviews the requirements for an effective international nature conservation system, with reference to the Birds and Habitats Directives. It examines regulatory regimes, current legal issues in the fields of site protection and species protection, the protection of areas outside Natura 2000, recent developments in the EU and the UK, including the implications of Brexit, agriculture and nature conservation, litigation, science and access to justice. Written by leading experts in the field, from a range of stakeholder groups, the volume draws on diverse experiences as well as providing interdisciplinary perspectives. This volume will be essential reading for students and scholars interested in European environmental policy and law, including lawyers, ecologists, environmental scientists, political scientists, natural resource managers, and planners. It will also be of interest to conservation practitioners, policy-makers and NGOs.

- Natural scientists, social scientists and humanists to assess if (or how) we may begin to coexist harmoniously with the mosquito. - Chapters assess polarizing arguments for conserving and preserving mosquitoes, as well as for controlling and killing them, elaborating on possible consequences of both strategies. - This book provides informed answers to the dual question: could we eliminate mosquitoes, and should we? Offering insights spanning the technical to the philosophical, this is the 'go to' book for exploring humanity's many relationships with the mosquito-which becomes a journey to finding better ways to inhabit the natural world.

The flora is prepared at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in close collaboration with East African Herbarium and in liaison with the University of Dar es Salaam, the University of Nairobi and the Makerere University. Significant contributions are also made by specialists elsewhere. The flora is designed to a high academic standard and should be a useful resource reference for anyone concerned with the identification and utilization of plants in eastern Africa. Each family is published as a separate part.

The flora is prepared at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in close collaboration with East African Herbarium and in liaison with the University of Dar es Salaam, the University of Nairobi and the Makerere University. Significant contributions are also made by specialists elsewhere. The flora is designed to a high academic standard and should be a useful resource reference for anyone concerned with the identification and utilization of plants in eastern Africa. Each family is published as a separate part.

Handbook of Plant Virus Diseases presents basic information about viral-caused and viral-like diseases in many cultivated crops. The editors, internationally known plant pathologists, provide authoritative descriptive symptomatic signatures of virus diseases, to aid in the diagnosis and possible control of viruses. This handbook organizes cultivated plants into groups according to their final destinations and uses after harvest-a useful grouping system that indicates that some diseases, their resultant epidemiology, and control measures are characteristic within different groups.

Emerging contaminants (ECs) are predominantly unregulated anthropogenic chemicals that occur in air, soil, water, food, and plant/animal tissues in trace concentrations. ECs are persistent in the environment, capable of perturbing the physiology of target receptors and, therefore, are increasingly regarded as a subject of concern. This volume aims to enhance understanding of emerging contaminants' effects on plants and the environment and to highlight and address the need of sustainable and eco-friendly approaches in mitigating and remediating the effects of ECs. The book comprises chapters from diverse areas dealing with biotechnology, microbial technology, nanotechnology, molecular biology, remediation, and more. This volume will be useful to remediation practitioners, researchers, regulators and graduate students.

The ecology of halophytes has a wide scope of interest, appealing to people of many disciplines. It covers widely different fields such as climatology, soil science, phytogeography, adaptive biology and agriculture. Ecologists study these specialized plants in relation to estuarine ecosystems, biology of dominant genera, germination ecology, water relations, salt secretion, and senescence. The present volume is divided into three parts and attempts to elucidate new aspects of the problems faced by this special group of plants. It tries to give the reader an overall view of saline environments and the ecology of plants found therein. In the first chapter of part one Zahran presents the halophytic vegetation of Egypt, which includes the inland and the littoral (Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea) salt marshes. The plants he describes have been classified as succulents, excretives and cumulatives, according to their adaptability to saline soils and according to their different life-forms. The second chapter throws light on the estuarine ecosystem ofIndia. The estuaries are described by Joshi, and Bhosale as being rich in diversity of mangrove species. Making varied use of estuarine ecosystems is not only possible, but also essential because they are the meeting point between terrestrial and marine life.

Time and change characterise the natural world, but in the biological sciences, by comparison with spatial measurements, time is a somewhat neglected parameter. Structural analyses of great depth and elegance have taken our spatial understa- ing to atomic dimensions, where distances are measured in A. To obtain temporal measurements appropriate to this spatial scale, dynamics on an attosecond time- 18 scale (10 s) are required in order to visualise physico-chemical mechanisms (Baum and Zewail 2006). For certain specific reactions of molecular components obtained from biological sources (e. g. the formation of carboxyhaemoglobin by the oxygenation of haemoglobin), probing of picosecond reactions are important (Brunori et al. 1999). In plants, femtosecond lifetimes of excited states of chlo- phyll are key to the photosynthetic light reaction. These considerations underline the extreme range of dynamic interactions that are necessitated for an understa- ing of the living organism, for if we include the long history of evolutionary change 9 (Fenchel 2002), an upper limit to our studies would extend over about 3. 8 x 10 years (Fig. 1). When the dynamic range of biological processes is to be considered, we must be aware that the system as it performs in vivo is a heterarchy with interactions of great complexity that occur, not merely within a level but between levels, and often across widely-separated time domains. The living state is better considered to be homeodynamic rather than homeostatic (Yates 1992; Lloyd et al. 2001)."

Bio-based materials, including those containing wood, will become increasingly important as we move to a bio-based economy. Among their many attributes, it is vitally important that these materials are renewable, sustainable with proper management and environmentally benign. Wood remains one of our most important bio-based materials. While it is an amazing material, wood still has negative attributes and drawbacks that can affect performance, including dimensional instability when wetted, vulnerability to fire and high temperatures, and susceptibility to biodeterioration. A variety of treatments have been developed to overcome these weaknesses. Among the most exciting of these treatments are nanomaterials. These materials have some exceptionally attractive properties for improving timber performance and have been the subject of intensive research over the past decade. There is a tremendous need for a single comprehensive source of information on this rapidly emerging subject with tremendous potential to enhance the performance of a variety of bio-based materials. This book contains 10 chapters, each compiled by different author(s) who are considered the top researcher(s) in their respective fields. The chapters begin with some basic background on nanomaterials and their synthesis, then explore different areas for potential applications and conclude with a review of the emerging questions about nanomaterial safety. The book is designed to provide the latest information and know-how on application and utilization of different nanomaterials to improve the properties of wood and wood-based composite panels. The contents cover some main topics in the industry including improving physical and mechanical properties, increasing resistance to biodegradation (including fungi and insects), developing wood-plastic composites (WPC), applying nanomaterials in paper and board industry, and emergence of transparent wood and radiation shielding. It also covers the use of nanomaterials to improve the performance of paints and finishes used for forest products. The book provides a single location for those interested in the field to begin.

The potato (Solanum tuberosum L. ) tuber is a major food source in many countries of the world, and subsequently potato has been the target of a good deal of effort directed at engineering disease and herbicide tolerance, and improvements in various crop characteristics. Consequently investigations into the regulation of gene expression in tubers is relevant to these endeavours, as tubers are the main target organ for modification of gene expression. We have been interested in the regulation of genes in tubers for these reasons. Morphologically tubers are modified stems, which have enlarged radially by limited cell division and substantial expansion. At the molecular level, tuber development is characterised by a massive increase in starch deposition and the synthesis of a limited number of abundant proteins. These include proteinase inhibitors and a 40kd group of proteins called patatin, which are acyl hydrolases. Together these proteins account for over 50% of tuber proteins (reviewed by Bevan, 1991). The synthesis of these proteins has parallels to the synthesis of other somatic storage proteins, especially the VSP proteins of soybean. In both potato and soybean, removal of the sink for these proteins (tubers and pods, respectively) causes deposition in other tissues (Staswick, 1990). It is hypothesised that transcriptional control of the genes encoding these proteins is regulated in part by source-sink relationships of metabolites or other factors. In the case of VSPs, both amino acid levels and jasmonic acid play a major regulatory role (Staswick et aI.

The book is the result of intensive work of 43 authors, all of them leading scientists in the Botrytis sciences. Each chapter describes a particular aspect of fungal biology and its impact on disease processes and host response. New technologies have arisen that when applied to long-standing problems or to test new hypotheses have been most rewarding and many of these are covered in this book. The chapters are cross linked so that readers can follow associated material.

All the information necessary to set up and run a tissue culture facility is provided in this introductory book.; ; Includes an overview of all the basic tissue culture techniques and describes in detail both the theoretical background and the practical a

The flora is prepared at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in close collaboration with East African Herbarium and in liaison with the University of Dar es Salaam, the University of Nairobi and the Makerere University. Significant contributions are also made by specialists elsewhere. The flora is designed to a high academic standard and should be a useful resource reference for anyone concerned with the identification and utilization of plants in eastern Africa. Each family is published as a separate part.

This detailed volume explores a wide range of evidence-based complementary medicine and various bio-analytical techniques used to define botanical products. Collecting recent work and current developments in the field of contemporary phytomedicine as well as their future possibilities in human health care, the book includes unique contributions in the form of chapters on phytomedicine and screening biological activities explained with diverse hyphenated techniques, as well as issues related to herbal medications, such as efficacy, adulteration, safety, toxicity, regulations, and drug delivery. Written for the Springer Protocols Handbooks series, chapters feature advice from experts on how to best conduct future experiments. Extensive and practical, Natural Product Experiments in Drug Discovery serves as an ideal reference for students, professors, and researchers in universities, R&D institutes, pharmaceutical and herbal enterprises, and health organizations.

In Cereal Genomics: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers provides modern protocols for the analysis and manipulation of cereal genomes. Techniques for isolation and analysis of DNA and RNA from both the vegetative tissues and from the more challenging seeds of cereals are described. Tools for the isolation, characterization and functional analysis of cereal genes and their transcripts are detailed. Methods for molecular screening of cereals and for their genetic transformation are also covered. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Cereal Genomics: Methods and Protocols provides a comprehensive resource for those studying cereal genomes.