Plant anatomy and physiology and a broad understanding of basic plant processes are of primary importance to a basic understanding of plant science. These areas serve as the first important building blocks in a variety of fields of study, including botany, plant biology, and horticulture. "Structure and Function of Plants "will serve as a text aimed at undergraduates in the plant sciences that will provide an accurate overview of complex plant processes as well as details essential to a basic understanding of plant anatomy and physiology. Presented in an engaging style with full-color illustrations, "Structure and Function of Plants" will appeal to undergraduates, faculty, extension faculty, and members of Master Gardener programs.

With more than 500 species distributed all around the Northern Hemisphere, the genus Quercus L. is a dominant element of a wide variety of habitats including temperate, tropical, subtropical and mediterranean forests and woodlands. As the fossil record reflects, oaks were usual from the Oligocene onwards, showing the high ability of the genus to colonize new and different habitats. Such diversity and ecological amplitude makes genus Quercus an excellent framework for comparative ecophysiological studies, allowing the analysis of many mechanisms that are found in different oaks at different level (leaf or stem). The combination of several morphological and physiological attributes defines the existence of different functional types within the genus, which are characteristic of specific phytoclimates. From a landscape perspective, oak forests and woodlands are threatened by many factors that can compromise their future: a limited regeneration, massive decline processes, mostly triggered by adverse climatic events or the competence with other broad-leaved trees and conifer species. The knowledge of all these facts can allow for a better management of the oak forests in the future.

For many years orchids have been among the most popular of ornamental plants, with thousands of species and hybrids cultivated worldwide for the diversity, beauty, and intricacy of their flowers. This book is the eagerly-awaited result of over 30 years of research into orchid anatomy by one of the world's leading authorities and is the first comprehensive publication on orchid anatomy since 1930. It describes the structure and relationships among the cells and tissues of leaves, stems, and roots, and is organized systematically in line with the taxonomy expressed in the OUP Genera Orchidacearum Series. The book is fully illustrated with over 100 photomicrographs and numerous original line drawings. This latest addition to the Anatomy of the Monocotyledons Series is an essential reference text for orchid scientists and research students and will also be of interest and use to a broader audience of orchid enthusiasts.

Genetically uniform cultivars in many self-pollinated cereal crops dominate commercial production in high-input environments especially due to their high grain yields and wide geographical adaptation. These cultivars generally perform well under favorable and high-input farming systems but their optimal performance cannot be achieved on marginal/organic lands or without the use of external chemical inputs (fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides). Cereal breeding programs aim at evaluating candidate lines/cultivars for agronomic, disease and quality traits in a weed free environment that makes it impossible to identify traits conferring competitive ability against weeds. Moreover, quantification of competitive ability is a complex phenomenon which is affected by range of growth traits. Above (e.g. light) and below (e.g. water and nutrients) ground resources also influence competitiveness to a greater extent. Competitiveness is quantitatively inherited trait which is heavily influenced by many factors including genotype, management, environment and their interaction. Sound plant breeding techniques and good experimental designs are prerequisites for maximizing genetic gains to breed cultivars for organically managed lands. The brief is focused on breeding wheat for enhanced competitive ability along with other agronomic, genetic and molecular studies that have been undertaken to improve weed suppression, disease resistance and quality in organically managed lands. The examples from other cereals have also been highlighted to compare wheat with other cereal crops.

This volume provides a comprehensive account of the systematic vegatative anatomy of the plant family Iridaceae. The iris family includes several horticulturally important genera, such as Iris Crocus, Gladiolus and Freesia, and many others of potential horticultural value. The book contains much original information, and places it in the context of the taxonomy and relationships of the plants concerned. It also summarizes the relevant literature. Like its predecessors in the Anatomy of the Monocotyledons series, Volume VIII: Iridaceae will be an essential reference work for students and professionals in botany and horticulture.

This book - the first published on this topic in plants - presents the reader with an overview of recent research on nitric oxide (NO) in plants, which, in view of its empirical interest and its growth regulatory potential, is in the forefront of scientific endeavor in plant science. Subject matter is divided into two parts: Part 1 deals with NO and peroxynitrite biochemistry and regulative mechanisms as presently known in the Plant Kingdom and outlines some of the problems still awaiting clarification. Emphasis is placed on ethylene emission regulation, postharvest control, plant phytopathology and environmental stress tolerance. A further topic is plant NO, like Viagra, related to cyclic nucleotide turnover. Part 2 deals with environmental aspects of NO as an atmospheric pollutant and discusses endogenous means which plants at times employ to cope with this particular type of stress, and how their coping mechanisms may be harnessed for purposes of depollution and augmentation of nitrogen fertilization. The text, accompanied by a wealth of illustrations and annotated references, is intended for lecturers, advanced students and research scientists at universities and research institutes dealing with plant sciences and agriculture, as well as for environmental researchers.

Usually authors write introductions for their books, although they know that not many readers will read it. Despite this, authors insist on writing an introduction and no publisher will publish a book without one. I would like to inform my dear readers that I have spent almost all of the first quarter of my life in a village in the Nile Delta, 65 km north of Cairo. The everyday scenery there was the beautiful green landscape dissected with canals full of running water. All of these were bordered with the huge sycamore, mulberry and acacia trees. The desert was something unknown to me at that time, except for the very basic information given in geography books, which explained that the desert is a place without water or cultiva tion. Some of my ideas about the desert came to me from the stories in the history of Islam and the desert lands where Islam originated. My real attraction to the desert developed in the last year of my under graduate studies. This was during the field courses in Ecology (Prof. A.M."

Although the term redox covers an important number of chemical reactions, biochemists are more familiar with reactions involving the reactions mediated by electron transfer chains associated with respiration, the thiol-disulfide exchanges and the reactions occurring in the presence of free radicals. More recently, the importance of these reactions in the living world and in medicine has been recognized by biochemists, biologists, physiologists, physicians, etc. The importance of the subject in both fundamental and is reflected by the abundance of interesting reviews applied science concerning the subject (Cadenas, 1989, Del Maestro, 1991) and books (Dreosti, 1991; Rice-Evans and Burdon, 1994; Armstrong, 1994) The aim of this chapter is to describe basic reactions known with references to reviews covering special subjects related to redox reactions. Transformation of energy in living organisms is mediated by complex biological systems such as electron transfer chains where the succession of redox reactions provides energy to the organisms. Molecular oxygen or dioxygen is an essential molecule and is the terminal acceptor of electrons during respiration in eukaryotes. In these organisms, the electron transfer chain is located in the mitochondrial membranes and produces adenosine triphosphate (ATP). In anaerobes, the electron acceptor is C0 , S, sulphate or nitrate ions 2 instead of 02.

The eighteenth-century naturalist Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles) argued that plants are animate, living beings and attributed them sensation, movement, and a certain degree of mental activity, emphasizing the continuity between humankind and plant existence. Two centuries later, the understanding of plants as active and communicative organisms has reemerged in such diverse fields as plant neurobiology, philosophical posthumanism, and ecocriticism. The Language of Plants brings together groundbreaking essays from across the disciplines to foster a dialogue between the biological sciences and the humanities and to reconsider our relation to the vegetal world in new ethical and political terms. Viewing plants as sophisticated information-processing organisms with complex communication strategies (they can sense and respond to environmental cues and play an active role in their own survival and reproduction through chemical languages) radically transforms our notion of plants as unresponsive beings, ready to be instrumentally appropriated. By providing multifaceted understandings of plants, informed by the latest developments in evolutionary ecology, the philosophy of biology, and ecocritical theory, The Language of Plants promotes the freedom of imagination necessary for a new ecological awareness and more sustainable interactions with diverse life forms. Contributors: Joni Adamson, Arizona State U; Nancy E. Baker, Sarah Lawrence College; Karen L. F. Houle, U of Guelph; Luce Irigaray, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris; Erin James, U of Idaho; Richard Karban, U of California at Davis; Andre Kessler, Cornell U; Isabel Kranz, U of Vienna; Michael Marder, U of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU); Timothy Morton, Rice U; Christian Nansen, U of California at Davis; Robert A. Raguso, Cornell U; Catriona Sandilands, York U.

An understanding of crop physiology and ecophysiology enables the horticulturist to manipulate a plant's metabolism towards the production of compounds that are beneficial for human health when that plant is part of the diet or the source of phytopharmaceutical compounds. The first part of the book introduces the concept of Controlled Environment Horticulture as a horticultural production technique used to maximize yields via the optimization of access to growing factors. The second part describes the use of this production technique in order to induce stress responses in the plant via the modulation of these growing factors and, importantly, the way that this manipulation induces defence reactions in the plant resulting in the production of compounds beneficial for human health. The third part provides guidance for the implementation of this knowledge in horticultural production.

This Open Access volume highlights how tree ring stable isotopes have been used to address a range of environmental issues from paleoclimatology to forest management, and anthropogenic impacts on forest growth. It will further evaluate weaknesses and strengths of isotope applications in tree rings. In contrast to older tree ring studies, which predominantly applied a pure statistical approach this book will focus on physiological mechanisms that influence isotopic signals and reflect environmental impacts. Focusing on connections between physiological responses and drivers of isotope variation will also clarify why environmental impacts are not linearly reflected in isotope ratios and tree ring widths. This volume will be of interest to any researcher and educator who uses tree rings (and other organic matter proxies) to reconstruct paleoclimate as well as to understand contemporary functional processes and anthropogenic influences on native ecosystems. The use of stable isotopes in biogeochemical studies has expanded greatly in recent years, making this volume a valuable resource to a growing and vibrant community of researchers.

Hydrogen could be the fuel of the future. Some microorganisms can produce hydrogen upon illumination. Biological methods of production could be greener than chemical or physical production methods, but the potential of biological methods is still being harnessed. This comprehensive book highlights the key steps necessary for future exploitation of solar-light-driven hydrogen production by microalgae. The highly regarded editors bring together 46 contributors from key institutions in order to suggest and examine the most significant issues that must be resolved to achieve the goal of practical implementation, while proposing reliable methodologies and approaches to solve such issues. This 19 chapter book will be an indispensable resource for academics, undergraduate and graduate students, postgraduates and postdoctoral scholars, energy scientists, bio/chemical engineers, and policy makers working across the field of biohydrogen and bioenergy.

Use of Microbes for the Alleviation of Soil Stresses, Volume 2: Alleviation of Soil Stress by PGPR and Mycorrhizal Fungi describes the most important details and advances related to the alleviation of soil stresses by PGPR and mycorrhizal fungi. Comprised of eleven chapters, the book reviews the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in alleviation of salt stress, the role of AM fungi in alleviating drought stress in plants, the impact of biotic and abiotic stressors and the use of mycorrhizal fungi to alleviate compaction stress on plant growth. Written by experts in their respective fields, Use of Microbes for the Alleviation of Soil Stresses, Volume 2: Alleviation of Soil Stress by PGPR and Mycorrhizal Fungi is a comprehensive and valuable resource for researchers and students interested in the field of microbiology and soil stresses.

How do plants, even if still buried underground, know that it's their time to bloom? What signals them to begin the challenging task of making flowers, and how do they make the variety of flower shapes, colours, and scents? What kind of instructions does the plant carry? Flowers enrich the beauty of meadows and gardens, but of course, they are not there simply to please us. Biologically, blossoms form a critical aspect of the reproductive cycle of many plants. In this book, the distinguished scientist Maxine Singer explains what we have pieced together about the genetics behind flowering. She describes in a clear and accessible account the key genes which, regulated by other genes, modulated by epigenetic effects, and responding to environmental cues, cause plants to flower at a particular time, and define the variety of flowers. The remarkably intricate processes involved in making flowers have evolved in nature alongside the pollinating birds and insects that the flowers must attract if there is to be another generation. The processes involved in flowering have only been unravelled in the past twenty years, and the implications for ensuring production of food, including fruits and seeds, are profound. This is cutting-edge science, and we have much still to learn, but the story being revealed that lies behind the flowers in our gardens, parks, and fields is proving astonishing.

Carnivorous plants have fascinated botanists, evolutionary biologists, ecologists, physiologists, developmental biologists, anatomists, horticulturalists, and the general public for centuries. Charles Darwin was the first scientist to demonstrate experimentally that some plants could actually attract, kill, digest, and absorb nutrients from insect prey; his book Insectivorous Plants (1875) remains a widely-cited classic. Since then, many movies and plays, short stories, novels, coffee-table picture books, and popular books on the cultivation of carnivorous plants have been produced. However, all of these widely read products depend on accurate scientific information, and most of them have repeated and recycled data from just three comprehensive, but now long out of date, scientific monographs. The field has evolved and changed dramatically in the nearly 30 years since the last of these books was published, and thousands of scientific papers on carnivorous plants have appeared in the academic journal literature. In response, Ellison and Adamec have assembled the world's leading experts to provide a truly modern synthesis. They examine every aspect of physiology, biochemistry, genomics, ecology, and evolution of these remarkable plants, culminating in a description of the serious threats they now face from over-collection, poaching, habitat loss, and climatic change which directly threaten their habitats and continued persistence in them.

Plant leaves collectively represent the largest above-ground surface area of plant material in virtually all environments. Their optical properties determine where and how energy and gas exchange occurs, which in turn drives the energy budget of the planet, and defines its ecology and habitability. This book reviews the state-of-the-art research on leaf optics. Topics covered include leaf traits, the anatomy and structure of leaves, leaf colour, biophysics and spectroscopy, radiometry, radiative transfer models, and remote and proximal sensing. A physical approach is emphasised throughout, providing the necessary foundations in physics, chemistry and biology to make the context accessible to readers from various subject backgrounds. It is a valuable resource for advanced students, researchers and government agency practitioners in remote sensing, plant physiology, ecology, resource management and conservation.

The book is designed to provide a review on the methods and current status of conservation of the tropical plant species. It will also provide the information on the richness of the tropical plant diversity, the need to conserve, and the potential utilization of the genetic resources. Future perspectives of conservation of tropical species will be discussed. Besides being useful to researchers and graduate students in the field, we hope to create a reference for a much wider audience who are interested in conservation of tropical plant diversity.

Jatropha curcas or Physic Nut is a small tree (bush plant) that produces fruits under tropical climate. The fruits contained seed that are ~40% oil rich. This oil is excellent for biodiesel. The bush is a now new coming crop because it may cope with harsh environmental conditions such as semi-aridity and poor land. It is considered as one alternative for climate mitigation that does not compete with arable land normally dedicated to food crop and can be used to regain degraded land or fight desertification. This bush has been considered seriously by the international community only recently (~2006-2008), but worldwide scientists did an outstanding job to drawn Jatropha out of its semi-wild status and bring it on the industrial scene. Problems remains, but we have now a comprehensive picture of this crop and almost every technological challenged were addressed. From now, the job will have to concentrate on breeding in order to domesticate this species. Therefore, it is the right time to sum up worldwide contributions in a comprehensive book with a breeding looking to improve the chance of this plant to stabilize as a crop and to fulfil with the expectations that humans invested in it. A book with this perspective will help international community to give a step on. The book will be a broad and comprehensive look on Jatropha until the details since the book is being contributed by international experts worldwide that have already published works in the international press of Science. Illustrations, tables geographic maps, GPS location, etc are added by each contributors according to the feeling they have concerning what they think their contribution should be.

Trees that are indispensably supportive to human life pose a formidable challenge to breed them to suit to human needs. From soft drinks to breweries to beverages to oil to tires, the value added products from trees give a spectrum of products to human kind. While attempts to tap these resources through conventional breeding are underway, the quick and elegant way of manipulating the genetic systems at the genome level is an essential chapter of modern science. Books featuring genomics of tree crops are few, and genomics is such a science that changes rapidly. Genomics of Tree Crops is an earnest attempt towards compiling genomics of tree crops. Plant genomics has made monumental strides in the last decade providing insights into intra-genomic phenomena such as heterosis, epistasis, pleiotropy and other interactions between loci and alleles within the genome. In contrast, the investigation of the roles and functions of single genes is a primary focus of molecular biology and is a common topic of modern genetic research. A genome is the sum total of all of an individual organism's genes. Thus, genomics is the study of all the genes of a cell, or tissue, at the DNA (genotype), mRNA (transcriptome), or protein (proteome) levels. The complete sequencing of the three billion base pair human genome with 25,000 genes identified and the invention of DNA microarrays ushered in a new era in the science of genomics leading to explosive advancements in oncology diagnostics. This impetus into the genomics era lead the way toward advances in plant genomics which started with Arabidopsis thaliana and went through an array of crops such as rice, maize, papaya, various cereals and legumes, with pigeon pea added to the list towards the end of 2011. Trees, on the other hand, are the least attended taxa with regard to genomic research. Some of the areas that attained attention of the scientists are: DNA sequencing, bioinformatics, genomics of flowering, gene flow, spatial structure, local adaptation and assisted migration in trees, transformation of fruit trees, genomics of tropical and temperate fruit trees, genomics of Hevea rubber, genomics of papaya and genomics of palms. Genomics of Tree Crops compiles this information with chapters authored by experts on these crops.

The book will be a broad and comprehensive look on Jatropha until the details since the book is being contributed by international experts worldwide that have already published works in the international press of Science. Illustrations, tables geographic maps, GPS location, etc are added by each contributors according to the feeling they have concerning what they think their contribution should be. This book will benefit the scientific community immensely. Being aware of any challenges related to Jatropha, i.e. (i) its economy in Asia (India, China) and South America (Brazil), (ii) basics of biofuel technology, (iii) physiology, (iv) farming, (v) byproducts, (vi) biotechnology, (vii) genetic resource (germplasm) and their benefit for the crop by genetic transfer, (viii) genetic map, (ix) comparative genetics, (x) genomics. Breeders and technologist will have access to a complete digested view on Jatropha to decide where and how they should move on with their investigations.

The mechanisms underlying endurance and adaptation to environmental stress factors in plants have long been the focus of intense research. Plants overcome environmental stresses by development of tolerance, resistance or avoidance mechanisms, adjusting to a gradual change in its environment which allows them to maintain performance across a range of adverse environmental conditions. Plant Acclimation to Environmental Stress presents the latest ideas and trends on induced acclimation of plants to environmental stresses under changing environment. Written by experts around the globe, this volume adds new dimensions in the field of plant acclimation to abiotic stress factors. Comprehensive and lavishly illustrated, Plant Acclimation to Environmental Stress is a state-of-the-art guide suited for scholars and researchers working in the field of crop improvement, genetic engineering and abiotic stress tolerance.

This book will shed light on the effect of salt stress on plants development, proteomics, genomics, genetic engineering, and plant adaptations, among other topics. Understanding the molecular basis will be helpful in developing selection strategies for improving salinity tolerance. The book will cover around 25 chapters with contributors from all over the world.

Plant biochemistry is an important emerging field in the agricultural sciences. Basic knowledge of the chemistry and the biochemical mechanisms of the plant in synthesizing various components is essential for advancements needed in other areas of agriculture like plant breeding, plant protection, plant production, etc. In the recent past, biotechnology and biochemistry are moving hand in glove to solve many problems related to humans and other living beings. The book is aimed at providing good information to graduate and post-graduate students in agriculture and biology. It will also serve as a reference book to researchers in plant breeding, agronomy, plant physiology and plant protection and will come in handy to solve many global problems by the present and future generations.

Photobiology: The Science of Life and Light, Second edition, is fully updated and offers eight new chapters for a comprehensive look at photobiology. The chapters cover all areas of photobiology, photochemistry, and relationship between light and biology, each with up-to-date references. The chapter authors (of which seven are new) have very different backgrounds, and have produced a truly cross-disciplinary treatise. The book starts with the physics and chemistry of light, and how to handle light in the laboratory and measure it in the field, the properties of daylight, and new uses of light in research. It deals with the evolution of photosynthesis and with the mechanisms of its primary steps. Four chapters deal with how organisms use light for their orientation in space and time: The biological clock and its resetting by light, the light-dependent magnetic compass, and photoperiodism in animals and plants. There are also several medically oriented chapters and two chapters specifically aimed at the photobiology educator.