The volume identifies how stressful conditions affect plants. Various stresses, such as drought, salinity, waterlogging, high and low temperatures, can have a major impact on plant growth and survival - with important economic consequences in crop plants. This book examines some of the more important stresses, shows how they affect the plant and then reviews how new varieties or new species can be selected which are less vulnerable to stress. The wide-ranging and important consequences of stress should ensure that the volume is widely read by plant biologists at the graduate and research level.

For 150 years scientists at the Rothamsted Experimental Station have studied aspects of plant nitrogen nutrition and amino acid biosynthesis. This book is the result of a meeting held to mark this century and a half of work there. The papers look at the significant progress in understanding the biochemistry of amino acids recently achieved, in the light of this history of research. Leading researchers from around the world have contributed authoritative chapters on protein amino acids, non-protein amino acids, betaines, glutathione, polyamines and other secondary metabolites derived from amino acids. As well as being essential in some animals' nutrition, these compounds can have important roles in defending against herbivores, insects and disease. An understanding of these compounds can help in devising better crop protection and production methods.

This book provides case studies on cultivating alternative crops and presents new cropping systems in many regions of the world. It focusses on new emerging research topics aiming to study all aspects of adaptation under several stresses including agricultural, environmental, biological and socioeconomic issues. The book also provides operational and practical solutions for scientists, producers, technology developers and managers to succeed the cultivation of new alternative crops and, consequently, to achieve food security. Many regions in the world are suffering from water scarcity, soil and water salinization and climate change. These conditions make it difficult to achieve food security by cultivating conventional crops. A renaissance of interest for producing alternative crops under water scarcity and water salinization has been, therefore, implemented primarily among small-scale producers, researchers and academics. The use of alternative crops (quinoa, amaranth, legume crops, halophytes, ...etc.) may provide some environmental benefits such as valorization of salt-affected soils, reduced pesticide application, enhanced soil and water quality and promotion of wildlife diversity. This also may provide some economic benefits such as providing the opportunity for producers to take advantage of new markets and premium prices, spreading the economic risk and strengthening local economies and communities. Furthermore, alternative crops are often rich in proteins and minerals, and even some of them are Gluten free (quinoa). This reflects their importance to achieve food security in quantity and quality scale. The year 2013 was exceptional for alternative crops as it was the international year of quinoa celebrated by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This reflects the importance of research conducted on quinoa and other alternative crops in many regions of the world.

Harold Bloom's Shakespeare examines the sources and impact of Bloom's Shakespearean criticism. Through focused and sustained study of this writer and his best-selling book, this collection of essays addresses a wide range of issues pertinent to both general readers and university classes: the cultural role of Shakespeare and of a new secular humanism addressed to general readers and audiences; the author as literary origin; the persistence of character as a category of literary appreciation; and the influence of Shakespeare within the Anglo-American educational system. Together, the essays reflect on the ethics of literary theory and criticism.

Ultimate success in exploiting the genetic capabilities of plants to grow in nutrient-stressed environments of the semi-arid tropics (SAT) requires a holistic view of food systems to ensure that genetic selections for improved yields on nutrient-poor soils will actually be adopted by farmers. This book sets out to address the important issue of how physiological mechanisms of nutrient uptake can best be combined with genetic options to improve the adaptation of crops to low-nutrient availability, thereby enhancing productivity of nutrient poor soils in the semi-arid tropics. The book examines (i) the sustainability of breeding for low-nutrient environments from the viewpoint of three interrelated disciplines; physiology, breeding, and socio-economics, (ii) candidate mechanisms and physiological traits to enhance uptake and utilization efficiencies, (iii) genetic approaches for manipulation of crop plants to enhance root exudation and access nutrients in the rhizosphere, and (iv) field practices and farmers' preferences for crop varieties grown in low-nutrient environments. Finally, the role of modelling in improving nutrient efficiency in cropping systems, recommendations for future research needs and strategies were highlighted. Attended by 50 international participants, this book is the outcome of the workshop held at ICRISAT-India during 27-30 September 1999 to mark the culmination of the Government of Japan/ICRISAT Project.

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.

The fixation of nitrogen - the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to a form which plants can use - is fundamental to the productivity of the biosphere and therefore to the ability of the expanding human population to feed itself. Although the existence and importance of the process of biological nitrogen fixation has been recognised for more than a century, scientific advances over the last few decades have altered radically our understanding of its nature and mechanisms. This book provides an introductory-level survey of biological nitrogen fixation, covering the role of the process in the global nitrogen cycle as well as its biochemistry, physiology, genetics, ecology, general biology and prospects for its future exploitation. This new edition has been fully updated to include the most recent developments in the field, so providing an up-to-date and accessible account of this key biological process.

Why are leaves green and blood red? The answer lies with one family of pigments, the porphyrins and their relatives. These pigments are also responsible for the fundamental energetic processes that make life as we know it possible. The properties of these colourful molecules are now being investigated for use in a wide range of applications, from cancer therapy to microelectronics. The Colours of Life is intended to be an introduction to the porphyrins and their role in life.

Plants convert inorganic nitrogen into amino acids, the building blocks for proteins. They also make a wide range of other nitrogen compounds to help protect themselves from pests and diseases. An understanding of these compounds can therefore help in devising better crop protection and production methods. This volume contains essays by scientists who have studied aspects of plant nitrogen nutrition and amino acid biosynthesis. There are chapters on protein amino acids, nonprotein amino acids, betaines, glutathione, polyamines, and other secondary metabolites derived from amino acids. The results of these studies will be of interest to graduate students and professionals in biochemistry and botany.

A rewritten and re-organised edition of The Physiological Ecology of Seaweeds (1985). Seaweed Ecology and Physiology surveys the broad literature, but it is not merely an update of the earlier book. This book contains an introductory chapter reviewing seaweed morphology, cytology, and life histories. The chapter on community level ecology now includes six guest essays by senior algal ecologists which conveys the excitement of phycological research. The treatment of tropical seaweeds had been expanded, reflecting the growing literature from tropical regions, and the authors' experiences in the tropics. The final chapter on mariculture is much larger, and includes a case study on how principles of physiological ecology were applied in developing the carrageenan industry. Finally there is an appendix summarising the taxonomic position and nomenclature of the species mentioned in the book.

The productivity of agricultural systems is the result of human alteration of originally wild organisms over millennia. The availability of germplasm, particularly from wild relatives of crop plants, is vitally important in the development of new and improved crops for both agriculture and horticulture. The handling of these genetic resources for both immediate and future human benefits has resulted in the decades of interdisciplinary scientific research described in this book. The applications of this work and the associated operational programmes in all parts of the world are discussed in the light of their impact on the conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem rehabilitation and the future health of our planet.

Tropisms, the defined vectorial stimuli, such as gravity, light, touch, humidity gradients, ions, oxygen, and temperature, which provide guidance for plant organ growth, is a rapidly growing and changing field. The last few years have witnessed a true renaissance in the analysis of tropisms. As such the conception of tropisms has changed from being seen as a group of simple laboratory curiosities to their recognition as important tools/phenotypes with which to decipher basic cell biological processes that are essential to plant growth and development. "Plant Tropisms" will provide a comprehensive, yet integrated volume of the current state of knowledge on the molecular and cell biological processes that govern plant tropisms.

Plants are able to respond and adapt to changing environmental and endogenous signals by the induction of the synthesis of specific proteins, acting to modify cellular metabolism. Environmental signals include temperature, anaerobiosis and pathogen attack amongst others, whilst endogenous signals include changes in the level of plant growth regulators. In this 1992 text, leading researchers discuss the role that inducible proteins play in cellular metabolism, and the approaches being used to delineate the molecular events leading to their synthesis. Chapters discuss molecular approaches to the study of gene expression, the identification and characterisation of trans-acting transcription factors and attempts to dissect other parts of the signal transduction pathway by the search for pathway mutants. This review volume will be of great value and interest to final year undergraduates, graduate students and researchers in the fields of plant biochemistry and molecular biology.

Diversity and Evolution of Land Plants provides a fresh and long overdue treatment of plant anatomy and morphology for the biology undergraduate of today. Setting aside the traditional plod through the plant taxa, the author adopts a problem-based functional approach, exploring plant diversity as a series of different solutions to the design problems facing plant life on land.

In the third edition of this very successful textbook, the author describes a practical approach to the important physiological and ecological factors that determine the survival of the green plant. The book has been extensively rewritten to keep abreast of recent discoveries. Much more information on the growth and development of plants is included to stress that the survival of a plant species may depend on all stages of the plant's life cycle. Practical techniques are described to show how many of the ideas discussed can easily be investigated. The book is therefore very useful for project work as well as class practicals in both schools and introductory biology and botany courses at university.

Plant molecular biology is rapidly becoming an important and successful component of the worldwide research challenge to apply basic biochemical, physiological and genetic techniques for the improvement of agricultural crops. This book shows how the study of fundamental plant physiological processes is being advanced through the science of genetics. The author has adopted a case study approach to illustrate how defined genetic materials in mutants and plant variants are being productively used to explore photosynthesis, stress tolerance, seed physiology, and flowering and reproductive morphology. This approach also helps avoid overwhelming readers who might be unfamiliar with the enormous detail now available in this burgeoning field. The case studies cover all major fields of plant physiology and are grouped in a format familiar to students of the discipline. Most take the form of a brief introduction followed by a discussion of the isolation and characterization of the mutants in question, and then by examples of how these mutants have been used to provide physiological insights. The aim is to make the information accessible to students with an elementary knowledge of plant physiology, genetics, and molecular biology, as well as other scientists and students who wish to know more about the application of the powerful tools provided by genetics.

This volume is a synthesis of current knowledge about the growth, development and functioning of plant canopies. The term canopy is taken to include not only the upper surface of woodland, as in the original definition, but also analogous surfaces of other plant communities. Although much research has been carried out on single leaves, canopies are much more than just a collection of individual leaves, and so exhibit properties of their own. It can be argued that it is primarily at the canopy rather than the leaf level that solutions to many practical problems about the growth of plants in the field can be found. In this volume, canopy properties are considered in terms of the processes, such as transpiration and photosynthesis, by which the canopy and its environment interact. Topics discussed include the meaning of canopy structure, interception of solar radiation, exchange processes, nitrogen nutrition, leaf demography and heliotropism. Key principles are illustrated by examples from a wide range of plant community types and geographical locations. This book will be of interest to advanced students and research workers in agriculture, botany, crop sciences, ecology and forestry.

The volume identifies how stressful conditions affect plants. Various stresses, such as drought, salinity, waterlogging, high and low temperatures, can have a major impact on plant growth and survival - with important economic consequences in crop plants. This book examines some of the more important stresses, shows how they affect the plant and then reviews how new varieties or new species can be selected which are less vulnerable to stress. The wide-ranging and important consequences of stress should ensure that the volume is widely read by plant biologists at the graduate and research level.

This volume contains a collection of papers on the anatomy, physiology and action of stomata by experts in the field, presented in a form suitable for students of botany and plant science, and related subjects such as agriculture, forestry, and horticulture, at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. Special care has been taken to ensure that the book can be used as a text for undergraduate courses in plant, environmental and cell physiology at a reasonably advanced level. It provides an up-to-date assessment of our knowledge of stomata and the articles include: the structure and development of stomata; the measurement of stomatal aperture and conductance; the ion exchanges and metabolism of guard cells; work on isolated guard-cell protoplasts; the responses of stomata to a wide range of stimuli, including light, carbon dioxide, humidity, water stress, pollutants and disease organisms; the behaviour of stomata in the field; and a discussion of stomatal control of transpiration and photosynthesis.

Life on earth depends on the photosynthetic use of solar energy by plants, and efforts to develop alternative sources of energy include a major thrust toward the use of photosynthesis to yield fuels. The study of photosynthesis is an especially convincing way of bringing together the disciplines of physics, chemistry, and biology and can be a valuable element in the teaching of biophysics and biochemistry. This book provides the only detailed modern treatment of the subject in a concise form. Part I outlines the historical development of the subject, emphasizing the chemical nature of photosynthesis and the roles of chlorophylls and other pigments. Part II reviews our present knowledge of the structure and components of photosynthetic tissues in relation to their function. Part III deals with the photo-chemistry of photosynthesis and with the patterns of chemical events, principally electron and proton transfer, that follow the photo-chemistry. Part IV treats the relationships of electron and proton transport to ATP formation, and the metabolic patterns of carbon assimilation. An epilogue exposes major areas of confusion and ignorance and indicates potentially fruitful directions of research, including the development of photosynthetic systems for solar energy conversion. Throughout the book, there are frequent digressions into those aspects of optics and molecular physics relevant to the subject matter. Suitable for upper undergraduate and graduate course use, this book is also sufficiently detailed to give professional scientists a perspective of the subject at the level of contemporary research.

Whereas the adult body plan of an animal is established largely during embryogenesis, the body plan of a plant is elaborated throughout its life, through the activity of meristematic tissues. Although many of the patterning mechanisms that operate during embryogenesis in animal systems are becoming understood in molecular terms, the extent to which analogous mechanisms underpin the formation and function of meristematic tissues in plants remains unclear. This volume takes a fresh look at the essential nature of meristematic tissues and the manner in which they contribute to the growth and development of the plant. Authors pay special attention to the molecular mechanisms underlying meristem formation and maintenance, while at the same time integrating them with existing physiological and anatomical information. The volume is directed at researchers and professionals in plant genetics, developmental biology, molecular biology and physiology.

Discover plants like you've never seen them before in this beautifully-designed introduction to the plant kingdom. Discover the extraordinary diversity of the plant world and how plants work with this photographic celebration of the plants, trees and flowers that share our planet and breathe life into our lungs. The Science of Plants invites you on a breathtaking journey to explore the plant kingdom from the ground up, from root to leaf tip! Published in association with Kew, and illustrated with inspiring photography, this beautiful compilation takes you on a visual journey of some of the world's most peculiar plants and fascinating flora in exquisite detail. Throughout the pages of this plant book, you can expect to find: -Inner workings of wide range of plants explained easily with graphic detail -Galleries showcase diversity in the plant world and visually define botanical terms -Feature spreads on key plants combine dramatic photography with rounded descriptions of our most significant,unusual, and sought-after species -Optional 80-page reference section includes a catalogue of plant families and explanations of botanical names This beautiful book of plants showcases every part of each plant in detail, starting with a section on roots, stems and branches, leaves, flowers, followed by seeds. From tiny mosses and delicate ferns to vibrant blooms and stately palms, DK's elegant introduction to botany is packed with striking photos and crystal-clear artworks that explain the mechanics of photosynthesis, why leaves change colour, how cacti store water, and how seeds know when to grow. Filled with fascinating stories of how plants protect themselves from predators, and how flowers use colour and scent to interact with creatures around them, The Science of Plants is a fresh and engaging introduction to the mysterious inner workings of the plant world. A must-have volume for all plant lovers, including naturalists, budding botanists, ecologists as well as gardeners. Doubling up as the ideal gift for the plant-lover in your life, The Science of Plants is a nature book that is sure to delight. At DK, we believe in the power of discovery. So why not explore other terrific titles in our Science Of series? Reveal the secrets of the seas with The Science of The Ocean and explore the animal kingdom like never before with The Science of Animals.

Rapid developments in molecular and systems biology techniques have allowed researchers to unravel many new mechanisms through which plant cells switch over to alternative respiratory pathways. This book is a unique compendium of how and why higher plants evolved alternative respiratory metabolism. It offers a comprehensive review of current research in the biochemistry, physiology, classification and regulation of plant alternative respiratory pathways, from alternative oxidase diversity to functional marker development. The resource provides a broad range of perspectives on the applications of plant respiratory physiology, and suggests brand new areas of research. Other key features: * written by an international team of reputed plant physiologists, known for their pioneering contributions to the knowledge of regular and alternative respiratory metabolism in higher plants * includes step-by-step protocols for key molecular and imaging techniques * advises on regulatory options for managing crop yields, food quality and environment for crop improvement and enhanced food security * covers special pathways which are of key relevance in agriculture, particularly in plant post-harvest commodities Primarily for plant physiologists and plant biologists, this authoritative compendium will also be of great value to postdoctoral researchers working on plant respiration, as well as to graduate and postgraduate students and university staff in Plant Science. It is a useful resource for corporate and private firms involved in developing functional markers for breeding programs and controlling respiration for the prevention of post-harvest losses in fruit, vegetables, cut flowers and tubers.

How do plants make a living? Some plants are gamblers, others are swindlers. Some plants are habitual spenders while others are strugglers and miserly savers. Plants have evolved a spectacular array of solutions to the existential problems of survival and reproduction in a world where resources are scarce, disturbances can be deadly, and competition is cut-throat. Few topics have both captured the imagination and furrowed the brows of plant ecologists, yet no topic is more important for understanding the assembly of plant communities, predicting plant responses to global change, and enhancing the restoration of our rapidly degrading biosphere. The vast array of plant strategy models that characterize the discipline now require synthesis. These models tend to emphasize either life history strategies based on demography, or functional strategies based on ecophysiology. Indeed, this disciplinary divide between demography and physiology runs deep and continues to this today. The goal of this accessible book is to articulate a coherent framework that unifies life history theory with comparative functional ecology to advance prediction in plant ecology. Armed with a deeper understanding of the dimensionality of life history and functional traits, we are now equipped to quantitively link phenotypes to population growth rates across gradients of resource availability and disturbance regimes. Predicting how species respond to global change is perhaps the most important challenge of our time. A robust framework for plant strategy theory will advance this research agenda by testing the generality of traits for predicting population dynamics.

"Aquatic Photosynthesis" is a comprehensive guide to understanding the evolution and ecology of photosynthesis in aquatic environments. This second edition, thoroughly revised to bring it up to date, describes how one of the most fundamental metabolic processes evolved and transformed the surface chemistry of the Earth. The book focuses on recent biochemical and biophysical advances and the molecular biological techniques that have made them possible.

In ten chapters that are self-contained but that build upon information presented earlier, the book starts with a reductionist, biophysical description of the photosynthetic reactions. It then moves through biochemical and molecular biological patterns in aquatic photoautotrophs, physiological and ecological principles, and global biogeochemical cycles. The book considers applications to ecology, and refers to historical developments. It can be used as a primary text in a lecture course, or as a supplemental text in a survey course such as biological oceanography, limnology, or biogeochemistry.