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.

Environmental conditions and changes, irrespective of source, cause a variety of stresses, one of the most prevalent of which is salt stress. Excess amount of salt in the soil adversely affects plant growth and development, and impairs production. Nearly 20% of the world's cultivated area and nearly half of the world's irrigated lands are affected by salinity. Processes such as seed germination, seedling growth and vigour, vegetative growth, flowering and fruit set are adversely affected by high salt concentration, ultimately causing diminished economic yield and also quality of produce. Most plants cannot tolerate salt-stress. High salt concentrations decrease the osmotic potential of soil solution, creating a water stress in plants and severe ion toxicity. The interactions of salts with mineral nutrition may result in nutrient imbalances and deficiencies. The consequence of all these can ultimately lead to plant death as a result of growth arrest and molecular damage. To achieve salt-tolerance, the foremost task is either to prevent or alleviate the damage, or to re-establish homeostatic conditions in the new stressful environment. Barring a few exceptions, the conventional breeding techniques have been unsuccessful in transferring the salt-tolerance trait to the target species. A host of genes encoding different structural and regulatory proteins have been used over the past 5-6 years for the development of a range of abiotic stress-tolerant plants. It has been shown that using regulatory genes is a more effective approach for developing stress-tolerant plants. Thus, understanding the molecular basis will be helpful in developing selection strategies for improving salinity 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. The book will cover around 25 chapters with contributors from all over the world.

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.

Plants have a very specific and efficient mechanism to obtain, translocate and store nutrients from the surrounding environment. The precise mechanism that helps a plant in nutrient translocation from root to shoot also, in the same way, transfers and stores toxic metals within their structure. Metal toxicity generally causes multiple direct or indirect effects on plants, affecting nearly all of their physiological functions. Plant tolerance to heavy metals depends largely on plant efficiency in uptake, translocation and sequestration of heavy metals in specific cell organelles or specialized tissues. The main purpose of this book is to present a holistic view of the recent advancement in the field of accumulation and remediation using plants, the green solar powered alternative to ameliorate heavy metal from the polluted environment. The key features of the book are related to metal transporters and metal accumulation mechanisms under heavy metal stress in plants, plant transcriptional regulation and responses under metal contamination, multiple toxic metal contaminations and its phytoremediation approaches etc. Based on the advancement of research in recent years, the information compiled in this book will bring an in-depth knowledge on the bioaccumulation of metals, their transportation in natural conditions or genetically modified plants and their strategy to cope with the toxicity to survive in the hostile environment.

The book inculcates a holistic approach to improve crop productivity and quality for ensuring food security and nutrition to all. This warrants to identify various stress conditions prevalent globally and tailor crop adaptability and productivity to the maximum accordingly, employing physio-molecular modern tools and techniques with judicious amalgamation with conventional crop husbandry. As a result, the book chapters encompass diverse environmental factors, internal physio-molecular processes and their modulations with a final goal of expanding area under cultivation by utilization of constraint terrains of poor site quality and augmenting sustainable crop productivity and quality on the face of rapidly changing climate. The book includes role of plant hormones, nano-sensors, nanomaterials etc. in stress tolerance responses, capturing recent advancement in the field of stress tolerance, enlarging scope of coverage by gleaning modern literature and providing glimpses of futuristic scenario of agriculture practices that can render 'balance staple food rich in nutrition, vitamins and minerals' to teeming billions of global human populations. Thus, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the role of stress environment and understanding stress physiology for developing stress tolerant crops. The book covers current knowledge and future prospects to achieve enhanced food security under stress environment of crops. The renowned contributors elegantly crafted each chapter, suited alike to both classroom texts for graduate students and reference material for researchers. The language and style are simple and lucid with liberal use of illustrations. This book should be on the shelf of university/ personal libraries for inquisitive students and enlightened researchers.

In this work, the authors present topical research in the study of the morphology, evolutionary diversification and implications for the environments of flowers. The topics discussed in this compilation include the bioactive components from asteraceae flowers; the classification, phylogenetic status and uses as ornamental groundcover of the arachis species; understanding the role of pigments in flowers; flowers as sources of therapeutic molecules; the floral development of sauvagesia (ochnaceae) revealing different origins of presumed staminodes; pollen grain diameter, in vitro pollen germination and regression between grain diameter and in vitro pollen germination in pickerelweed (pontederia cordata L.) and the development of novel pollination techniques to overcome the effects of heteromorphic incompatibility and herkogamy in pickerelweed.

In this book, the authors present current research in the study of hormones and behavior. Topics include the neuroendocrine regulation of sedation and excitation in neonatal chicks; the behavior of the mother and vasopressin; inhibited TRHergic pathway of amygdala and insular cortex may participate in high anxiety levels and decreased food intake of dehydrated-induced anorexic rats; the difference between morning and evening thyrotropin response to protirelin(TRH); altered energy balance in response to sleep restriction; hormones in breast carcinogenesis; ecdysteriods and honeybee social behaviors; and changes in appetite-associated hormone and feeding behavior in advanced age.

Understanding ecosystem structure and function requires familiarity with the techniques, knowledge and concepts of the three disciplines of plant physiology, remote sensing and modelling. This is the first textbook to provide the fundamentals of these three domains in a single volume. It then applies cross-disciplinary insights to multiple case studies in vegetation and landscape science. A key feature of these case studies is an examination of relationships among climate, vegetation structure and vegetation function, to address fundamental research questions. This book is for advanced students and researchers who need to understand and apply knowledge from the disciplines of plant physiology, remote sensing and modelling. It allows readers to integrate and synthesise knowledge to produce a holistic understanding of the structure, function and behaviour of forests, woodlands and grasslands.

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.

With an intricate biosynthesis pathway and a complex gene signalling cascade, auxin is involved in many biological processes, including plant growth and responses against potential pathogens. In this book, the authors present topical research in the study of the structure, biosynthesis and functions of auxins. Topics discussed include the roles of auxin during plant-microbe interactions; auxin biosynthesis and function in plants; chemicals as adjuvants in auxin induced adventitious rooting; and the effects of auxins on plant pathogenic phytoplasmas and phytoplasma-infected hosts.

This book on potassium in abiotic stress tolerance deals with the ongoing trend in increasing abiotic stresses and interlinked issues food security. As mineral nutrient potassium holds an important place in agriculture and is involved in various physiological and biochemical processes. It takes part in protein synthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, enzyme activation, cation-anion balance, osmoregulation, water movement, energy transfer, and regulates stomata and photosynthesis. Potassium plays an important role as abiotic stress buster. This book will deal with potassium relevance to plant functions and adaptations, range of its biological functions, role of potassium in abiotic stress tolerance, analyses of mechanisms responsible for perception and signal transduction of potassium under abiotic stress, critical evaluation of and cross-talks on nutrients and phytohormones signaling pathways under optimal and stressful conditions, and interaction of potassium with other nutrients for abiotic stress tolerance. This book will be of interest to teachers, researchers, scientists working on abiotic stresses. Also the book serves as additional reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of agriculture, forestry, ecology, and environmental sciences. National and international agricultural scientists, policy makers will also find this to be a useful read.

Demand for agricultural crops and nutritional requirement continues to escalate in response to increasing population. Also, climate change exerts adverse effects on agriculture crop productivity. Plant researchers have, therefore, focused to identify the scientific approaches that minimize the negative impacts of climate change on agricultural crops. Thus, it is the need of the hour to expedite the process for improving stress tolerance mechanisms in agricultural crops against various environmental factors, in order to fulfil the world's food demand. Among the various applied approaches, the application of phytohormones has gained significant attention in inducing stress tolerance mechanisms. Jasmonates are phytohormones with ubiquitous distribution among plants and generally considered to modulate many physiological events in higher plants such as defence responses, flowering and senescence. Also, jasmonates mediate plant responses to many biotic and abiotic stresses by triggering a transcriptional reprogramming that allows cells to cope with pathogens and stresses. Likewise, salicylates are important signal molecules for modulating plant responses to environmental stresses. Salicylic acid influences a range of diverse processes in plants, including seed germination, stomatal closure, ion uptake and transport, membrane permeability and photosynthetic and growth rate. Understanding the significant roles of these phytohormones in plant biology and from agriculture point of view, the current subject has recently attracted the attention of scientists from across the globe. Therefore, we bring forth a comprehensive book "Jasmonates and Salicylates Signalling in Plants" highlighting the various prospects involved in the current scenario. The book comprises chapters from diverse areas dealing with biotechnology, molecular biology, proteomics, genomics, metabolomics, etc. We are hopeful that this comprehensive book furnishes the requisite of all those who are working or have interest in this topic.

Below the soil surface, the rhizosphere is the dynamic interface among plant roots, soil microbes and fauna, and the soil itself, where biological as well as physico-chemical properties differ radically from those of bulk soil. The Rhizosphere is the first ecologically-focused book that explicitly establishes the links from extraordinarily small-scale processes in the rhizosphere to larger-scale belowground patterns and processes. This book includes chapters that emphasize the effects of rhizosphere biology on long-term soil development, agro-ecosystem management and responses of ecosystems to global change. Overall, the volume seeks to spur development of cross-scale links for understanding belowground function in varied natural and managed ecosystems.
* First cross-scale ecologically-focused integration of information at the frontier of root, microbial, and soil faunal biology
* Establishes the links from extraordinarily small-scale processes in the rhizosphere to larger-scale belowground patterns and processes
* Includes valuable information on ecosystem response to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and enhanced global nitrogen deposition
* Chapters written by a variety of experts, including soil scientists, microbial and soil faunal ecologists, and plant biologists

The cell as the basis of plant life; the matter and mechanics of cells wall; chloroplast; the root; soil and absorption mineral; habitat-related aspect of mineral metabolism; water relations and absorption; absorption of water; ascent of sap, transpiration and water balance, respiration, photosynthesis.

In the past 20 years, there has been a revolution in plant sciences, as new methods of molecular biology and biophysics have been applied to investigate environmental stress, particularly desiccation tolerance. Today, there is a good level of understanding of how plant cells cope with extreme water stress. This book is divided into four sections, dealing with 1) the technical background to desiccation tolerance studies, 2) the frequency and levels of dehydration stress tolerance in biological systems, 3) mechanisms of damage and tolerance, and 4) a brief prospect and retrospect. It covers orthodox and recalcitrant seeds, pollen and spores, vegetative parts, and other plant tissues.

Mimicry is a classic example of adaptation through natural selection. The traditional focus of mimicry research has been on defence in animals, but there is now also a highly-developed and rapidly-growing body of research on floral mimicry in plants. This has coincided with a revolution in genomic tools, making it possible to explore which genetic and developmental processes underlie the sometimes astonishing changes that give rise to floral mimicry. Being literally rooted to one spot, plants have to cajole animals into acting as couriers for their pollen. Floral mimicry encompasses a set of evolutionary strategies whereby plants imitate the food sources, oviposition sites, or mating partners of animals in order to exploit them as pollinators. This first definitive book on floral mimicry discusses the functions of visual, olfactory, and tactile signals, integrating them into a broader theory of organismal mimicry that will help guide future research in the field. It addresses the fundamental question of whether the evolutionary and ecological principles that were developed for protective mimicry in animals can also be applied to floral mimicry in plants. The book also deals with the functions of floral rewardlessness, a condition which often serves as a precursor to the evolution of mimicry in plant lineages. The authors pay particular attention to the increasing body of research on chemical cues: their molecular basis, their role in cognitive misclassification of flowers by pollinators, and their implications for plant speciation. Comprehensive in scope and conceptual in focus, Floral Mimicry is primarily aimed at senior undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers in plant science and evolutionary biology.

In Virus-Insect-Plant Interactions, the world's leading scientists discuss the latest breakthroughs in understanding the biological and ecological factors that define these complex transmission systems and how this knowledge might be used to our advantage in producing innovative, user and environmentally friendly approaches to controlling the spread of plant pathogens by insects. This is an invaluable reference work for researchers, teachers, and students. There are many quick-reference figures and tables, the contents pages include individual chapter abstracts, and each chapter ends with its own bibliography.
Key Features
* presents the most significant research breakthroughs of the past two decades
* contains eighteen chapters by forty-two world-renowned researchers
* invaluable reference work for researchers, teachers and students
* each chapter ends with its own bibliography
* contents pages of forematter include individual chapter abstracts
* contains many quick-reference figures and tables