In Defense of Plants


Book Description

The Study of Plants in a Whole New Light “Matt Candeias succeeds in evoking the wonder of plants with wit and wisdom.” ―James T. Costa, PhD, executive director, Highlands Biological Station and author of Darwin's Backyard #1 New Release in Nature & Ecology, Plants, Botany, Horticulture, Trees, Biological Sciences, and Nature Writing & Essays In his debut book, internationally-recognized blogger and podcaster Matt Candeias celebrates the nature of plants and the extraordinary world of plant organisms. A botanist’s defense. Since his early days of plant restoration, this amateur plant scientist has been enchanted with flora and the greater environmental ecology of the planet. Now, he looks at the study of plants through the lens of his ever-growing houseplant collection. Using gardening, houseplants, and examples of plants around you, In Defense of Plants changes your relationship with the world from the comfort of your windowsill. The ruthless, horny, and wonderful nature of plants. Understand how plants evolve and live on Earth with a never-before-seen look into their daily drama. Inside, Candeias explores the incredible ways plants live, fight, have sex, and conquer new territory. Whether a blossoming botanist or a professional plant scientist, In Defense of Plants is for anyone who sees plants as more than just static backdrops to more charismatic life forms. In this easily accessible introduction to the incredible world of plants, you’ll find: • Fantastic botanical histories and plant symbolism • Passionate stories of flora diversity and scientific names of plant organisms • Personal tales of plantsman discovery through the study of plants If you enjoyed books like The Botany of Desire, What a Plant Knows, or The Soul of an Octopus, then you’ll love In Defense of Plants.




The Evolution of Plant Architecture


Book Description

Plant architecture is the morphological manifestation of the genetic make-up of a plant at any one stage during its development. Application of accurate architectural models provides a wealth of information about living and extinct plants, especially in regard to growth pattern and development. The Evolution ofPlant Architecture brings together contributions from specialists in many different fields, including ecology, palaeobotany, systematics and evolution.




Plant Form


Book Description

The ideal reference for students of botany and horticulture, gardeners, and naturalists. The diverse external shapes and structures that make up flowering plants can be bewildering and even daunting, as can the terminology used to describe them. An understanding of plant form—plant morphology—is essential to appreciating the wonders of the plant world and to the study of botany and horticulture at every level. In this ingeniously designed volume, the complex subject becomes both accessible and manageable. The first part of the book describes and clearly illustrates the major plant structures that can be seen with the naked eye or a hand lens. The second part focuses on how plants grow: bud development, the growth of reproductive organs, leaf arrangement, branching patterns, and the accumulation and loss of structures. Aimed at students of botany and horticulture, enthusiastic gardeners, and amateur naturalists, it functions as an illustrated dictionary, a basic course in plant morphology, and an intriguing and enlightening book to dip into.




The Evolution of Plant Physiology


Book Description

Coupled with biomechanical data, organic geochemistry and cladistic analyses utilizing abundant genetic data, scientific studies are revealing new facets of how plants have evolved over time. This collection of papers examines these early stages of plant physiology evolution by describing the initial physiological adaptations necessary for survival as upright structures in a dry, terrestrial environment. The Evolution of Plant Physiology also encompasses physiology in its broadest sense to include biochemistry, histology, mechanics, development, growth, reproduction and with an emphasis on the interplay between physiology, development and plant evolution. - Contributions from leading neo- and palaeo-botanists from the Linnean Society - Focus on how evolution shaped photosynthesis, respiration, reproduction and metabolism. - Coverage of the effects of specific evolutionary forces -- variations in water and nutrient availability, grazing pressure, and other environmental variables




Plant Development and Evolution


Book Description

Plant Development and Evolution, the latest release in the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series, highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters on the Evolution of the plant body plan, Lateral root development and its role in evolutionary adaptation, the Development of the vascular system, the Development of the shoot apical meristem and phyllotaxis, the Evolution of leaf diversity, the Evolution of regulatory networks in land plants, The role of programed cell death in plant development, the Development and evolution of inflorescence architecture, the Molecular regulation of flower development, the Pre-meiotic another development, and much more. - Provides the authority and expertise of leading contributors from an international board of authors - Presents the latest release in the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series - Updated release includes the latest information on Plant Development and Evolution




Tropical Trees and Forests


Book Description




Plant Ecophysiology


Book Description

Twenty-nine, prominent, international researchers provide contributions which deal with understanding the basic ecophysiological and molecular principles governing the functioning of plant systems in relation to their environment. Divided into two headings: biotic and abiotic; the first consists of abiotic, natural environmental factors--light, ultraviolet radiation, chilling and freezing, high temperatures, drought, flooding, salt and trace metals. The latter half presents anthropogenic aspects including allelochemicals, herbicides, polyamines, air pollutants, carbon dioxide, radioisotopes and fire.




An Evolutionary Architecture


Book Description

Evolutionary architecture attempts to evolve form and structure in emulation of the evolutionary processes of nature. It considers architecture as a form of artificial life. This approach has formed the basis for the author's teaching programme for AA Diploma Unit II.




Plant Evolution


Book Description

Although plants comprise more than 90% of all visible life, and land plants and algae collectively make up the most morphologically, physiologically, and ecologically diverse group of organisms on earth, books on evolution instead tend to focus on animals. This organismal bias has led to an incomplete and often erroneous understanding of evolutionary theory. Because plants grow and reproduce differently than animals, they have evolved differently, and generally accepted evolutionary views—as, for example, the standard models of speciation—often fail to hold when applied to them. Tapping such wide-ranging topics as genetics, gene regulatory networks, phenotype mapping, and multicellularity, as well as paleobotany, Karl J. Niklas’s Plant Evolution offers fresh insight into these differences. Following up on his landmark book The Evolutionary Biology of Plants—in which he drew on cutting-edge computer simulations that used plants as models to illuminate key evolutionary theories—Niklas incorporates data from more than a decade of new research in the flourishing field of molecular biology, conveying not only why the study of evolution is so important, but also why the study of plants is essential to our understanding of evolutionary processes. Niklas shows us that investigating the intricacies of plant development, the diversification of early vascular land plants, and larger patterns in plant evolution is not just a botanical pursuit: it is vital to our comprehension of the history of all life on this green planet.