A Functional Biology of Crop Plants

Vincent P. Gutschick

ISBN 10: 1461598036 / ISBN 13: 9781461598039

Published by Springer US, Springer New York Feb 2012, 2012

About this Item

Neuware -1. Functional Biology and Plant Strategies.- A. Functional Biology.- B. The Requirements on Plants in Their Growth and Function.- C. The Abiotic Environment: Plant Autecology.- (i) Resources.- (ii)Resource Challenges Faced by Plants.- D. Adaptive Strategies.- (i) Utility of the Strategic View.- (ii) Explaining Adaptations, in Kind and in Magnitude, Primarily in Wild Growth.- (iii) Indicating Routes to Crop Improvement.- (iv) Examples of Objective Functions and Adaptations.- E. Four Principles of Adaptive Strategies.- F. The Calculation of Energetic Costs and Benefits.- (i) Three Types of Costs.- (ii) How Energy Costs Affect Growth and Yield.- (iii) Optimizing the Energetics of a Plant.- G. Toward a Quantification of Risk and Risk Management.- H. When and How Fast to Deploy Strategies.- I. Effectiveness and Limitations of Strategic Adaptations.- (i) Internal and External Limitations.- (ii) Limitations to Adaptive Strategies.- J. Additional Strategic Considerations for the Biotic Environment.- 2. Mineral Nutrition.- A. Essential Elements in the Ecosystem and Their Availability to Plants.- (i) Energetic Costs of Acquiring Nutrients.- (ii) Soil Processes.- B. Four Types of Challenges.- (i) Low Nutrient Availability in Soil.- (ii) Physiological Limitations on Internal Transport and Use.- (iii) Severe Imbalances Among Nutrients.- (iv) Toxicity of Nonnutrients.- C. Consequences of Nutritional Challenges.- (i) General and Ecological Challenges.- (ii) Agricultural Consequences.- D. Adaptive Responses, Their Costs and Benefits.- (i) Autecological Responses.- (ii) Responses Within Plant Communities.- 3. Photosynthesis.- A. CO2, Photons, and Their Availability to the Plant.- (i) The Basic Photosynthetic Reaction and Its Constraints.- (ii) CO2 and Water Exchange.- (iii) CO2 and Photon Transport in Whole Canopies.- (iv) Measures of Photosynthesis.- (v) Net Determinants of Photosynthesis.- B. Energy and Soil Resource Uses: Costs and Benefits.- (i) Costs and Benefits in Photosynthesis Alone.- (ii) Optimizing Leaf Energetics: An Example.- (iii) Use of Water and Mineral Nutrients.- (iv) Miscellaneous Costs and Benefits.- C. Challenges.- (i) Low or Erratic Availability of Resources.- (ii) Excesses and Imbalances.- (iii) Transport Limitations.- (iv) Nonresource Challenges.- D. Consequences of Challenges to Photosynthesis.- (i) Ecological Consequences.- (ii) Agricultural Consequences.- E. Adaptive Responses, Their Costs and Benefits.- (i) Responses to Low or Erratic Resource Availability.- (ii) Responses to Excesses and Imbalances.- (iii) Responses to Transport Limitations.- (iv) Responses to Nonresource Challenges.- 4. Water Relations.- A. Introduction.- (i) Water in Plant Structure and Function.- (ii) Water Potential and Terminology.- (iii) Water Transport in Soil.- (iv) Water Uptake by Roots.- (v) Water Transport from Roots to Leaves.- (vi) Water Consumption in Photosynthesis.- (vii) Cost-Benefit Analyses in Water Use.- B. Challenges.- (i) Low or Erratic Availability of Water.- (ii) Transport Limitations.- (iii) Excess Water: Flooding.- (iv) Salinity, a Nonresource Hazard.- C. Consequences of Challenges.- (i) Ecological Consequences.- (ii) Agricultural Consequences.- D. Adaptive Strategies, Their Costs and Benefits.- (i) Strategies for Low Water Availability.- (ii) Strategies of Salt Tolerance.- (iii) Strategies of Flood Tolerance.- (iv) Responses Within Ecosystems.- 5. Integrative Processes.- A. New Features in Long-Term Coordination of All Resource Uses.- B. Reproduction.- (i) The Vegetative-to-Reproductive Switch.- (ii) Seeds: Many and Small, or Few and Large .- (iii) Senescence and Resource Scavenging.- (iv) Flower and Fruit Abortion.- (v) Pollination.- C. Germination.- D. Morphogenesis, Especially Photomorphogenesis.- E. Control of Biotic Interactions.- (i) Pests and Diseases.- (ii) Symbionts.- (iii) Conspecifics and Their Gene Pool.- References.- Symbols.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 244 pp. Englisch.

Seller Inventory # 9781461598039

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Functional Biology of Crop Plants
• Publisher: Springer US, Springer New York Feb 2012
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1461598036
• ISBN 13: 9781461598039
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 235W x 155H x 14D millimeters 235 millimeters width by 155 millimeters height by 14 millimeters depth
• Weight: 376 grams

About this title

Synopsis

There have recently been a number of advances in the subject of physiological plant ecology, but most of this work has concentrated on wild growth, where the success of the plant is judged by 'goals' considerably different from those of maximal yield in agriculture. This book presents a highly original approach that expands the 'functional biology' viewpoint to include crop plants. Cost-benefit trade offs in plant strategies of resource use are quantified, using a comprehensive, uniform set of four principles to construct objective functions or goals. Physiology, morphology, phenology and ecology are integrated in the approach, which is proposed for crop design as well as for ecological and evolutionary studies. With agriculture plants the issues are shown to be complicated by the crops' embodying genes for wild, competitive strategies that sacrifice yield, as also genes from mixed environments of diverse ancestral stocks. While the primary focus is on herbaceous annual crops, orchard and timber crops are also covered. Temperate and tropical environments are considered, as are wet and arid environments. The book therefore represents a major work for agricultural plant physiologists This book should be of interest to those interested in general biology, agriculture and plant physiology.