Cells. Water. Solutes. Light. Photosynthesis. Bioenergetics. Leaves. Plants.

Cells. Water. Solutes. Light. Photosynthesis. Bioenergetics. Leaves. Plants.

Cells and difusion. Cell structure. Diffusion. Membrane structure. Membrane permeability. Cell walls. Problems. Water. Physical properties. Chemical potential. Central vacuole and chloroplasts. Water potential and plant cells. Chemical potential of ions. Fluxes and diffusion potentials. Active transport. Principles of irreversible thermodynamics. Solute movement across membranes. Light. Wavelength and energy. Absorption of light by molecules. De-excitation. Absorption spectra and action spectra. Photochemistry of photosynthesis. Chlorophyll -- Chemistry and spectra. Other photosynthetic pigments. Electron flow. Bioenergetics. Gibbs free energy. Biological energy currencies. Chloroplast bioenergetics. Energy flow in the biosphere. Temperature. Energy budget -- radiation. Wind -- heat conduction and convection. Latent heat -- transpiration. Soil. Further examples of energy budgets. Leaves and fluxes. Resistances and conductances -- transpiration. Water vapor fluxes accompanying transpiration. CO2 conductances and resistances. CO2 fluxes accompanying photosyntesis. Water use efficiency. Plants and fluxes. Gas fluxes above the leaf canopy. Gas fluxes within plant communities. Soil. Water movement in the xylem and phloem. The soil-plant-atmosphere continuum.

Textbook, concepts, experimental data.

A primary objective of this text is to use elementary chemistry, physics, and mathematics to explain and develop concepts that are key to an understanding of various areas of plant physiology in particular and physiology in general. This version has evolved from three W.H. Freeman predecessors: Plant cell physiology; a physicochemical approach (1970), Introduction to biophysical plant physiology (1974), and Biophysical plant physiology and ecology (1983). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Contents: Introduction and Scope / The Cell / Water / Biophysics / Water Transport Processes / Water Absorption / Ascent of Sap / Transpiration and Guttation / Mineral Nutrition / Mineral Absorption / Nitrogen Metabolism / Photosynthetic Apparatus / Photosynthesis / Photorespiration / Respiration / Fat Metabolism / Growth and Development / Growth Regulators / Physiology of Flowering / Photomorphogenesis / Movement in Plants / Biological Clock / Physiology of Seeds / Physiology of Abiotic Stresses / Significance of Plant Physiology / Practical Exercises

Written as a textbook for a first course in plant physiology, this book introduces the student to the fundamental concepts of how plants work within a framework of historical origins and modern experimental evidence.

Park S. Nobel pioneered the coupling of cellular physical chemistry with plant physiology, providing a sound physicochemical interpretation of the laws of diffusion to a rapidly expanding field of plant physiological ecology. His classical textbook is the only one of its kind to provide an extensive array of quantitative problems and solutions in the field of plant biophysics and ecophysiology, extending from the molecular to the ecological level. In this festschrift, former graduate students and postdocs, as well as colleagues of Prof. Nobel present a series of reviews that include scales from sub-cellular to global, and topics that range from desert succulent biology to the physiology of alpine plants, encompassing basic research and applications in agronomy and conservation biology. This state-of-the-field survey provides current and useful information for professionals and graduate students, while illustrating the broad span of the influence that Nobel's career has had on modern ecophysiology.