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This rigorous yet accessible text introduces the key physical and biochemical processes involved in plant interactions with the aerial environment. It is designed to make the more numerical aspects of the subject accessible to plant and environmental science students, and will also provide a valuable reference source to practitioners and researchers in the field. The third edition of this widely recognised text has been completely revised and updated to take account of key developments in the field. Approximately half of Plants and Microclimates are new to this edition and relevant online resources are also incorporated for the first time. The recent proliferation of molecular and genetic research on plants is related to whole plant responses, showing how these new approaches can advance our understanding of the biophysical interactions between plants and the atmosphere. Remote sensing technologies and their applications in the study of plant function are also covered in greater detail.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Detailed glossary of symbols and abbreviations
1. A quantitative approach to plant-environment interactions
2. Radiation
3. Heat, mass and momentum transfer
4. Plant water relations
5. Energy balance and evaporation
6. Stomata
7. Photosynthesis and respiration
8. Light and plant development
9. Temperature
10. Drought and other abiotic stresses
11. Other environmental factors: wind, altitude, climate change and pollutants
12. Physiology and crop yield improvement
Appendices
References
Index
Hamlyn G. Jones is Emeritus Professor of Plant Ecology at the University of Dundee. His research uses experimental approaches and mathematical modelling to investigate the characteristics that enable plants to be adapted to specific environments and to tolerate environmental stress.
"For those working with plants in an environmental context, this book is a must. It became the standard reference in bioclimatology, plant ecophysiology and plant ecology. Hamlyn Jones translates complex physical principles into a language biologists greatly appreciate. It's wonderful to see a third edition, underlining the lasting impact this book has."
– Christian Körner, University of Basel
"I have strongly recommended the previous editions to all my students in plant physiology or applied crop management and will continue to do so with this excellent new edition. Hamlyn Jones provides an excellent combination of experimental experience with the mathematical and physical bases of plant physiology and environmental physics. This true systems approach to understanding plant responses to the environment is precisely what is needed as we address complex issues such as climate change. This is a book that should be read by any scientist attempting to understand and affect plant responses to the environment at the whole plant and crop level, but especially at the molecular level. The combination of clear conceptual explanations, and many well-chosen figures and tables, along with their mathematical basis is particularly helpful to those with different learning styles and goals.'
– Alan N. Lakso, Cornell University
"This book's continued emphasis on using primary quantitative data to illustrate plant behaviour and function maintains its authoritative position as the core text for environmental plant physiology. This third edition sees the scope of the book expanding upwards and outwards with a new section on remote sensing, and inwards to cover the emerging 'omics', whilst always retaining its focus on the whole plant. I have lost four copies of the second edition to light-fingered students over the years – convincing evidence of its irresistible value. I firmly expect this third edition to be equally desirable!"
– Mark Rayment, Bangor University
Reviews of the second edition
" [...] I would recommend the text for a course geared towards advanced undergraduates and graduate students."
– T. R. Baker, Ecology
" [...] a useful quantitative approach to environmental plant physiology [...] The approach boils down to the biophysics of environmental factors that affect plant growth and development (i.e., radiation, temperature, water relations, energy balance, and mass transfer) and the nature of plant or canopy response to them."
– Cary Au Mitchell, The Quarterly Review of Biology
Reviews of the first edition
" [...] a first-class introduction to quantitative environmental physiology [...] "
–M.H. Unsworth, New Phytologist
" [...] plant physiologists, agronomists, ecologists, and others interested in whole plants can all find much of value here."
– David A. Smith, American Scientist
" [...] an excellent book which all agricultural meteorologists would benefit from using."
– M.N. Hough, Meteorological Magazine
"This book will serve modelers and quantitative physiologists admirably. As a source of information and conceptual understanding it attains the highest standards in topical balance, rigor, logical organization, and guidance to the literature [...] At a time when endless, uninterpreted, and poorly connected lists of effects often pass for quantitative studies in biology, Plants and Microclimates stands as a fine model."
– Vincent P. Gutschick, Mathematical Biosciences
