Physicochemical and Environmental Plant Physiology

Physicochemical and Environmental Plant Physiology, Fifth Edition, is the updated version of an established and successful text and reference for plant scientists. This work represents the seventh book in a 50-year series by Park Nobel beginning in 1970. The original structure and philosophy of the book continue in this new edition, providing a genuine synthesis of modern physicochemical and physiological thinking, while updating the content.

Key concepts in plant physiology are developed with the use of chemistry, physics, and mathematics fundamentals. The book contains plant physiology basics while also including many equations and often their derivation to quantify the processes and explain why certain effects and pathways occur, helping readers to broaden their knowledge base. New topics included in this edition are advances in plant hydraulics, other plant-water relations, and the effects of climate change on plants.

This series continues to be the gold standard in environmental plant physiology.

Contents: 1. Cells and Diffusion 2. Water 3. Solutes 4. Lights 5. Photochemistry of Photosynthesis 6. Bioenergetics 7. Temperature and Energy Budgets 8. Leaves and Fluxes 9. Plants and Fluxes Solutions To Problems Appendix I. Numerical Values of Constants and Coefficients II. Conversion Factors and Definitions III. Mathematical Relations IV. Gibbs Free Energy and Chemical Potential

Author Biography: Park S. Nobel is the Distinguished Professor of Biology Emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His early career focused on cell physiology, especially chloroplasts, and his first book was entitled Plant Cell Physiology: A Physicochemical Approach (W.H. Freeman, 1970). He eventually shifted toward plant physiological ecology and has written six books on the subject that have been cited extensively. Besides writing these texts, he has published six books on agaves and cacti. He has also authored nearly 400 scientific research articles and reviews. Dr. Nobel has developed original equations for the air boundary layers surrounding cylinders and spheres and has championed the importance of the mesophyll surface area per unit leaf area, Ames/A. Other research topics have included the importance of shallow root distribution for taking advantage of light desert rainfalls and the influences of an air gap developing around roots during drought on root-soil water movement.