Customer Reviews

Plant Physiological Ecology

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book covers a lot of ground, beginning with photosynthesis, plant-water relations, and plant energy balances before discussing ecological aspects of plant physiology. While it follows a logical progression from the cell to the ecosystem scale, the book is very difficult to read. The authors try to cover too much material in the book, omitting basic material in order to broaden the focus of the book. Therefore, it is definitely not for those who are looking for a basic book in either plant physiology or plant ecology. As a textbook, it is difficult for undergraduate students to understand, and seems to be geared towards graduate students and those already familiar with the field.

I use this book as a starting point on specific topics in plant physiology & ecophysiology from the plant cell to plant global communities. Indeed, it is not an intro course in plant physiology and very broad but I would recommend this book for graduate students, it is helpful.

This book does have a lot of good info. However, some of the figures come directly from scientific articles and their legends can be difficult to follow. There is also information presented on certain topics that is not yet fully accepted in the scientific community. There are also a few topics that are presented in a confusing manner, which make them hard to follow unless you reread them. The copy that I got is made with high quality sturdy paper, so it should last for a really long time. Overall it is a decent book but I think that it could have been organized in a format that was easier to follow.

This is a great reference book; however, there seem to be quite a few typos in the new edition, so just keep an eye out for that.

"About the Authors
Hans Lambers is in the Department of Plant Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Utrecht University in The Netherlands and in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Western Australia.

F. Stuart Chapin is Professor of Ecology at the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska.

Thijs L. Pons is in the Department of Plant Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Utrecht University."
[from the book of the back cover]

".....The book starts, appropriately, with the capture of carbon from the atmosphere.
Photosynthesis is obviously the basis of life on earth, and some of the most brilliant scientists have made it their life's work.
As a result, we know MORE ABOUT THE MOLECULAR BIOPHYSICS AND BIOCHEMISTRY OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS than we do about any other plant process....."
[from the book of the foreword by David T. Clarkson, IACR-Long Ashton Research Station, University of Bristol, April 1997]