Customer Reviews

Plant Physiology

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I teach plant physiology at the University of paris. I have bought the first edition of this boor five years ago and I have bought the new one about one month ago. It was a concise, clear and well up to date documented review. I appreciate particularly all the section on bioenergetic and transport in solutes in relation with morphology and development of the plant. I appreciate also very much the part on the influence of the light either for the classical phytochrome or to the appartition of the effect on the blue light. Scheme are simple, but precise and well descibed. This book was a very good intermediate between books of pure biochemistry or pure morphology.All information is integrated and well discussed. In the domain of the plant physiology I think really on my knowledge that this book was actually, in the domain of the plant physiology, one of the best review, and perhaps the better.

The Second Edition of Plant Physiology builds on the strengths of the First Edition by integrating modern, state-of-the-art approaches to the study of plant function, particularly in the areas of gene regulation and molecular genetics, cell biology and signal transduction, and bioenergetics, into the framework of traditional plant physiology. The Second Edition also reflects the growing importance and prominence of biochemistry, cell biology and molecular biology in the field of plant physiology. Each chapter has been thoroughly revised to reflect new developments in the field. In addition, several new chapters have been added, including chapters on "Cell Walls," "Growth, Development and Differentiation," and "Blue Light Responses." A new chapter entitled "Gene Expression and Signal Transduction" provides a summary of current models for the control of gene expression and cell signaling pathways in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, parti! cularly those topics relevant to plants. As in the First Edition, expert contributing authors provide authoritative accounts that include important recent advances in their fields. These contributions are integrated into the unified style that made the First Edition a benchmark in the teaching of Plant Physiology. The Second Edition is extensively illustrated and will be published in two colors.

I teach plant physiology for biological sciences students in Bogotá, Colombia. I think this book is excelent. Also, it is written in a comprehensive English, and explains clearly the principles of plant physiology for everyboby including Spanish speakers. It is a very good way to motivate undergraduate students with the knowledge in plant physiology. I would liKe to congratulate the authors.

First of all, I'd like to say what's in this book for anyone wanting to know what they will learn by reading it.

The content of _Plant Physiology_ is not exactly what I was expecting. There was very little about the physical structure of plants: no explanation of sieve tubes, meristems, cortex, cork, flower structure or other elements that one might find in a physical description of plants. The reader's knowledge of those subjects was assumed. Similarly, there was no explanation of the foundational aspects of molecular biology. Again, the authors assume that the reader already understands DNA transcription, meiosis, mitosis, respiration, apoplast and symplast, and other basics of plant biology.

The topics of the chapters are:

Plant Cells
Energy And Enzymes
Water And Plant Cells
Water Balance Of Plants
Mineral Nutrition
Solute Transport
Photosynthesis - The Light Reactions
Photosynthesis - Carbon Reactions
Photosynthesis - Physiological And Ecological Considerations
Translocation In The Phloem
Respiration And Lipid Metabolism
Assimilation Of Mineral Nutrients
Secondary Metabolites And Plant Defense
Gene Expression And Signal Transduction
Cell Walls - Structure Biogenesis And Expansion
Growth And Development
Phytochrome And Light Control Of Plant Development
Blue-Light Responses - Stomatal Movements And Morphogenesis
Auxin - The Growth Hormone
Gibberellins - Regulators Of Plant Height
Cytokinins - Regulators Of Cell Division
Ethylene - The Gaseous Hormone
Abscisic Acid - A Seed Maturation And Antistress Signal
The Control Of Flowering
Stress Physiology

Although the emphasis is on molecular biology in most of these chapters, there are other topics as well. Photosynthesis is well discussed but is also well discussed in other books. However the chapters on water: the physics of how it is passively translocated from root to shoot, how turgor pressure is used to power cell growth, the effects of water stress, and so on, are not explained in the more elementary books I've read, and the extended explanations of plant hormones in the chapters on auxin to abscisic acid are deeper than I have read in more basic books.

The material in the book is supplemented by additional material on the website. Having read all of the web "topics" and "essays", I think I can say that the book stands alone quite well without them. If you are reading without access to the Internet, or don't want to go into greater depth, you don't need to. I found nothing in the book that couldn't be understood without reading the web pages. But the web pages do add depth to the topics they cover.

So much for what's in the book.

Where this book shines in my opinion is in its rigorous adherence to evidence and experiment. The authors never draw a conclusion without explaining the evidence for it. If the evidence is ambiguous, the authors describe the alternative explanations that have been proposed to account for it. The reader never feels that he's simply being lectured in the consensus science. He feels instead that he's being shown the evidence from which the logical conclusions follow. The reader comes away with a good picture of what scientists do and what scientific investigation is like, as well as a deeper understanding of plants.

I learned the answers to many questions that I have wondered about: How is water lifted to the tops of trees? (Passively, by negative water pressure induced by transpiration.) How high can a tree grow? (The limit is in the physics of water pressure.) How do plant cells grow when bounded by rigid cell walls? (Enzymes loosen the "glue" holding cellulose threads together and turgor pressure then pushes them apart.) How do plants survive freezing? (By increasing solute concentration, by translating proteins that prevent ice nucleation, and/or by withdrawing water into the apoplast or the roots.) And so on.

You won't learn everything there is to know about plants from this book. You have to know the basics before you start, and you have to be content with the specific topics of interest to the authors. But the topics that are covered are covered very well and the curious reader will learn a lot.

I'm not a scientist or even a college student, just an old guy with an interest in biology. My background preparation consists of a basic book in plant biology (Raven's), some basic chemistry, and some general biology.

It was enough. If you've got the basics under your belt, you'll be able to understand Taiz and Zeiger's book.

Well, this is a great beginner's textbook to Plant Physiology, especially when you have very little background in the field. (I major in Physics and took Plant Physiology as an elective.) The text is quite easy to understand, and there are great diagrams to complement the text. However, the text is getting a little bit out of date, as new plant hormones and genes are being discovered at a rapid pace right now. Overall, it was a pretty nice book for someone being introduced to the field.

Any textbook on plant physiology will put even the worst insomniacs to sleep. This one is well written and well organized so it's both really informative and boring. If you keep one reference on your shelf this is the one. It's got it all.

good detailed information. Have 2nd edition, but so much has changed within the last 5-10 years that it was necessary to upgrade. Learned alot from the earlier book, well written, easy to understand, lots of good diagrams on the harder concepts. Am using this text as a review before I take my oral prelims for my dissertation.

This is a book every plant biologist should have!
Basic knowledge from basic plant biology, and more...

EXCELLENT book! I needed a suppliment to a Plant Phys course I was taking which didn't assign a book, purely lecture based. This book has great graphics and is easy to read!

I received the book right when I needed it and the book was in better condition than I expected! I would be more than happy to do business with this seller again!