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Books in Agricultural and biological sciences

The Agricultural and Biological Sciences collection advances science-based knowledge for the improvement of animal and plant life and for secure food systems that produce nutritious, novel, sustainable foods with minimal environmental impact. Food Science titles include not only those products from agriculture but all other aspects from food production to nutrition, health and safety, chemistry to security, policy, law and regulation. Biological Sciences address animal behaviour and biodiversity, organismal and evolutionary biology, entomology, marine biology and aquaculture, plant science and forestry.

  • Shedding of Plants Parts

    • 1st Edition
    • T.T. Kozlowski
    • English
    Shedding of Plant Parts focuses on the anatomical, physiological, and ecological features of shedding of vegetative and reproductive parts of plants. This book encompasses both natural and induced shedding. Organized into 12 chapters, this book first outlines the extent of shedding of plant cells, tissues, and organs and summarizes the biological and economic implications of such shedding. Separate chapters follow that discuss anatomical and histochemical changes in leaf abscission; the physiological ecology and internal regulation of abscission; and the shedding of shoots, branches, bark, roots, pollen, seeds, and reproductive structures of forest trees. This book also explains the anatomical changes in abscission of reproductive structures, chemical thinning of flowers and fruits, and chemical control of fruit abscission. This book will be valuable to plant anatomists, pathologists, and physiologists, and to agronomists, arborists, biochemists, ecologists, entomologists, foresters, horticulturists, landscape architects, meteorologists, and soil scientists.

  • Vehicle Traction Mechanics

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 3
    • R.N. Yong + 2 more
    • English
    The fundamental problem in the study of vehicle mobility is the development of traction between the vehicle and the supporting terrain. The mechanics of energy transfer will essentially control the final performance of the surficial machine. Determining and predicting the capability of a particular piece of machinery to traverse successfully a specific piece of terrain is very complex, particularly as the characteristics and properties of different types of terrain cover vary considerably, as do the many types of vehicle and their running gear.The material that forms the basis of this book has been gathered over many years of study both in the laboratory and in the field. It studies vehicle traction mechanics from the viewpoint of the interaction between the vehicle and the ground surface. The types of machines covered include earth-moving, forestry, agricultural, and construction machines. In addition, the mechanisms involved in the development of traction and the working of the terrain through cultivation, construction and surface disturbances are examined. The book also addresses the problems of off-road mobility and terrain trafficability, especially from the terrain-support and terrain interaction points of view. It is the authors' aim that the book will provide the reader with the ability to both analyze and predict the traction capability of his proposed machinery, and also to anticipate the kinds of reactions that will occur in the ground and at the ground surface.

  • Seed Dispersal

    • 1st Edition
    • David R. Murray
    • English
    Seed Dispersal focuses on the mechanics and processes involved in seed dispersal, including its implications in ecology, animal behavior, plant and animal biogeography, speciation, and evolution. The selection first elaborates on the aerial motion of seeds, fruits, spores, and pollen and seed dispersal by water. Discussions focus on seed dispersal by rain, river, and flood, effective seed dispersal by ocean currents compared to other vectors, aerodynamic forces and their effects, and launching and release mechanisms. The text then takes a look at seed dispersal syndromes in Australian Acacia, including inference of dispersal syndromes, seed dispersal syndromes, ecological consequences of seed dispersal, and evolutionary derivation of dispersal syndromes. The publication ponders on seed dispersal by fruit-eating birds and mammals, rodents as seed consumers and dispersers, and seed dispersal in relation to fire. Topics include fire as a dispersal vector, long distance dispersal, granivorous rodents and the fates of seeds, determinants of the fate path, population ecology of seed dispersal, and foraging for fruits. The selection is a valuable reference for researchers interested in the factors involved in seed dispersal.

  • Light and Electron Microscopy of Cells and Tissues

    • 1st Edition
    • Edmund Sandborn
    • English
    Light and Electron Microscopy of Cells and Tissues: An Atlas for Students in Biology and Medicine is a condensation of Volumes I and II of "Cells and Tissues by Light and Electron Microscopy" (Academic Press, Inc., New York and London, 1970). It is designed to provide the student with the essentials for a basic knowledge of animal cells and tissues. The book provides comprehensive discussions of the following: the cell, stratified squamous epithelium, the nervous system, muscle, the lymphoid organs, the circulatory system, the digestive system, the major glands of digestion, the urinary system, the male reproductive system, the female reproductive system, the endocrine glands, and special senses (the eye and the ear).

  • Physicochemical and Environmental Plant Physiology

    • 1st Edition
    • Park S. Nobel
    • English
    This text is the successor volume to Biophysical Plant Physiology and Ecology (W.H. Freeman, 1983). The content has been extensively updated based on the growing quantity and quality of plant research, including cell growth and water relations, membrane channels, mechanisms of active transport, and the bioenergetics of chloroplasts and mitochondria. One-third of the figures are new or modified, over 190 new references are incorporated, the appendixes on constants and conversion factors have doubled the number of entries, and the solutions to problems are given for the first time. Many other changes have emanated from the best laboratory for any book, the classroom.

  • Eucaryotic Gene Regulation

    • 1st Edition
    • Richard Axel
    • English
    Eukaryotic Gene Regulation covers the aspects and mechanisms of gene regulation of selected eukaryotes, such as yeast, Drosophila, and insect. This book is organized into eight parts, encompassing 52 chapters. The majority of the chapters are presented in an experimental manner containing an abstract, methods, results and discussion, and conclusion. This book first gives a short overview of the evolutionary role of interspersion in eukaryotic genes. It then presents considerable chapters on control of gene expression in yeast; gene mutation and isolation; structure and function; and analysis. Part III focuses on genetic and DNA sequence analysis in Drosophila. It includes discussions on allelic complementation and transvection, genetic organization, histone gene, and gene transcription. Part IV examines cell lineage; gene expression and sequences; and protein synthesis of insects, sea urchin, and mammalian cells. This is followed by discussions on structure and expression of specific eukaryotic genes from chicken, rat, rabbit, and human. Topics on the transfer of genetic information within and between cells and the structure and function of chromosome are significantly considered in Parts VI and VII. Genes evaluated in these sections include heavy chain immunoglobulin, light chain, beta-globin, and dihydrofolate reductase. Furthermore, this book describes the in vitro transcription and the factors involved; internal organization and mechanism of assembly of nucleosome; and chromatin structure. The concluding section focuses on aspects of viral genome expression including gene regulation, synthesis, processing, and alternative RNA splicing. Research biologists, geneticists, scientists, teachers, and students will greatly benefit from this book.

  • Chemical Defenses of Arthropods

    • 1st Edition
    • Murry Blum
    • English
    Chemical Defenses of Arthropods charts the significant progress in the study of chemical defenses in arthropods, a rapidly expanding area of chemical ecology. The book groups the defensive compounds secreted by arthropods based on their main functionalities and sequentially lists them according to their carbon numbers. Organized into 19 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the defensive exudates of arthropods and how arthropods have exploited these compounds to deter the ubiquitous and omnipresent predators around them. The next chapters introduce the reader to the defensive compounds produced in the exocrine glands of arthropods, ranging from alcohols and ketones to hydrocarbons, carboxylic acids, esters, 1,4-quinones and hydroquinones, lactones, phenols, steroids, and proteinaceous venoms. The book also discusses the taxonomic value of arthropod defensive compounds, with emphasis on factors affecting the composition of defensive secretions and taxonomic correlations that utilize them. Later chapters focus on arthropod biosynthesis of exocrine compounds, how insects tolerate the presence of plant toxins in their diets, and identified defensive compounds in arthropods. The book concludes with an analysis of the properties and characteristic distributions of arthropod natural products, along with their adaptiveness as defensive agents. This book is a valuable resource for biologists and chemists.

  • Advances in Aquatic Microbiology

    • 1st Edition
    • M.R. Droop
    • English
    Advances in Aquatic Microbiology Volume 1 describes the characteristics of ecological niches for individual microorganisms and the intensities of individual microbiological processes in the course of turnover of various substances in reservoirs. This volume follows Volume 1 of Advances in Microbiology of the Sea book. The opening chapter presents insight to the tradition of Russian limnological microbiology followed by a discussion on conversion of inorganic nitrogen to organic nitrogen, and the microorganisms responsible for assimilatory reactions. The book considers aspects of the reduction of atmospheric dinitrogen and nitrate to ammonia and the incorporation of ammonia into organic compounds. Such considerations will relate particularly to those organisms of significance in aquatic environments. The relations between prey and predator and their significance in the investigation both the behavior of the microorganisms themselves and the prey-predator situation in general are also discussed. Chapter 4 examines how viruses, bacteria, and fungi affect the blue-green algae and the development and regulation of algal blooms. The final two chapters summarize studies in freshwater sediment microbiology and the role of bacteria in water pollution monitoring. This book caters primarily to aquatic microbiologists, but limnological microbiologists, aquatic researchers, scientists, teachers, and students with courses in aquatic microbiology will find this book invaluable.

  • Invertebrate Pathology Noncommunicable Diseases

    • 1st Edition
    • Albert Sparks
    • English
    Invertebrate Pathology Noncommunicable Diseases discusses the taxonomic and phylogenetic aspects of invertebrate pathology, beginning with protozoans and progressing through the ascending taxonomic order to the chordates. The book is organized into seven chapters that cover the death and postmortem change; reaction to injury and wound repair; the physical and chemical injuries; the effects of venoms and biotoxins; the effects of ionizing radiation; and tumors and tumor-like growths. The opening chapter describes stages of events in death: necrosis; somatic death; gross and histological postmortem changes; and cellular depression and degeneration. The following chapter discusses the inflammatory response, called wound repair, to injury in invertebrates. This text describes the processes that occur after injury in many invertebrates and covers the general principles of physical, chemical, and biological injuries. Discussions on the effects of trauma, pressure and temperature changes, poisons, pesticides, detergents, venoms, biotoxins, and toxigenic algae are included. The book further examines the effects of ionizing radiation both on vertebrates and invertebrates, such as beta particles, gamma and X-rays, and neutrons. The concluding chapter describes the structures of tumor in invertebrates, focusing on hyperplasia or unusual proliferation of typical cellular components, in response to injury or parasitic invasion. With an ultimate objective to stimulate an acceleration of research effort in invertebrate pathology, the book is an invaluable source for invertebrate pathologists, immunologists, and parasitologists.

  • Plant Disease: An Advanced Treatise

    How Plants Suffer from Disease
    • 1st Edition
    • James G. Horsfall
    • English
    Plant Diseases An Advanced Treatise, Volume III: How Plants Suffer from Disease deals with the mechanism on how individual plants suffer from disease. Organized into 19 chapters, this volume discusses plant growth, the conceptual theory of disease development in plants, and the occurrence of different kinds of impairment in diseased plant system. The opening chapters outline the array of physiological functions that are essential in the growth and development of healthy plants. This text also describes the effect of disease on the capture, transfer, and utilization of energy by plants. The subsequent chapters discuss specific types of dysfunction in plant system, including food flow, water system, mineral nutrition, and growth alteration. Other chapters deal with other plant diseases, such as crown gall, teratoma, dysfunction and shortfalls of symbiont responses, disrupted reproduction, and tissue disintegration. This volume also examines various physical factors of the environment that impose mechanical or other physical stresses on plants. It also discusses the engineering mechanics of growing plants and the effect of various pathogens and microorganisms on plant strength and plant organ structural integrity. Other chapters deal with the effect of disease on cell membrane and permeability and on intermediary plant metabolism. The concluding chapters cover the genetic aspects of diseased plants and the diseases that induce senescence and diseases that senescence induced. This volume is an invaluable source for plant pathologists and researchers, mycologists, virologists, and graduate students.

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