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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.

  • 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.

  • Archabacteria

    • 1st Edition
    • Carl R. Woese
    • English
    The Bacteria, A Treatise on Structure and Function, Volume VIII: Archaebacteria is divided into three major parts and is further subdivided into several chapters. Each part deals with a specific area of study regarding archaebacteria. Part I tackles the biochemical diversity and ecology of archaebacteria, while Part II discusses translation apparatus of these organisms. The last part focuses on archaebacteria’s general molecular characteristics. Generally, the physiological, morphological, ecological, and molecular aspects of the archaebacteria are discussed in this volume. This book also covers a historical distinction between prokaryote-eukaryote and the simultaneous development of archaebacteria. This book is a recommended reference for biologists and scientists who are interested in the unique characteristics of archaebacteria as a very special type of bacteria. These organisms provide a “new world” for thermophilic organisms and at the same time make experts reexamine their idea of prokaryotes. Their relationship to eukaryotes leads people to believe that archaebacteria are truly a “new kingdom of organisms”.

  • Microbial Ecology of Foods V1

    Factors Affecting Life and Death of Microorganisms
    • 1st Edition
    • English
    Microbial Ecology of Foods, Volume I: Factors Affecting Life and Death of Microorganisms presents valuable background information on the theoretical aspects of food microbiology. It is divided into 14 chapters that focus on the environmental factors affecting food microorganisms. These factors are temperature, irradiation, water activity, pH, acidity, organic acids, curing salts, antibiotics, gases, packaging, and cleaning systems. Each chapter explores the scientific principles of the specific environmental factor; methods of measurement; and effects on growth and viability of spoilage organisms and pathogens. The chapters also look into the control measures and interrelationships with the other factors. Some of the chapters deal with the effects of cell injury on survival and recovery of microorganisms in food and the metabolic aspects of mixed microbial populations. In each chapter, the reader has been directed to appropriate key publications for further study. This volume is particularly suitable as an undergraduate or postgraduate textbook for students who have had at least one course in general microbiology.

  • Methods of Animal Experimentation

    Environment and The Special Senses
    • 1st Edition
    • William Gay
    • English
    Methods of Animal Experimentation, Volume IV focuses on research problems related to animal experimentation, including aging, nutrition, and environmental studies. It summarizes therapeutic implications of animal experimentation methods to human application. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to inhalation chambers including discussions of the types of inhalation tests, inhalation equipment and technology, methods of generation and measurement of contaminants, and some of the specialized techniques available for the pulmonary exposure of animals. Chapter 2 provides practical information about methods and the auditory abilities of animals. Chapter 3 outlines some basic properties of the vertebrate olfactory systems and summarizes selected experimental methods and findings in olfactory research. The concluding chapter describes the use of vertebrate laboratory animals in gustatory research, including some procedures unique to taste research. Research scientists, medical researchers, and olfaction and gustatory experts will find this book invaluable.

  • Organization and Assembly of Plant and Animal Extracellular Matrix

    • 1st Edition
    • W. Steven Adair
    • English
    Organization and Assembly of Plant and Animal Extracellular Matrix presents a state-of-the-art view of some of the experimental systems in plant and animal matrix biology. It discusses certain principles underlying establishment of complex three-dimensional architecture cross broad evolutionary boundaries. The opening chapter reviews studies on the cellular mechanisms responsible for storage, release, assembly, and function of extracellular matrices during early sea urchin development. The subsequent chapters describe the structure, assembly, disassembly, and molecular biology of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cell wall. The chapters also summarize the status of work on basement membrane assembly. Important insights into approaches to identify critical molecular domains and the complexity of relating defined molecular associations to establishment of matrix architecture are provided. A family of discovered cell wall genes that encode protein products containing up to 70% glycine is presented in Chapter 4. This is followed by a discussion on the role of alginate self-assembly in cell wall formation in Fucus. The book goes on to address the issue of protein-carbohydrate recognition with a detailed discussion of plant and animal lectins. Chapter 7 tackles a family of genes encoding higher plant hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins (HRGPs) and the relationship between the HRGP genes cloned and their products. The final two chapters are devoted to one of the most important classes of protein modifying enzymes for extracellular matrix formation and function, the prolyl hydroxylases. This book will be of help to workers in plant and animal matrix in understanding information, approaches, and ideas that they may not normally encounter.

  • Free Energy Transduction in Biology

    The Steady-State Kinetic and Thermodynamic Formalism
    • 1st Edition
    • Terrell Hill
    • English
    Free Energy Transduction in Biology: The Steady-State Kinetic and Thermodynamic Formalism focuses on the steady-state kinetic and thermodynamic formalism related to free energy transduction. As the word ""formalism"" implies, the discussion concerns general principles and methods and not details of proposed mechanisms in the various special cases. Organized into seven chapters, this book first describes the diagram method, which is the main analytical tool in the study of discrete state, cycling system. The next chapter describes the essential topic of cycles and cycle fluxes. Some chapters discuss the more important bioenergetic principles that emerge from the diagram approach. This book is also concerned with somewhat more specialized aspects of the subject (stochastics and fluctuations) and interacting subsystems and multienzyme complexes, including oxidative phosphorylation.

  • Sea Mammals and Oil: Confronting the Risks

    • 1st Edition
    • Joseph Geraci
    • English
    Sea Mammals and Oil: Confronting the Risks summarizes the effects of spilled petroleum, or “oil”, on five groups of marine mammals, including seals, whales and dolphins, sea otters, polar bears, and manatees. It poses questions concerning the extent of oil spill effects on marine mammals; the vulnerability of each species; and the probable effects to humans, domestic animals, and laboratory animals. After an introduction to the composition and fate of petroleum and spill-treating agents in the marine environment, the book discusses the use of risk assessment and mathematical/compute... models in evaluating the effects of oil in marine mammal populations. Chapters 3 to 11 examine the ecological perspectives, physiologic, and toxic effects of oil on five mammal groups. The effect of oil on their behavior and the detection and avoidance of oil spill are also discussed. With a strong focus on risk assessment, this book is ideal for petroleum chemists and technologists, marine biologists, and veterinary medicine researchers.

  • Viral Insecticides for Biological Control

    • 1st Edition
    • Karl Maramorosch
    • English
    Viral Insecticides for Biological Control focuses on the basic as well as applied aspects of viral insecticides, which have the potential to significantly reduce the current reliance on chemical pesticide technology. This book serves as a guide for the development of means to identify hazardous problems and prevent them. Organized into six parts with a total of 23 chapters, this book describes the taxonomy, nomenclature, identification, physical, biological, as well as chemical characteristics, replication, and pathology of insect viruses. This reference material also explores the dispersal, stability, and utilization of insect viruses as biological control agents. The factors and considerations that must be taken into account when a viral insecticide is sought as a large-scale commercial alternative to other more traditional methods of pest control are also addressed. Because this reference material collates information in this field of interest, it will benefit a wide audience of readers, including researchers, students, and those working directly in crop protection.

  • Advances in Food-Producing Systems For Arid and Semiarid Lands Part A

    • 1st Edition
    • Jamal Manassah
    • English
    Advances in Food-Producing Systems for Arid and Semiarid Lands: Part A contains the proceedings of a symposium on ""Advances in Food-Producing Systems for Arid and Semiarid Lands"" of the International Symposium Series held in Kuwait in April 1980. Organized into five parts, separating the first five sessions of the symposium, this book begins by discussing the needs of arid lands. It then tackles the biotechnologies that may find valuable applications in arid and semiarid lands. Furthermore, it explores the water management and environmental tolerance aspects involved in these harsh environments. The presented papers bring renewed vitality to the hope that appropriate and directed exploitation of various technologies can evolve developable industries for arid and semiarid lands.

  • Genetic Control of Natural Resistance to Infection and Malignancy

    • 1st Edition
    • Emil Skamene
    • English
    Genetic Control of Natural Resistance to Infection and Malignancy is a collection of papers presented at the 1980 Proceedings of an International Symposium of the Canadian Society for Immunology held in Montreal, Quebec. It provides information about the different models of genetic resistance to various diseases. The book offers an overview of the genetic determination of the susceptibility or resistance to infection and malignancy. It also discusses the importance of genetic resistance not only in the first-line observation of infections and tumors, but also in chemotherapy and immunotherapy. It then explains the genetic control of resistance to parasitic, bacterial, and virus infections, as well as to tumor growth. It further discusses the genetic control of macrophage differentiation and function.

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