Skip to main content

Books in Life sciences

Elsevier's Life Sciences collection helps researchers get comprehensive coverage and up-to-date information on the study of living organisms, their processes, and interrelationships, spanning disciplines like biology, genetics, and biochemistry, and addressing emerging trends such as genomics, biotechnology, and sustainability, essential for advancing knowledge and driving innovation in the field.

    • The Geographical Distribution of Animal Viral Diseases

      • 1st Edition
      • December 2, 2012
      • Stewart Hal
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 4 1 4 4 2 8 6
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 3 2 3 1 4 7 4 6 0
      The Geographical Distribution of Animal Viral Diseases attempts to shed some light on the global distribution of 110 different viral diseases, mainly of livestock and companion animals. The world literature was screened for 110 different viruses, and maps were prepared. These maps delineate the global distribution of pathogenic viruses based on authenticated reports from a variety of reliable sources. Four viruses were categorized as affecting more than one species to a significant degree (astrovirus, rabies, rotaviruses, and Rift Valley fever). The largest number of maps involved viruses that affect humans. Of the 28 viruses a large number were from the California encephalitis group. Ten of the 28 viruses were reported only in the Eastern Hemisphere, 14 only in the Western Hemisphere, and four were worldwide. Birds were the next most frequently affected group with the 15 viruses, followed by pigs with 14 viruses. Overall the vector-borne viruses appear to have much sharper and clear-cut geographical boundaries than the others.
    • STM and SFM in Biology

      • 1st Edition
      • December 2, 2012
      • Othmar Marti + 1 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 3 9 6 0 1 3 9
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 3 2 3 1 3 8 8 5 7
      STM and SFM in Biology is a book fully dedicated to biological applications of the new technology of scanning probe microscopy (SX). The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and its first off-spring, the scanning force microscope (SFM), resolve surface topography at the atomic scale. They also detect certain electronic and mechanical properties, and perform well in ultrahigh vacuum, ambient atmosphere, and aqueous solution environments. Thus, STM and SFM offer powerful tools for biological investigations of nucleic acids, proteins, membranes, and living cells.
    • Bioregulators of Reproduction

      • 1st Edition
      • December 2, 2012
      • David Jagiello
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 4 1 2 1 8 6 7
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 3 2 3 1 4 0 9 9 7
      Bioregulators of Reproduction focuses on the biological regulators of reproductive processes. Discussions are grouped based on sex differentiation and determination, germ cell reproduction, gonadotropins, nonsteroidal gonadal hormones, in vitro fertilization, and post-fertilization. This text is organized into six sections and comprised of 31 chapters, beginning with a discussion on the most important regulatory mechanisms underlying reproduction. The reader is then methodically introduced to the role of the H-Y antigen in primary sex determination, H-Y antigenic determinants of human testis-organizing protein, and how H-Y antibodies confuse antigenic complexes with unaltered self or allo-MHC antigens. The cellular mechanisms of sexual differentiation of the brain, meiosis in female mammals, and interspecies comparisons in molecular reproductive biology are also considered. Other chapters explore the role of haplodins in the ovarian and extraovarian control of meiosis; the link between nucleoprotein transitions and chromatin changes during rat spermatogenesis; and gonadotropin secretion in primates. This book will be of interest to students and scientists in fields ranging from biology and neuroendocrinology to genetics, biochemistry, biophysics, pathology, and zoology.
    • Cell Surface and Extracellular Glycoconjugates

      • 1st Edition
      • December 2, 2012
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 3 9 5 9 0 0 3
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 3 2 3 1 3 8 0 9 3
      This book serves as a much-needed guide for new investigators in the field of glycobiology as well as researchers in other disciplines attempting to define the role of glycoconjugates in their biological systems. Cell Surface and Extracellular Glycoconjugates: Structure and Function describes the determination of structure and function of glycoconjugates that occur on the cell surface and in molecules involved in cell-matrix interactions. The broad scope of thebook covers basic background and technical information in this rapidly expanding field. The text is specifically designed to inform researchers in diverse disciplines of the approaches and resources that can be employed to address problems in glycoconjugate biology.
    • Cation Flux Across Biomembranes

      • 1st Edition
      • December 2, 2012
      • Yasuo Mukohata
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 4 1 4 6 1 9 8
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 5 1 1 0 5 0 1
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 3 2 3 1 4 9 3 8 9
      Cation Flux Across Biomembranes documents the proceedings of a symposium on ""Cation Flux across Biomembranes"" sponsored by the Japan Bioenergetics Group, held September 10-13, 1978 at the Inter-University Seminar House of Kansai in Kobe, Japan. The symposium brought together 80 of the leading investigators concerned with ATP-utilizing and ATP-generating systems associated with cation fluxes across membranes to discuss biochemical mechanisms in depth and their relation to cation transport functions. The papers presented focused on three types of membrane systems. The first two membrane systems are classified as ATP-utilizing systems. These include the plasma membrane, associated with the ATP dependent Na+-K+ transport system, which draws upon most of the cell's energy for cation fluxes; and the sarcoplasmic recticulum membrane associated with Ca++ transport, which plays a key role in excitation-contracti... coupling in muscle. The third type of membrane system falls under ATP-generating systems. These include the inner membranes of mitochondria, chloroplasts, and bacteria associated with H+ fluxes generated by oxidation-reduction reactions, and their coupling to secondary ion flows and oxidative and photosynthetic phosphorylation. H+ transport associated with the photoreaction cycle of bacteriorhodopsin, the light energy converted in halobacteria was also considered.
    • Fire and Ecosystems

      • 1st Edition
      • December 2, 2012
      • T.T. Kozlowski
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 4 1 4 3 0 1 2
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 3 2 3 1 4 6 1 7 3
      Fire and Ecosystems focuses on a number of aspects of fire ecology. This book deals separately with both harmful and beneficial effects of fire on soils, soil organisms, animals, and plants. This reference material elucidates the effects of fire on grasslands and considers the role of fire in temperate forests and related ecosystems. Four chapters are presented on a regional basis to highlight variations in responses, especially plant succession, to fire. The use of fire in land management is also explored. This book will serve as an invaluable reference material to researchers, teachers, and land managers.
    • Molecular and Cellular Aspects of Basement Membranes

      • 1st Edition
      • December 2, 2012
      • David H Rohrbach
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 4 1 2 0 8 9 1
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 3 2 3 1 4 0 5 4 6
      Molecular and Cellular Aspects of Basement Membranes reviews the knowledge about the molecular and cellular aspects of basement membranes. This book focuses on the composition of basement membranes and their organization in extracellular matrices and presents a structural analysis of the various components of the basement membrane. The importance of basement membranes with respect to cell-matrix interactions, differentiation, and pathology is also considered. This text is organized into three sections and is comprised of 20 chapters. It begins with historical perspectives and an overview of the extracellular matrix in general and the basement membrane in particular. The discussion then turns to the organization of basement membrane components into a three-dimensional and functional matrix, along with the unique characteristics of basement membranes in skin, nerve, and kidney. The reader is also introduced to the specificity of particular basement membranes in particular histological sites; the molecular characteristics of basement membrane collagens, laminins, and proteoglycans; and the interaction of specific peptide domains of basement membrane components with cell surface receptors. Finally, the book explains how subtle changes in basement membrane composition or protein structure can cause dramatic pathology. This book will be of value to cell biologists, molecular biologists, biochemists, and pathologists.
    • Contemporary Problems in Plant Anatomy

      • 1st Edition
      • December 2, 2012
      • Richard White
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 4 1 2 5 4 0 7
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 3 2 3 1 4 4 5 6 8
      Contemporary Problems in Plant Anatomy contains the proceedings of a plant anatomy symposium that took place at Duke University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1983. The symposium addressed challenges in four basic research areas in contemporary plant anatomy: leaf development, floral development, differentiation of cells and tissues, and systematic and ecological anatomy. The book highlights new techniques and approaches for dealing with problems in each of these areas. Organized into 12 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the stem-conducting tissues in monocotyledons; the development of vascular tissue patterns in the shoot apex of ferns; the role of subsidiary trace bundles in stem and leaf development of the dicotyledoneae; and the structure of phloem. It then discusses the cellular parameters of leaf morphogenesis in maize and tobacco; alternative modes of organogenesis in higher plants; morphological aspects of leaf development in ferns and angiosperms; the origin of symmetry in flowers; and intraspecific floral variation. The reader is also introduced to structural correlations among wood, leaves, and plant habit; relationships between structure and function in trees; and the development of inflorescence, androecium, and gynoecium with reference to palms. This book is a valuable source of information for plant anatomists.
    • Biology Control in Agriculture IPM System

      • 1st Edition
      • December 2, 2012
      • Marjorie Hoy
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 4 1 4 1 6 0 5
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 3 2 3 1 4 4 7 5 9
      Biological Control in Agricultural IPM Systems covers the proceedings of the 1984 symposium on Biological Control in Agricultural IPM Systems, held in the Citrus Research and Education Center of the University of Florida at Lake Alfred. The symposium summarizes the status and practical use of biological control in agricultural integrated pest management (IPM) systems in the United States. The book is organized into seven parts encompassing 31 chapters that cover the biological control of arthropods, weeds, plant pathogens, and nematodes. After briefly discussing the status and issues of biological control in IPM, the book deals with the basic principles of IPM programs and their related costs, risks, and benefits in biological control. The text also describes the compatibility of plant resistance with biological control of arthropods and the chemical mediated host or prey selection behaviors of entomophagous insects attacking herbivorous insect pests. It explains the development of microbial insecticides; the genetic improvement of insect pathogens; the use of entomogenous nematodes in cryptic and soil habitats; and the techniques for integrating the influences of natural enemies into models of crop/pest systems. The fourth part of the book focuses on the biological control of weeds. The following part considers the general concepts relating to the unique characteristics of plant diseases affecting aerial plant parts. This part also examines the biological control of soil plant pathogens in IPM systems and the use of soilborne viruses, bacteriocins, and hypovirulent strains of fungi as biological control agents. The concluding parts describe the biological control of nematodes and the status and limits to biological control in selected commodity IPM systems, such as citrus, grapes, alfalfa, cotton, and soybean. Entomologists, plant pathologists, weed scientists, nematologists, toxicologists, and economists will find this book invaluable.
    • The Lectins

      • 1st Edition
      • December 2, 2012
      • Irvin Liener
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 4 1 2 5 2 8 5
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 3 2 3 1 4 4 4 4 5
      The Lectins: Properties, Functions, and Applications in Biology and Medicine is a 10-chapter text that deals with the advances in research studies on the properties, functions, and applications of lectins in biology and medicine. The first two chapters consider the historical development, physicochemical properties, isolation, and remarkable specificity toward sugars of lectins. These topics are followed by a discussion on the molecular aspects of protein evolution, with a particular emphasis on lectins, which provide an excellent example of a family of homologous proteins. The following chapters explore the diverse biological activities of lectins and how these properties are utilized for the isolation and characterization of carbohydrate-contain... compounds in solution and on cells. A chapter focuses on the functions of lectins in their natural milieu. This text further covers the importance of lectins in nonplant systems as exemplified by lectins that occur in vertebrates, slime molds, and bacteria. The last chapter highlights the nutritional significance of the occurrence of lectins in plant foods such as legumes. This book is an ideal source for organic chemists, protein researchers, and workers in the fields of biology and medicine.