Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting to engage reluctant readers! Science writer and plant expert Rebecca E. Hirsch presents fun and gross facts about a variety of plants along with explaining the science behind why they do what they do. Featured plants include the Venus Flytrap, an African tree that houses stinking ants to protect itself from hungry animals, a "vampire vine" that sucks nutrients from other plants, and fiendishly invasive kudzu.
Plants are sources of nourishment for thousands of fungi, bacteria, invertebrates, vertebrates, and other plants. Plants possess a truly remarkable diversity of mechanisms to fend off attackers and recent research has shown just how complex and sophisticated these defense mechanisms can be. Plant Defense provides comprehensive coverage of the range of different organisms that plants need to fend off, describes how plants coordinate their defenses against multiple attacks, explains the evolution of defense in plants, and how plant defences are exploited in crop protection strategies. Plant Defense: Covers plants’ defenses against pathogens, pests, and parasitic plants: together in one book Brings together succinct, cutting edge information in a user-friendly format Gives an understanding of how plants ward off attacks from multiple enemies Is written by Dale Walters, an internationally known and respected researcher and teacher in crop protection, who distils his wealth of knowledge in a novel and exciting way Is an essential purchase for all those involved in plant protection around the globe Plant Defense is primarily designed for use by upper undergraduates and post graduates studying crop protection, agricultural sciences, applied entomology, plant pathology, and plant sciences. Biological and agricultural research scientists in the agrochemical and crop protection industries, and in academia, will find much of great use in this excellent new book. Libraries in all universities and research establishments where agricultural and biological sciences are studied and taught should have multiple copies of this very valuable book on their shelves.
Despite the research effort put into controlling pathogens, pests and parasitic plants, crop losses are still a regular feature of agriculture worldwide. This makes it important to manage the crop appropriately in order to maximise yield. Understanding the relationship between the occurrence and severity of attack, and the resulting yield loss, is an important step towards improved crop protection. Linked to this, is the need to better understand the mechanisms responsible for reductions in growth and yield in affected crops. Physiological Responses of Plants to Attack is unique because it deals with the effects of different attackers – pathogens, herbivores, and parasitic plants, on host processes involved in growth, reproduction, and yield. Coverage includes effects on photosynthesis, partitioning of carbohydrates, water and nutrient relations, and changes in plant growth hormones. Far from being simply a consequence of attack, the alterations in primary metabolism reflect a more dynamic and complex interaction between plant and attacker, sometimes involving re-programming of plant metabolism by the attacker. Physiological Responses of Plants to Attack is written and designed for use by senior undergraduates and postgraduates studying agricultural sciences, applied entomology, crop protection, plant pathology and plant sciences. Biological and agricultural research scientists in the agrochemical and crop protection industries, and in academia, will find much of use in this book. All libraries in universities and research establishments where biological and agricultural sciences are studied and taught should have copies of this exciting book on their shelves
This is the first book in a brand-new series featuring TONS of awesomely incredible, weird, and crazy facts! Did you know crickets have ears on their knees? That snakes never close their eyes? Or that no plant has black flowers? Discover these incredible facts and more in the first Fact Attack book, all about plants and animalsFact Attack is an exploration of the most amazing and awe-inspiring plant and animal facts. Heavily designed with different approaches on each page, the style is dynamic, fresh, and in your face. Whether you flip to a page to learn a digestible fact or read it from beginning to end, this is a book a reader will return to time and again.
Named a Best Book of the Year for the Know-It-All by The Globe and Mail In this richly illustrated volume, a leading neurobiologist presents fascinating stories of plant migration that reveal unexpected connections between nature and culture. When we talk about migrations, we should study plants to understand that these phenomena are unstoppable. In the many different ways plants move, we can see the incessant action and drive to spread life that has led plants to colonize every possible environment on earth. The history of this relentless expansion is unknown to most people, but we can begin our exploration with these surprising tales, engagingly told by Stefano Mancuso. Generation after generation, using spores, seeds, or any other means available, plants move in the world to conquer new spaces. They release huge quantities of spores that can be transported thousands of miles. The number and variety of tools through which seeds spread is astonishing: we have seeds dispersed by wind, by rolling on the ground, by animals, by water, or by a simple fall from the plant, which can happen thanks to propulsive mechanisms, the swaying of the mother plant, the drying of the fruit, and much more. In this accessible, absorbing overview, Mancuso considers how plants convince animals to transport them around the world, and how some plants need particular animals to spread; how they have been able to grow in places so inaccessible and inhospitable as to remain isolated; how they resisted the atomic bomb and the Chernobyl disaster; how they are able to bring life to sterile islands; how they can travel through the ages, as they sail around the world.
THE INSPIRATION FOR THE MAJOR NEW NETFLIX SERIES, HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MIND 'It's a trip - engrossing, eye-opening, mind altering' New Statesman 'Fascinating. Pollan is the perfect guide ... curious, careful, open minded' The Guardian Of all the many things humans rely on plants for, surely the most curious is our use of them to change consciousness: to stimulate, calm, or completely alter the qualities of our mental experience. In This Is Your Mind On Plants, Michael Pollan explores three very different drugs - opium, caffeine and mescaline - and throws the fundamental strangeness of our thinking about them into sharp relief. Exploring and participating in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs, while consuming (or in the case of caffeine, trying not to consume) them, Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants, and the equally powerful taboos. In a unique blend of history, science, memoir and reportage, Pollan shines a fresh light on a subject that is all too often treated reductively. In doing so, he proves that there is much more to say about these plants than simply debating their regulation, for when we take them into our bodies and let them change our minds, we are engaging with nature in one of the most profound ways we can. This ground-breaking and singular book holds up a mirror to our fundamental human needs and aspirations, the operations of our minds and our entanglement with the natural world.
Passionate, forthright and enthusiastic, Carlos Magdalena is a world-renowned horticulturist - known both for his charisma and his conservation work. The Plant Messiah follows Carlos' dreams and disappointments; from his days as a school boy in the death throes of General Franco's Fascist dictatorship, to his advent as The Plant Messiah at the forefront of conservation, backed by the reputation and resources of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and enthused by the potential that lies beyond. The book discloses for the first time the details behind his 'codebreaking' exploits and the secret stories behind his work; his genius, lateral thinking and steadfast belief that everything is possible.
In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.
