Floral biology, pollination and fertilisation in temperate zone fruit species and grape. * Kozma P, Nyeki J, Soltesz M, Szabo Z. 2003. * Budapest: Akademiai Kiado. $98 (hardback).621 pp.

The primary focus of this book is to discuss the floral biologyof the fruit crops including apple, grape, Ribes, Rubus, strawberry,the stone fruits and several     

New frontiers in bryology - physiology, molecular biology and functional genomics. * Wood AJ, Oliver MJ, Cove DJ, eds. 2004. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. {pound}63 (hardback). 203 pp.

This book is a collection of papersfrom the major researchers involved in physiological, molecularand genomic research on bryophytes, mainly, although not exclusively,using the moss Physcomitrella patens. This is a growing areaof research and the book aims to provide ‘... a synopsisof the outstanding basic research being conducted using mossesas a model multi-cellular eukaryote’. Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) are an importantand often neglected group     

Plant ecology. * Schulze ED, Beck E, Muller-Hohenstein K. 2005. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer. $89{middle dot}95 (hardback). 702 pp.

This book (a translation fromSchulze et al., 2002) is one of the most comprehensive textbooksof plant ecology so far. The authors aim to ‘for the firsttime bring together and clearly organize the large subdisciplinesof plant ecology’ and, to a large extent they have succeeded.The book is well written, and its more than 500 illustrationsare beautifully laid out and well chosen to help the readerunderstand the theory. It is clearly suitable not only     

The ecology of seeds. * Fenner M, Thompson K. 2005. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {pound}26 (softback) {pound}55 (hardback) 260 pp.

This volume is a timely updateand considerable expansion of the small book Seed Ecology, publishedby the first author twenty years ago, and long out of print. Is it useful to separate a particular branch of study such as‘seed ecology’ from the wider field of plant ecology?Aren't seeds just a particular packaged form of the sporophyte,at a certain stage in its life cycle? While some may ask thosequestions, a major strength of this book is the care that theauthors take throughout to set their review in the context ofcurrent ecological     

Plant cell separation and adhesion. Annual Plant Reviews, Volume 25.

Since the publication of Addicott's book Abscission (1982) andKoslowsky's book Shedding of Plant Parts (1973) no text bookhas appeared charting the subsequent progress in our understandingof the physiological and hormonal control of abscission andadhesion. The present volume is thus very timely and is an excellentexample of how molecular genetics had enhanced plant biologyat both basic and applied levels. While the authors fail totell us who this book is aimed at, there is no question thatit has intrinsic scientific interest and contributes stronglyto improving our understanding through new molecular experimentalmethods. It may also be important in agriculture and horticulture.However, in many chapters, the molecular and genetic informationis too introverted for readers whose interest is not primarilyin molecular genetics. A list of the titles of the chapters alone indicates the widescope of this     

Intercellular communication in plants. Annual Plant Reviews Vol 16 * Fleming AJ. (ed). 2005. Oxford/Boca Raton: Blackwell Publishing/CRC Press. {pound}105.00 (hardback). 280 pp

Volume 16 of the Annual Plant Reviews series, compiled by AndrewJ. Fleming, focuses on intercellular communication in plants.This is an extremely interesting book that extensively coversten topics related to cell–cell or long-distance communicationin plants. The chapters are written in a clear style and theycompile the most relevant and up-to-date information in a mannerunderstandable for anybody seriously interested in short- andlong-distance intercellular communication. Moreover, besidesblack-and white illustrations and photographs found in all chapters,there are also six separate colour plates. I highly recommendthis book     

Interactive flora of the British Isles: a digital encyclopedia. * Stace C, van der Meijden R, Kort I. 2004. * University of Amsterdam: ETI(Expert Center for TaxonomicIdentification). {pound}37.50 (DVD-ROM).

This DVD-ROM isa computerized version of Clive Stace's New Flora of the BritishIsles (1997, Cambridge University Press), with distributionmaps from the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora (Prestonet al., 2002, Oxford University Press). In addition, the DVDhas more than 6500 colour photographs by 100 different photographersand over 2000 line drawings, mostly from the flora but alsofrom BSBI Handbooks, Watsonia and BSBI News (all publicationsof the Botanical Society of the British Isles). All the vascularplants (pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms) in the regionare covered, i.e. 3525 species in 166 families. The DVD enablesthe user to identify virtually any plant growing in     

Roots: the dynamic interface between plants and the Earth. * Abe J, ed. 2003. * Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. * {euro}165 (hardback). 460 pp

All but five of the 46 contributionsin this symposium volume have been published already as a specialissue in Volume 255 of Plant and Soil in 2003. They are reproducedin exactly the same format and with the same pagination as inthe journal. To anyone who has access to Plant and Soil thisbook would therefore not be a sensible purchase. This is allthe more true because the editor has not provided any commentaryon the papers or subdivided them     

XML for Bioinformatics * Ethan Cerami * Berlin: Springer-Verlag; * ISBN: 0-387-23028-9; 304pp.; * 2005; {pound}42.50

Not until I received this book to review, did I realize thatI had another book on my shelf, ‘Web Services Essentials’,by the same author. This was a good omen. The Essentials bookwas where I first cut my teeth on notions such as XML-RPC, SOAP,WSDLs,     

Seeds handbook: biology, production, processing and storage. 2nd edn. * Desai BB. 2004. * New York: Marcel Dekker.{pound}115 (hardback). 787 pp.

This book comprisesfour parts, the first three as identified in the title, anda fourth described as newer seed biotechnologies. Almost halfof the book is devoted to seed production,     

The Lakes Handbook, Volume 1. Limnology and Limnetic Ecology. Edited by O'Sullivan P. E. and Reynolds C. S. (2004) Blackwell Science, Ltd. Oxford, UK. $204.95. ISBN 0-632-04797-6.

There is a lot to like about this book. There is also some disappointment.Because the list of chapter authors was such a stunning collectionof talent, I happily volunteered to read the book for the Journalof Plankton Research. It took less time to read it than thevolume’s five year gestation, but it was not all smoothsledding through 700     

The Biogeochemistry of Submerged Soils. * Kirk, G. 2004. * Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. {pound}100 (hardcover). 304 pp.

One can learn a lot about thegeochemistry of submerged soils in this book by Kirk. However,it is not, as the title implies, focused on the biogeochemistryof all submerged soils. In Chapter 1 Kirk gives a very briefoverview     

Ecological genetics: design, analysis and application. * Lowe A, Harris S, Ashton P. 2004. * Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. * {pound}29.99 (softback). 344 pp

This book introduces readers toa whole range of topics associated with ecological geneticsby covering such subjects as genetic markers and sampling, geneticdiversity, gene flow, hybridization and phylogeny construction.Within these chapters     

Aquatic Food Webs: An Ecosystem Approach. Edited by Belgrano A., Scharler U. M., Dunne J. and Ulanowicz R. E. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005. 272 pp. ISBN 0198564821 (hardback). {pound}85.00.

Communicating editor: K.J. Flynn This well-produced and useful book is split into three sectionscontaining in total some 15 chapters authored by a range ofexperts in their respective areas. The book starts with a section on ‘structure and function’and a chapter (Elser and Hessen) concerning the importance ofstoichiometry in food webs; this is like most of the book wellwritten. However, the relative importance of such automaticlinks in multinutrient models may be called into question consideringthe contents of subsequent chapters which point out the significanceof the development of antigrazing mechanisms (which may oftenbe associated with changes in stoichiometry in phototrophs).Chapter 2 (Melián et al.) considers spatial structureand dynamics in marine food webs; this is a brief and, to mymind, the least satisfying of the chapters. Chapter 3 (Christianet al.) looks at the     

Flora of China, Volume 22: Poaceae

This book is a part of an ongoing project focusing on the floraof China, an international collaborative project involving manyChinese and non-Chinese taxonomists throughout the world, whichis supported by various funding agencies (see http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/).The project is not a simple translation based on the Chinese-languageFlora Republicae Popularis Sinicae (FRPS), but     

Effects of breeding density, synchrony, and experience on extrapair paternity in tree swallows

Breeding density, synchrony, and experience are expected toinfluence the frequency of extrapair paternity in birds. UsingDNA fingerprinting, we examined the effect of these factorson tree swallows nesting at relatively high (grids of nest-boxes)and low (solitary boxes at least 100 m from the nearest neighbor)densities and in relatively synchronous (Alberta) and asynchronous(Ontario) populations in Canada. The mean percentage of extrapairoffspring per nest did not differ significantly between birdsnesting in grids (43%, n = 22 families) and solitary boxes (57%,n = 12 families). Similarly, there was no significant differencein the mean percentage of extrapair offspring per nest betweenrelatively synchronous (60%, n = 12 Alberta families) and asynchronous(41%, n = 22 Ontario families) populations. We also found noconsistent pattern between extrapair paternity and breedingexperience among seven males and seven females examined overtwo to three breeding seasons. Female tree swallows can influencethe fertilization success of extrapair males by active selectionand rejection of copulation partners. We suggest that this abilitylimits the predicted effect of various ecological factors onthe frequency of extrapair paternity     

Molecular ecotoxicology of plants. Ecological Studies Vol. 170. * Sandermann H. ed. 2004. * Berlin: Springer. $89{middle dot}95 (hard cover). 241 pp.

Googling the term‘molecular ecotoxicology’ results in less than 1000hits compared to more than 8·5 million for ‘moleculargenetics’. Hence, we are dealing with a rather new orless well-defined and less propagated field of science. Springer'sbook Molecular ecotoxicology of plants edited by H. Sandermannmay therefore fill a gap and it is unique in focusing on plants.A first introductory chapter sets the stage and tries to definethe term for a broad     

An introduction to plant structure and development * Beck CB. 2005. * Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. {pound}30.00 (hardback). 464 pp.

This book has beenwritten primarily as a text for a senior plant anatomy course.The initial phrase ‘An introduction to’ is somewhatmisleading as a student would need to have some elementary knowledgeof botany as well as cell structure and physiology to followthe information and the ideas without difficulty. The authordoes     

Proteomics for Biological Discovery * Edited by T.D. Veenstra and John R. Yates

An understanding of the roles and interactions of proteins withincells is vital to our understanding of biology. Proteomics hascome a long way, and covers many areas now, since the inventionof 2 dimensional gel electrophoresis in the 1970s, or the coiningof the term proteomics in the 1990s. As more people move intothis important area, there is a need for guides to aid thesemoves. Proteomics for Biological Discovery aims to serve assuch a guide. The format of this multi-author book is well laidout, with fifteen chapters in three main parts: I. Foundationsof Proteomics; II. Functional Proteomics; and III. Novel Approachesin Proteomics. The editors have selected a strong team of respectedexperts in the various proteomics niches to write the fifteenconstituent chapters. The chapters are, for the most part, self-contained,and there is no