Hardarson, G. and Broughton, W. J. Maximising the use of biological nitrogen fixation in agriculture

This volume contains invited papers given at an FAO/IAEA technicalmeeting held in Rome in March 2001. Most have already been publishedin Plant and Soil 252(1), 2003 and have been reviewed, althoughthe latter is unclear for two papers, those by Cocking and byJensen et al. In that     

Adu-Gyamfi, J.J. Food Security in Nutrient-Stressed Environments: Exploiting Plants' Genetic Capabilities

This volume contains contributions from an international workshopheld at ICRISAT, Patancheru, India in September 1999. Approximatelyone-half of the contributions are reprinted from Plant and Soil,Vol. 245, No. 1 (2002). The workshop was the result of 15 yearsfunding from the Government     

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     

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     

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     

Multi-spectral imaging of rhizobox systems: New perspectives for the observation and discrimination of rhizosphere components

In this issue of Plant and Soil Nakaji et al. (Plant Soil, this volume, 2008) report a novel approach for automatically identifying roots and other rhizosphere components in rhizosphere images acquired using a multi-spectral (visible—VIS- and near-infrared—NIR-) imaging system. The images are acquired through a root-window observation device and the study highlights the perspectives offered by this imaging system. An outstanding outcome of this research is that the new approach can be applied to effectively separate soil litter from the purely mineral phase and distinguish root tissues that differ in physiological status, i.e. live (different age classes), senescent and dead. If achievable routinely, such a detailed classification of rhizosphere components could greatly improve our appraisal of root turnover and associated organic matter input to the soil, information of paramount importance for an improved understanding of many essential processes such as global geochemical cycles. Minirhizotrons (MR) systems have been increasingly used in global change studies because they are a convenient way to frequently and nondestructively quantify root length production and mortality (Norby and Jackson, New Phytol, 147:3–12, 2000; Hendrick and Pregitzer, Ecology, 73:1094–1104, 1992). However, the MR technique still has many limitations, including the lack of a standard, accurate and rapid procedure to extract and classify rhizosphere components from the MR images obtained. The recent work by Nakaji et al. (Plant Soil, this volume, 2008) provides convincing evidence that the inclusion of a VIS-NIR multi-spectral capability into conventional MR systems could substantially improve this method, and extend its adoption by the wider plant scientist community as a standard research tool.     

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     

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     

Slow Onset of Activation and Delay of Inactivation in Transient Current of Nitella axilliformis

Single membrane samples of Nitella axilliformis, in which majorparts of vacuoles were removed, were prepared by centrifugationand ligation with threads. Voltage clamp experiments were madewith the samples, proving that the transient current occursonly after a initial delay as was observed in Chara corallinaby Beilby and Coster [(1979) Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 6 : 337].The membrane potential measured at a corner of the sample exhibitedpractically the same time course as the membrane potential atthe center which changed stepwise, indicating that the delayis not related to the propagation of the potential change. Thedelay did not change sensitively to ionic strength of the externalsolution, suggesting that it is not caused by low electric conductancearound the sample but is related to the gating mechanism ofCl channel. Various models were examined to explain the timecourse of the transient current. The best agreement was obtainedby introducing a delay _h in inactivation with the expressionof Ici=cim⁸h(VM— Vci),where Ici stands for the transient current and VM is the clamppotential, and ci = 15mS.cm^–2,Vci = –31.5 mV. The delay _h decreases similarly to _Tmwith increasing VM, suggesting that inactivation starts afteractivation proceeds. (Received November 4, 1982; Accepted January 8, 1983)     

Degradation of Endogenous Organic Acids Induced by Pi Uptake in Catharanthus roseus Cells: Involvement of the Biochemical pH-Stat

We have previously shown that inorganic orthophosphate (P_i)uptake by Catharanthus roseus cells proceeds by a proton/P_icotransport mechanism [Sakano (1990) Plant Physiol. 93: 479]that acidifies the cytoplasm [Sakano et al. (1992) Plant Physiol.99: 672]. In the present study, we analyzed changes in the contentof endogenous organic acids, carbon dioxide evolution, and oxygenconsumption upon P_i application. The results are consistentwith the operation of the biochemical pH-stat mechanism [Davies(1986) Physiol. Plant. 67: 702] during and after P_i uptake. (Received November 13, 1997; Accepted March 30, 1998)     

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     

Some comments on ‘Urease activity and its Michaelis constant for soil systems’, by Viraj Beriet al.

Summary Recently Beri, Goswami and Brar made a very valuable contribution to our knowledge of soil urease activity. Unfortunately some errors crept into their experimental approach and the mathematical treatment of the experimental data. Rectification leads in some points to conclusions different from those of the authors.Viraj Beri, K. P. Goswami and S. S. Brar, Plant and Soil49, 105–115 (1978).     

Improved Thermocouple Psychrometer for the Measurement of Plant and Soil Water Potential: II. OPERATION AND CALIBRATION

The operation characteristics (the Peltier cooling current iand the cooling period t_c), the range of measurement of waterpotential, the calibration sensitivity, and the accuracy areevaluated for an improved psychrometer and compared with datain the literature, and with a recent theory. The range increases with increasing Peltier cooling currentup to the optimal value of i 9 mA and has been found to agreefairly well with the predictions of theory. A maximum rangeof 0 to about –13 000 J/kg is obtainable with the improvedpsychrometer. This is nearly twice that previously reportedfor a Spanner-type psychrometer. The experimental calibration sensitivities C'_s increase withincreasing water potential, cooling period, and temperatureand, with t_c = 60 s, are in general larger than the theoreticalvalues at high water potentials but less than the theoreticalvalues at low water potentials. They are mostly larger thanthose reported by Monteith and Owen but about the same as thoseof Lang and Trickett. The accuracy of the improved psychrometer is significantly greaterthan that previously reported for a Spanner-type psychrometer. While the theory predicts a linear relationship between waterpotential and peak output, the observed calibration curves arenon-linear and vary between psychrometers. Because of thesediscrepancies between observation and theory, calibration ofeach psychrometer is necessary.     

Cytogenetic Studies in Cochlearia L. The chromosomal homogeneity within both the 2n = 12 diploids and the 2n = 14 diploids and the cytogenetic relationship between the two chromosome levels

A cytogenetic study has been carried out within the diploidCochleariae. This has demonstrated that all the 2n = 12 taxaare chromosomally homogeneous, as are those with 2n = 14. Itis therefore suggested that the 2n = 12 group be recognisedas C pyrenaica DC, with the morphologically distinct specimensfrom France and Spain at present regarded as C. aestuaria (Lloyd)Heywood being given subspecific rank in C. pyrenaica. It isalso suggested that all the 2n = 14 taxa be regarded as C groenlandicaL. Some doubt is expressed on the existence of C. scotica Druceas a species, as all the specimens of this taxon examined provedto be tetraploid with 2n = 24. Genomic analysis has shown thatthe 2n = 14 group is a primary tetrasomic derivative of the2n = 12 group.     

The Nitrogen Content of Plants and the Self-thinning Rule of Plant Ecology: A Test of the Core-skin Hypothesis

The ‘core-skin’ hypothesis postulates that secondarilythickened plants behave energetically as an inert ‘core’covered by an active ‘skin’, the ‘skin’being two-imensional, the ‘core’ three-dimensional.This would explain the ‘self-thinning ‘or‘–3/2’ rule of plant ecology, that is, the tendencyfor log (dry weight per plant) and log (number of plants perunit area) to progress along a straight line relationship, withslope = – 3/2’. The hypothesis was tested as follows. Plant nitrogen contentwas used as an estimate of the mass of ‘skin’ perplant, and dry weight as an estimate of the mass of the ‘core’.As plants mature the slope of the relationship between y = log(mass of nitrogen per plant) and x = log (mass of dry matterper plant) is expected to decline from an initial value of 1.0towards a final value of 0.66. The intercept of the relationshipis expected to reflect the intrinsic content of ‘skin’per unit of ‘core’. Genotypic variation in thisparameter should cause genotypic differences in the maximumattainable yield of biomass per unit area. The expectations were investigated by fitting the function y= p+qx+r exp – x to 30 sets of data on plant nitrogencontent, plant weight and time in 18 different vegetables. Simplelinear regressions of y on x were fitted to more limited setsof data on weights and nitrogen contents of mature trees. Theexpectations were, with some minor exceptions, confirmed. Nitrogen, yield, plant competition, self-thinning     

The Fine Structure of Bamboo Fibres: I. OPTICAL PROPERTIES AND X-RAY DATA

Following the recent work on wood tracheides and sisal fibres,a detailed investigation has been made of the fine structureof a wide variety of bamboo fibres. A combination of X-ray analysis,measurement of refractive indices in longitudinal view and ofphase differences in transverse section, has presented a completepicture of cellulose chain orientation. The wall of bamboo fibresis many layered. An outermost, thin layer is composed of cellulosechains making an angle of 35° to cell length and this isfollowed by other, inner layers where the angle steadily decreasesfrom outer to inner layers, first to about 20° and thento about 10°. These layers are separated by thicker layers,dark in transverse section between crossed nicols, in whichthe angle is seldom more than 5–6°. These are averagefigures. The results show most clearly that each angle, , varieswith the fibre length, L, in such a way that the longer cellshave steeper spirals in harmony with a relation of the typeL=A+Bcot already proposed for wood tracheides.     

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     

A Rapid Method for the Determination of the Leaf Area of Oxalis corniculata L. and Tephrosia purpurea (Linn.) pers.

A rapid simple method has been described for the determinationof leaf area of Oxalis corniculata L. (Oxalidaceae) and Tephrosiapurpurea (Linn.) pers. (Leguminoseae) by evaluating area = a²x0.866and a²x0.335 respectively for the two plants, where a representsa single linear measurement. The relation has been derived afterintegrating the equation of the curve r² = a² cos 2 coveringthe area of each leaflet. Areas of a large number of leaflets have been determined withthe help of two methods (1) Planimeter method, (2) Evaluationmethod. The significance of the difference between the two valuesfor a particular leaf has been statistically examined and itappears that the former method can be replaced by the latterin the case of these plants.