Fundamentals of Plant Physiology

Book Preface

Over the course of publishing six editions of Plant Physiol-ogy (now Plant Physiology and Development), it has become abundantly clear to us that, as a consequence of the spec-tacular advances in plant developmental genetics, the field of plant physiology has broadened in scope and increased in depth to the point where it is no longer possible for a single textbook to serve the needs of all courses on plant physiology.

Based on extensive feedback from instructors affiliated with a wide range of universities and colleges, we designed Fundamentals of Plant Physiology for instructors seeking a shorter text that emphasizes concepts as opposed to detailed, comprehensive coverage. To accommodate instructors wishing to focus their lectures on canonical plant physiol-ogy topics, the treatment of plant development, including hormonal signaling and photoreceptors, has been greatly condensed and reorganized. In keeping with a conceptual approach, genetic pathways have been streamlined by prioritizing functional mechanisms and by substituting descriptive terms for three-letter gene names whenever possible.

Throughout the text, explanations have been revised for easier comprehension, and figures have been simplified and annotated for greater clarity. To further improve read-ability, we have switched to a single-column format that includes a running glossary in the margins. In working on Fundamentals of Plant Physiology, our primary goal has been to provide a more concise, accessible, and focused treatment of the field of plant physiology, while at the same time maintaining the high standard of scientific accuracy and pedagogical richness for which Plant Physiology and Development is known.

We wish to thank Massimo Maffei for his suggested revisions to the physiological chapters. This book could not have been produced without the extensive help and support of the outstanding team of professionals at Sinauer Associates, now an imprint of Oxford University Press. We are especially grateful to our project editor, Laura Green, whose considerable expertise in plant physiology and bio-chemistry, and thorough dissection and critique of each chapter, which sometimes entailed major reorganizing, helped us to optimize the logical flow of topics and avoid as many factual errors as is humanly possible. Our second line of defense against errors and stylistic problems was our tireless copyeditor, Liz Pierson, who did wonders to shape the newly designed chapters into a seamless, integrated, and coherent whole. As always, the talented artist Elizabeth Mo-rales implemented all the changes we requested to existing figures and created several new, attractive figures as well.

We owe the new single-column format of the book, including the running glossary, to the creative talents of Chris Small and his production team. Ann Chiara designed the inside of the book and crafted the layout. Another new design feature was use of chapter openers featuring plants pertinent to each chapter’s content. Mark Siddall, our photo researcher, is responsible for finding the many fine and appropriate photos for use as chapter openers, and Beth Roberge Friedrichs deserves credit for designing the distinctive new cover for Fundamentals of Plant Physology. We are also grateful to Johanna Walkowicz for laying the foundation for the book’s conception by devising and com-piling surveys obtained from a wide selection of instructors. Thanks to her detailed analysis of the data, we were able to identify those topics of plant physiology that were most often covered in courses.

Finally, we extend our deepest gratitude to our publisher, Andy Sinauer, whose creative and innovative contributions to Fundamentals of Plant Physiology, as well as to previous editions of Plant Physiology and Development, are too numer-ous to list. Andy is retiring this year, and we are extremely sorry to see him go. He leaves behind a magnificent legacy, Sinauer Associates, that is second to none among publishers of scientific textbooks. Although we will sorely miss Andy’s wisdom and invaluable insights, we look forward to a productive ongoing relationship with our new publisher, Oxford University Press.

Lincoln Taiz Ian Max Moller

Eduardo Zeiger Angus Murphy