doi:10.1093/aob/mcs280 Published electronically: 12 December 2012 Plants & people James D. Mauseth. 2012. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

$156.95 ( paperback). pp. 502. Although it is noble to study things just for the sake of so doing, it is arguably more defensible if one can justify that interest. So, whilst it is ne to study botany ( personally, I cant think of a ner or more noble calling!), we should be mindful of the wider context of that work. And for botany there is a very simple equation; botany plants people. Simply put, botany is the ultimate science of humanity. OK, maybe that is going too far for some, but the point Im trying to make is that without context and an appreciation of the bigger picture it is easy to lose sight of why we are studying X, Y or Z. To that end it is always useful to be reminded of the importance that botany especially under its modern guise of plant science plays in all our lives. And that is essentially the premise of Mauseths Plants & people (hereafter referred to as P&P). It has a second goal, too, as part of Jones & Bartletts (the books publisher) Learning Topics in Biology Series, which aims to supply comprehensive texts that will introduce non-science majors to the wonders of biology. After Chapter 1s Introduction (approx. 18 pp.), which makes the case for the importance of an understanding of plants and people, the book is divided into thematic sections. Section 1, Plants Themselves (approx. 206 pp.) is a scenesetter to get those non-science majors up to speed and deals with topics such as Whole plants, Cells, tissues and organs, Basic metabolism, Energy metabolism, and four chapters on various aspects of reproduction, genetics and evolution. There are many very good general botany texts e.g. Raven et al. (2003) and Mauseth (2003) that cover this sections material, and at more length and in more detail. But that may well be the point of P&P: it is supposed to be a general text for non-majors and so has to be self-contained. Thus this Sections general scene-setting is probably necessary (and essential), even though it inevitably means less space for the real people dimension. Section 2, Plants, People, and the Biosphere (approx. 82 pp.), has three chapters dealing with Plant biogeography, Climate change and Agriculture and the biosphere (large-scale human plant issues are dealt with here; whereas the next section focuses more on specic frequently individual species-level often smaller-scale issues). Finally, Section 3, Economic Botany (approx. 137 pp.; but, arguably arguably? No argument, surely! should be the biggest part of the book), features six chapters with the diverse titles: Food plants: plants that make our lives possible; Spices and herbs: plants that make eating fun; Plants as sources of medicines, drugs and psychoactive compounds ( plants that make life both possible and fun?); Fibers, wood, and chemicals: plants that clothe and house us; Ornamental plants: plants that refresh us; and Algae and fungi: close (and

not-so-close) relatives of plants [but one cant ignore them they are Melbourne Code organisms (Miller et al., 2011), after all! and they extend the range of peoples plant-related dependence . . . ]. Certainly, those chapters subtitles make it fairly obvious how important plants and plant products are to people (whether they be non-majors or majors . . . ). The text concludes with 24.5 pages of a 2-column Glossary, from ABA to Zygote (an interactive version of which exists on the companion website but . . . unless you which was no use for looking up abaca as a close match search for ABA rst, then it nds abaca for ABA . . . ), and a 22.5-page, 3-column Index, from (which is what? see end of this review for the Abaca answer you might be surprised . . . ) to Zygotene. Each chapter has a summary box of important terms (Ive not checked, but trust that all of those terms are in the glossary!) and a Summary of Concepts (from that chapter . . . ). Overall, P&P is abundantly illustrated (in colour!) and well written with lots of pedagogy and humour and attention to detail (as one has come to expect from Mauseth, who was awarded amongst other such distinctions in his career the USAs student-nominated and -selected Natural Sciences Foundation Advisory Council Award for teaching in 2009). P&P has four declared objectives (Preface, p. xix): To introduce you to the basic principles and concepts of plant biology; to discuss the roles of plants and people in issues of global importance such as climate change, endangered species, genetically modied organisms, pollution, and so on; to describe the plants we use in our daily lives as food, drink, clothing, drugs, and ornamental plants; and to encourage an interest in plants . . . . In my view P&P certainly achieves the rst three; success of the fourth is hard to assess but lets hope so! But P&P is not as up-to-date as one might like. For example, it does not mention Ug99 Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (wheat stem rust) scourge of large swathes of wheat crops worldwide at present and since its recognition in 1999 (Anon., 2012a), which is a very obvious people plant concern. As is Magnaporthe grisea (formerly oryzae), rice blast, which is also not mentioned (Rice blast is the most important disease concerning the rice crop in the world; Anon., 2012b). In Table 4.4 ( p. 94; which is the same as Table 13.2 in Mauseths Botany) nickel is not included as an essential plant nutrient. Whilst I understand there has been debate as to its essentiality, I believe it is now rmly placed amongst the other 16 essentials (Liu et al., 2011). I have a few other queries/comments. In Chapter 1, is Box 1.1s 2.5 pages on The Scientic Method really necessary given the intended readership? (Although it is interesting to discover that biology is lawless.). Micrographs usually have a magnication but no scale bar; arguably, a scale bar is more useful(?), and its absence is a little out of line with Mauseths keenness on size and measuring ( pp. xxiv and xxv). Figure 3.15 presents an opportunity for confusion regarding the term pit: pits (in cell walls) of sclereids are illustrated in (a), but a different kind of pit is referred to in (c) the pit of a peach (Im not even sure what that pit is, unless it is a mis-spelling of pith..?). Anyway, in the Glossary ( p. 467) pit refers only to the structure found in a sclerenchyma cell wall. In Fig. 11.1 ( p. 258) a coccolithophorid is shown but not named. I think it is an Emiliana species, probably huxleyi (also vii

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known as EHUX), which information would have been useful in permitting those who were interested in pursuing their global climate change-related interests having been inspired so to do after reading P&Ps Chapter 11, in which EHUX is not unimportant (see e.g. Tyrell, 2012) rather than just a nod in the direction of carbon sequestration on p. 270. The brown alga Undaria pinnatida (wakame, p. 442) is mentioned in the text and purportedly illustrated in Fig. 18.22 on the same page. Yet the legend for that gure refers to Gracilaria parvispora (which red algal genus the image looks like; it certainly does not look like Undaria . . . ). Finally (?!), the book is devoid of any indications of further reading or references. And thats quite an issue; if you are keen to emphasise that botany is an evidence-based science (Box 1.1), you really ought to provide some extra reading wherein the evidence for statements in the book can be found, and topics read further. Sadly, there dont appear to be any references as such on the companion website (see below) either. Although these are largely minor irritations (to be ironed out in a second edition?) they are irksome for me nevertheless (and more so for those non-majors . . . ?). On the plus side, Fig. 3.12 is a really useful teaching image since it has parenchyma, collenchyma and sclerenchyma in the same eld of view! And, although evidently aimed at the US market, it translates well to the UK (whose readers may be amused/bemused to see primacy of Imperial units for macroscopic features with metric equivalents) and Europe, and even Asia and elsewhere in the world because P&Ps themes are truly global and relevant to all humanity. Does P&P have any competitors? Yes! And the obvious ones are textbooks such as Simpson and Ogorzaly (2001) and Levetin and McMahon (2006), which cover similar territory to P&P. The former is a more traditional economic botany text (with no colour images!) and has little pure plant biology, but the latter is much closer to P&P and may be seen as a direct competitor (and has recommendations of further reading . . . and its 6th edition is now out, which Ive not yet reviewed . . . ). Other competitors are Chrispeels and Sadava (2003) and Murphy (2007), but the former is more on the genetic/environmental side of things, with much less basic botany than P&P; the latter is much more concerned with agricultural history, plant domestication and crop breeding (with hardly any of P&Ps scene-setting plant biology). The most similar direct competitor is likely to be Wood and Habgood (2010), which is also designed for non-majors in the UKs Open University and covers some similar ground to P&P, but with less depth on the basic botany side. For more of the people stories behind the plant work, you really need the likes of Hobhouse (2005), Musgrave and Musgrave (2000), and Laws (2010); but to a great extent that is all that these last four volumes concentrate on there is very little of the plant biology of P&P in them. Finally and somewhat bizarrely to some extent P&P actually competes with Mauseths own botany text book (Mauseth, 2003, which has its numerous Plants and People boxes), although P&P may be considered Botany-lite (again, for its intended readership). Anyway, it is probably a little misguided to talk of competitors. The reality is that you need several tomes to get a complete picture of plants-and-people, but P&P is about giving enough to a non-major class to get them sufciently appraised of the important stuff, so they may be sufciently inspired and encouraged to pursue their viii

enquiries elsewhere (maybe in some of those other texts mentioned above). In that regard, P&P stands up well to the competition. The book comes with access to its companion website (aimed at the student reader), which includes an interactive glossary, crosswords, study quizzes, chapter outlines and research and reference links. This resource is relatively straightforward and not overly fancy, but I had a few issues with it. The interesting-sounding Word le versions of chapter outlines became even more interesting when I clicked on them individually to download and was advised that my request is not supported (although the option to download them all at once did seem to be supported . . . ). One of the most idiosyncratic web links must be to the Spice Trade (http://www.spicetrade.org/index.html), in which you are encouraged to Start from nothing and dominate another continent and Spread the inuence of your culture while creating your own empire! Hmmm, where will that end..? (Apparently, by colonizing Europe . . . ). Study quizzes which could be liberated and used as the basis for ones own multi-choice questions for an end-of-module exam (or whatever) were useful time-savers for busy plant biology teachers. I guess (and hope!) that the great advantage of putting material onto a website is that it can be kept up-to-date and interesting, and new materials added without need to revise the hard copy text. However, be advised: access to the companion website is only for 365 days, so students are encouraged to pass the course rst time round or, in any event, within a year of accessing the site. To end best bits of P&P for me? Section 1 with its great 1st sub-heading on p. 1, Plants are important to people, and an equally great 2nd sub-heading on p. 5, People are important to plants. Go on, write them down, afx that note to the wall of your study/lecture theatre, computer monitor or water cooler, and let that mantra guide your life. People and plants can be so good if they only work together. Or, as Mauseth himself writes in Box 17.1, The important thing with plants is to observe them, think about them, respect them, tend them, and enjoy them. Seconded (and Plants & People should help in this noble ambition)! bres from a banana relative used to make paper [Abaca for tea bags. . .p. 450] Nigel Chaffey E-mail n.chaffey@bathspa.ac.uk L I T E R AT U R E C I T E D
Anon. 2012a. Ug99. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ug99 (accessed June, 2012). Anon. 2012b. Magnaporthe grisea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Magnaporthe_oryzae (accessed June, 2012). Chrispeels MJ, Sadava DE. 2003. Plants, genes, and crop biotechnology, 2nd edn. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Hobhouse H. 2005. Seeds of change. New York: Shoemaker & Hoard. Laws B. 2010. Fifty plants that changed the course of history. Newton Abbot, UK: David & Charles. Levetin E, McMahon K. 2006. Plants and society, 5th edn. New York: McGraw-Hill. Liu G, Simonne EH, Li Y. 2011. Nickel nutrition in plants. Horticultural Sciences Document HS1191, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. http://edis.ifas.u.edu/hs1191 (accessed June, 2012). Mauseth JD. 2003. Botany: an introduction to plant biology, 3rd edn. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.

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Miller JS, Funk VA, Wagner WL, Barrie F, Hoch PC, Herendeen P. 2011. Outcomes of the 2011 Botanical Nomenclature Section at the XVIII International Botanical Congress. PhytoKeys 5: 13. http:// dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.5.1850. Murphy DJ. 2007. People, plants, and genes: the story of crops and humanity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Musgrave T, Musgrave W. 2000. An empire of plants: people and plants that changed the world. London: Cassell & Co. Raven PH, Evert RF, Eichhorn SE. 2003. Biology of plants, 6th edn. New York: WH Freeman and Co./Worth Publishers. Simpson BB, Ogorzaly MC. 2001. Economic botany, 3rd edn. Singapore: McGraw-Hill. Tyrell T. 2012. Emiliana huxleyi homepage. http://www.soes.soton.ac.uk/ staff/tt/ (accessed June 2012). Wood C, Habgood N. eds. 2010. Why people need plants. Kew, London: Royal Botanic Gardens/The Open University.

doi:10.1093/aob/mcs281 Published electronically: 19 December 2012 Photosynthesis. Plastid biology, energy conversion and carbon assimilation Julian J. Eaton-Rye, Baishnab C. Tripathy and Thomas D. Sharkey. eds. 2012. Springer. E213.95 (hardback). pp. 856. When one thinks about plants one invariably thinks about photosynthesis. Photosynthesis has long been a central theme of plant science, driven by early curiosity and discoveries that led to research momentum in this area. Many of the mysteries of plants could be explained, it was thought, if this central driving force could be understood. Years of research have revealed the complexity and intricacy of the molecular detail of photosynthetic processes at one level, together with their integration with the whole plant and interface with the environment at the other. We are at a time when there is renewed interest in photosynthesis, particularly as a means to improve crop yields, and the book is very timely. Photosynthesis. Plastid biology, energy conversion and carbon assimilation is volume 34 of Springers series Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration; these two subjects have been grouped together because of the similarities in the protein complexes and bioenergetics machinery involved. It is a substantial volume and is organised into eight parts, which are subdivided into 33 chapters. The eight sections start with The photosynthetic world and then go on to encompass Plastid biochemistry and physiology ( part 2), Photosynthetic responses of plants to environmental stress ( part 3), Energy conversion ( part 4), Carbon assimilation, sucrose synthesis and transport ( part 5), Climate change and photosynthesis ( part 6), a Historical perspective ( part 7) and a section on The career of Govindjee ( part 8), to whom the book is dedicated. Most weight in the book is given to light reactions and energy conversion processes, with about a fth of the content covering carbon metabolism and leaf level processes. This balance reects the career of Govindjee, whose research focused on

light reactions of photosynthesis and discoveries in photosystem II in particular. The chapter on Early pioneers of photosynthesis research provides a fascinating insight into the long history of inquiry into photosynthesis. This interesting section shows how ideas change and develop over time and provides an interesting context for current understanding in the eld. In-depth analysis of the career of Govindjee follows, showing the tremendous productivity and insightfulness of one man. Apart from an interesting chapter on Articial photosynthesis, this is very much a book about fundamental plant science. Topics in photosynthesis that are not given special attention and dealt with in depth are C4 photosynthesis, Crassulacean Acid Metabolism, photosynthetic nitrogen assimilation, photorespiration, starch metabolism and the impact of leaf and canopy architecture on photosynthesis; neither are applied aspects such as photosynthetic improvement or crop science dealt with in detail. It would be more-or-less impossible to cover all aspects of photosynthesis in one book and readers can nd excellent coverage of these topics elsewhere. What the book does cover, however, which is substantial, it does very well. One feature of the book is the breadth of photosynthetic organisms that are covered. This begins in the rst chapter, The photosynthetic world, which presents a broad, global introduction to photosynthesis that goes on to compare and characterise the diversity of different photosynthetic organisms, including the reaction centres involved and their evolution, making the point that a single endosymbiotic event gave rise to the plastids of all eukaryotic autotrophs. This theme continues in Part II, which covers the origin, evolution and division of plastids, articulating that science has been able to decipher in a few decades what nature has taken millions of years to achieve. Substantial detail resides in these chapters, which makes them a valuable resource for students and teachers, appealing to advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers, particularly those with an interest in light reactions of photosynthesis. Although some of the technical detail may be beyond that necessary for undergraduates, the comprehensive nature of the chapters makes this a rich resource. The book is well laid out with clear diagrams and plenty of room for annotation of the text. Each chapter essentially serves as an up-to-date review article of each eld covered and ends with a comprehensive list of references, including primary research papers that will be valuable should readers wish to read source material in depth; not many text books provide such a large bibliography. In summary, this is an excellent treatise that covers fundamental aspects of the photosynthetic processes from pigments, light harvesting and energy conversion, effects of environmental stress on the photosynthetic system, through to CO2 xation and synthesis and transport of sucrose. The book ends with an interesting historical account of the development of ideas in photosynthesis followed by a section on the career of Govindjee. Diagrams are clear, with some use of colour, and the text is well laid out. Each chapter ends with a useful bibliography to enable further investigation of primary sources. The book will be a valuable resource for advanced students, teachers and researchers of photosynthesis. Matthew Paul E-mail matthew.paul@rothamsted.ac.uk ix

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