Alice in the Land of Plants Biology of Plants and Their Importance for Planet Earth /

• Main Author: Manetas, Yiannis (Author)
• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg : Imprint: Springer, 2012.
• Subjects: Life sciences.; Plant science.; Botany.; Nature.; Environment.; Life Sciences.; Plant Sciences.; Popular Science in Nature and Environment.

Why is it that plants do not need to move? How does a nonmotile organism have sex or defend itself? Why are plants asymmetric and not of a fixed size? Why are some plants virtually immortal? Why is cloning a routine matter in the plant kingdom? What is the mechanism that allows plants to exploit a p...

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: Plants are no less complex than animals – they are just different
• Basic plant organisation– how it differs from that of animals
• Why trees are almost immortal and other related issues
• Short evolutionary history of plants
• Sex in non‐motile organisms
• The world through the eyes of plants
• The defence of a stationary organism
• Symbiosis galore
• Deviations from the basic biological type
• A final word on plant intelligence
• Epilogue: Tribute to Darwin.