Burkhard Büdel - Böcker

Rock surfaces provide a challenging habitat for a broad diversity of micro- or small-sized organisms. They interact with each other forming complex communities as well with their substrate causing biodeterioration of rock. Extreme fluctuation in light, temperature and hydration are the main factors that determine the rock surface habitats. The habitat includes epilithic organisms which thrive on the surface without penetrating the rock, endolithic organisms which live just beneath the surface using a thin layer of the rock surface for protection against adverse conditions of the environment (e.g. light protection, storage of water) and chasmo-endolithic organisms which use fractures of the rock surface for a more habitable environment. The book will provide an overview of the various organismal groups, from prokaryotes to vascular plants and arthropods, as well as survey organism-mediated interactions with the rock surface. The latter include biogenic weathering (biogeochemistry, state-of-the art imaging methods), photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation at and inside the rock surface.

This volume summarizes our currentunderstanding of biological soil crusts (biocrusts), which are omnipresent indryland regions. Since they cover the soil surface, they influence, or evencontrol, all surface exchange processes. Being one of the oldest terrestrialcommunities, biocrusts comprise a high diversity of cyanobacteria, algae,lichens and bryophytes together with uncounted bacteria, and fungi. The authorsshow that biocrusts are an integral part of dryland ecosystems, stabilizingsoils, influencing plant germination and growth, and playing a key role incarbon, nitrogen and water cycling. Initial attempts have been made to usebiocrusts as models in ecological theory. On the other hand, biocrusts are endangeredby local disruptions and global change, highlighting the need for enhancedrecovery methods. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the fascinatingfield of biocrust research, making it indispensable not only for scientists inthis area, but also for land managers, policy makers, and anyone interested inthe environment.

This volume summarizes our currentunderstanding of biological soil crusts (biocrusts), which are omnipresent indryland regions. The authorsshow that biocrusts are an integral part of dryland ecosystems, stabilizingsoils, influencing plant germination and growth, and playing a key role incarbon, nitrogen and water cycling.

Time and change characterise the natural world, but in the biological sciences, by comparison with spatial measurements, time is a somewhat neglected parameter. Structural analyses of great depth and elegance have taken our spatial understa- ing to atomic dimensions, where distances are measured in A. To obtain temporal measurements appropriate to this spatial scale, dynamics on an attosecond time- 18 scale (10 s) are required in order to visualise physico-chemical mechanisms (Baum and Zewail 2006). For certain specific reactions of molecular components obtained from biological sources (e. g. the formation of carboxyhaemoglobin by the oxygenation of haemoglobin), probing of picosecond reactions are important (Brunori et al. 1999). In plants, femtosecond lifetimes of excited states of chlo- phyll are key to the photosynthetic light reaction. These considerations underline the extreme range of dynamic interactions that are necessitated for an understa- ing of the living organism, for if we include the long history of evolutionary change 9 (Fenchel 2002), an upper limit to our studies would extend over about 3. 8 x 10 years (Fig. 1).When the dynamic range of biological processes is to be considered, we must be aware that the system as it performs in vivo is a heterarchy with interactions of great complexity that occur, not merely within a level but between levels, and often across widely-separated time domains. The living state is better considered to be homeodynamic rather than homeostatic (Yates 1992; Lloyd et al. 2001).

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences. The present volume includes reviews on genetics, cell biology, physiology, comparative morphology, systematics, ecology, and vegetation science.

Time and change characterise the natural world, but in the biological sciences, by comparison with spatial measurements, time is a somewhat neglected parameter. Structural analyses of great depth and elegance have taken our spatial understa- ing to atomic dimensions, where distances are measured in A. To obtain temporal measurements appropriate to this spatial scale, dynamics on an attosecond time- 18 scale (10 s) are required in order to visualise physico-chemical mechanisms (Baum and Zewail 2006). For certain specific reactions of molecular components obtained from biological sources (e. g. the formation of carboxyhaemoglobin by the oxygenation of haemoglobin), probing of picosecond reactions are important (Brunori et al. 1999). In plants, femtosecond lifetimes of excited states of chlo- phyll are key to the photosynthetic light reaction. These considerations underline the extreme range of dynamic interactions that are necessitated for an understa- ing of the living organism, for if we include the long history of evolutionary change 9 (Fenchel 2002), an upper limit to our studies would extend over about 3. 8 x 10 years (Fig. 1).When the dynamic range of biological processes is to be considered, we must be aware that the system as it performs in vivo is a heterarchy with interactions of great complexity that occur, not merely within a level but between levels, and often across widely-separated time domains. The living state is better considered to be homeodynamic rather than homeostatic (Yates 1992; Lloyd et al. 2001).

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences.

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences. The present volume includes reviews on genetics, cell biology, physiology, comparative morphology, systematics, ecology, and vegetation science.

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences. The present volume includes reviews on genetics, cell biology, physiology, comparative morphology, systematics, ecology, and vegetation science.

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences.

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences. The present volume includes reviews on genetics, cell biology, physiology, comparative morphology, systematics, ecology, and vegetation science.

As a reader of this book you will become familiar with current, up-to-date comprehensive knowledge about all classes of eukaryotic algae, the cyanobacteria, and symbiotic interactions of algae and cyanobacteria with other organisms.

As a reader of this book you will become familiar with current, up-to-date comprehensive knowledge about all classes of eukaryotic algae, the cyanobacteria, and symbiotic interactions of algae and cyanobacteria with other organisms.

Cyanoprokaryotes are probably the oldest organisms with oxygen generating photosynthesis. However, their cell structure and type of asexual reproduction prove their eubacterial origin. This volume treats cyanobacterial types with diversified thalli, with the typical presence of prominent, specialized cells having specific functions (heterocytes, akinetes, hairs, necridia), complex life cycles, and a combination of various reproductive strategies (monocytes, hormogonia and hormocytes). The most diversified heterocytous cyanobacteria with multicellular, morphologically complex thalli have a specific position among prokaryotic organisms. It is the last part of a review of cyanoprokaryotes (Cyanophyta, Cyanobacteria) issued in the “Süßwasserflora von Mitteleuropa”.All heterocytous cyanobacteria are included in this volume, especially taxa studied and revised according to modern phylogenetic criteria. The author tried to respect all confirmed changes and corrections and stresses especially those morphological features that are not controversial to phylogenetic studies and enable the identification of various populations in nature or in cultures according to morphological characteristics. A synthesis of modern results with traditional nomenclature - sometimes difficult - is aimed to foster progress in cyanobacterial research. One of the major reasons to present this work is to enhance identification of natural populations using morphological criteria for their identification.

Zweiter Teil des Bandes „Pteridophyta (farnartige Pflanzen) und Anthophyta (Blütenpflanzen)" aus der Reihe „Süßwasserflora von Mitteleuropa". Dieser Band enthält die zur Artbestimmung erforderlichen Schlüssel von 27 Pflanzenfamilien, deren Vertreter ganz oder teilweise im Wasser leben, darunter die Brennnessel-, Knöterich-, Nelken-, Hahnenfuß-, Kreuzblüten-, Dolden-, Lippenblüten- und Wegerichgewächse.