Plant Biology (with InfoTrac )

By Karina Swanberg and Steve Arensberg

PLANT BIOLOGY, Second Edition provides a complete introduction to the science of plants, combining the most current, real-world examples with information on plant biodiversity and ecology, including topics like biotechnology, economic botany, and plant/human interactions. PLANT BIOLOGY begins with elements of botany that are most familiar to students: the structure, function, reproduction, physiology, and genetics of flowering plants. The evolutionary survey is then presented, with detail on the Prokaryotes, Protists, Fungi, Bryophytes, early Tracheophytes, Gymnosperms, and Angiosperms. The overall sequence of subjects builds from metabolism and plant function to reproduction, then from simpler to more advanced organisms, concluding with two ecological chapters. Each chapter has been written in a modular fashion, however, to allow them to be taught in any order. In this new edition, the biodiversity chapters provide the best-supported, most current phylogenetic view of the organisms. Cladistics are introduced along with basic information, including gene sequences, followed by modern studies using cladistics and sequence information to identify natural plant groupings. Through this presentation, students can appreciate different types of evidence that describe the past events and directions of evolution. Ecology is another exciting area of study for the introductory student. Can photosynthesis by plants ease problems associated with the burning of fossil fuels? Can we stem biodiversity loss through better ecosystem management? Questions like these are addressed, making the text topical, readable, and a useful guide, all the while maintaining the length and language appropriate for beginning biology students. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0534249302
• ISBN13: 9780534249304
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Brooks Cole
• Length: 568 Pages
• Weight: 2.74 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Simple read, informative

This book is written in a very clear style so that students of all ages can understand it. I used this book for a college level plant biology class, but I could see people using it as early as middle school for an introduction to botany. It may not be worth the price if you're just buying the book for leisure reading, but remember that you're paying for a textbook.

Very helpful

This book was extremely useful in my plant science class. The prof. taught from it and the images inside are great. Everything is well laid out and I like the chapter summaries and information. This book was expensive, but for me it was worth it!

ignore that bitter student

I too used this book for my introductory botany class and actually worked for Tom Rost several years later (as my both interest and understanding of the subject grew, neither were affected in anyway but a posistive one from the use of this text). I used an older version which included a rudimentary section on fungi (I'm not sure if this edition does) as the book was written to mirror the original content of course taught...

This book is a great visual help to botany

I bought this book as a additional resource to a basic plant science course that I was taking. It has great pictures, and explanations on the basic proceses in plants. This is not a book that a begining self taught person could learn from easily. This is a textbook, not a home gardener's type book. The only drawback is the binding. All the books that I have seen have been falling apart. I would recommend the spiral bound...