Aquatic Photosynthesis is a comprehensive guide to understanding the evolution and ecology of photosynthesis in aquatic environments. This second edition, thoroughly revised to bring it up to date, describes how one of the most fundamental metabolic processes evolved and transformed the surface chemistry of the Earth. The book focuses on recent biochemical and biophysical advances and the molecular biological techniques that have made them possible.
In ten chapters that are self-contained but that build upon information presented earlier, the book starts with a reductionist, biophysical description of the photosynthetic reactions. It then moves through biochemical and molecular biological patterns in aquatic photoautotrophs, physiological and ecological principles, and global biogeochemical cycles. The book considers applications to ecology, and refers to historical developments. It can be used as a primary text in a lecture course, or as a supplemental text in a survey course such as biological oceanography, limnology, or biogeochemistry.
Paul G. Falkowski is Board of Governors Professor in Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology in the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and the Department of Geological Sciences at Rutgers University. He has published numerous articles in Science, Nature, and Scientific American. John A. Raven is Boyd Baxter Professor of Biology at the University of Dundee, Scotland. His books include Energetics and Transport in Aquatic Plants.
"Despite the ubiquity and critical importance of this topic to the study of aquatic ecology, there are very few books dedicated primarily to aquatic photosynthesis, and none cover the subject matter with comparable elegance or continuity from the molecule to the ecosystem as does this one, authored by two of the leading researchers in the subject.... [I]t is a pleasure to have this important volume back in print after a hiatus of several years. No other text covers the subject as lucidly or completely as this one, and that makes it an extremely valuable pedagogical reference. It will be a welcome addition to any library or personal collection."—Richard C. Zimmerman, Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin
"Indeed a magnificent book that will, perhaps, be welcomed as one of the best and the most useful ones for all biologists and oceanographers. . . . No other text covers the subject as lucidly or completely as this one, and that makes it an extremely valuable pedagogical reference. It will be a welcome addition to any library or personal collection."—Richard C. Zimmerman, Current Engineering Practice
"Aquatic Photosynthesis is an excellent reference text for undergraduate-level courses and is a good text for specialist courses (advanced undergraduate and postgraduate). Everyone who works on aquatic photosynthesis should own this text and most people entering the field at the postgraduate or professional level will purchase it."—Richard J. Geider, University of Essex
"It's a great book. It will be very useful for all biologists and oceanographers."—Govindjee, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
