Hans Lambers is an Emeritus Professor of Plant Biology at the University of Western Australia, in Perth, Australia, and a Distinguished Professor at China Agricultural University, in Beijing, China. He did his undergraduate degree at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, followed by a PhD project on effects of hypoxia on flooding-sensitive and -tolerant Senecio species at the same institution. From 1979 to 1982, he worked as a postdoc at the University of Western Australia, Melbourne University, and the Australian National University in Australia, working on respiration and nitrogen metabolism. After a postdoc at his alma mater, he became Professor of Ecophysiology at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, in 1985, where he focused on plant respiration and the physiological basis of variation in growth rate amongherbaceous plants. In 1998, he moved to the University of Western Australia, where he focused on plant mineral nutrition, especially in legume crops and native species occurring on severely phosphorus-impoverished soils in a global biodiversity hotspot in southwestern Australia and southeastern Brazil. He has been Editor-in-Chief of the journal Plant and Soil since 1992 and featured on the first ISI list of highly cited authors in the field of animal and plant sciences (since 2002), and on several other ISI lists more recently. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003, and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2012. He received Honorary Degrees from three Universities and from the Academy of Sciences in China.

Rafael S. Oliveira is a Professor of Ecology at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. He did his undergraduate degree at the University of Brasília, Brazil, followed by a PhD on water relations of Amazonian and savanna trees at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. He worked as a postdoc from 2005 to 2007 at the National Institute of Space Research and the University of São Paulo in Brazil to improve the representation of key vegetation processes on climate models, followed by a project on the ecohydrology of tropical montane cloud forests. In 2007, he became Professor at UNICAMP. His research focuses on plant hydraulics, vegetation-climate feedbacks, and mineral nutrition of tropical plants. He is an Associate Editor for the journal Functional Ecology and Section Editor for Plant and Soil.

1. ASSUMPTIONS AND APPROACHES

Introduction¿History, Assumptions, and Approaches

1 What is Ecophysiology?

2 The Roots of Ecophysiology

3 Physiological Ecology and the Distribution of Organisms

4 Time Scale of Plant Responses to Environment

5 Conceptual and Experimental Approaches

6 New Directions in Ecophysiology

References

2. PHOTOSYNTHESIS, RESPIRATION, AND LONG-DISTANCE TRANSPORT

1 Introduction

2 General Characteristics of the Photosynthetic Apparatus

2.1 The `Light¿ and `Dark¿ Reactions of Photosynthesis

2.2 Supply and Demand of CO2 in the Photosynthetic Process

3 Response of Photosynthesis to Light

3.1 Characterization of the Light Climate under a Leaf Canopy

3.2 Physiological, Biochemical, and Anatomical Differences between Sun and Shade Leaves

3.3 Effects of Excess Irradiance

3.4 Responses to Variable Irradiance

4 Partitioning of the Products of Photosy­nthesis and Regulation by `Feedback¿

4.1 Partitioning within the Cell

4.2 Regulation of the Rate of Photosynthesis by Feedback

4.3 Sugar-induced Repression of Genes Encoding for Calvin-cycle Enzymes

4.4 Ecological impacts Mediated by Source-Sink Interactions

4.5 Petiole and Stem Photosynthesis

5 Responses to Availability of Water

5.1 Regulation of Stomatal Opening

5.2 The A-Ci Curve as Affected by Water Stress

5.3 Carbon isotope Discrimination in Relation to Water-use Efficiency

5.4 Other sources of Variation in Carbon isotope ratios in C3 Plants

6 Effects of Nutrient Supply on Photosynthesis

6.1 The Photosynthesis-Nitrogen Relationship

6.2 Interactions of Nitrogen, Light and Water

6.3 Photosynthesis, Nitrogen, and Leaf Life Span

7 Photosynthesis and Leaf Temperature: Effects and Adaptations

7.1 Effects of High Temperatures on Photosynthesis

7.2 Effects of Low Temperatures on Photosynthesis

8 Effects of Air Pollutants on Photosynthesis

9 C4 Plants

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Biochemical and Anatomical Aspects

9.3 Intercellular and Intracellular Transport of Metabolites of the C4 Pathway

9.4 Photosynthetic Efficiency and Performance at High and Low Temperatures

9.5 C3¿C4 Intermediates

9.6 Evolution and Distribution of C4 species

9.7 Carbon isotope Composition of C4 Species

9.8 Growth Rates of C4 Species

10 CAM Plants

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Physiological, Biochemical and Anatomical Aspects

10.3 Water-use Efficiency

10.4 Incomplete and facultative CAM Plants

10.5 Distribution and Evolution of CAM Species

10.6 Carbon isotope Composition of CAM Species

11 Specialized Mechanisms Associated with Photosynthetic Carbon Acquisition in aquatic Plants

11.1 Introduction

11.2 The CO2 Supply in Water

11.3 The Use of bicarbonate by aquatic Macrophytes

11.4 The Use of CO2 from the Sediment

11.5 Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) in Water Plants

11.6 Variation in Carbon isotope Composition between Water Plants and between aquatic and Terrestrial Plants

11.7 The Role of aquatic Plants in Carbonate Sedimentation

12 Effects of the Rising CO2 Concentration in the Atmosphere

12.1 Acclimation of Photosynthesis to Elevated CO2 Concentrations

12.2 Effects of Elevated CO2 on Transpiration ¿ Differential Effects on C3, C4 and CAM Plants

13 Summary: What Can We Gain from Basic Principles and Rates of Single-Leaf Photosynthesis?

References

Box 2A.1: Mathematical Description of the CO2 Response and further Modeling of Photosynthesis

Box 2A.2: Fractionation of Stable Carbon isotopes in Plants

Box 2A.4: Chlorophyll fluorescence

Box 2A.5: The Measurement of Gas Exchange

2B. RESPIRATION

1 Introduction

2 General Characteristics of the Respiratory System

2.1 The Respiratory Quotient

2.2 Glycolysis, the Pentose Phosphate Pathway, and the Tricarboxylic (TCA) Cycle

2.3 Mitochondrial Metabolism

2.4 A Summary of the Major Points of Control of Plant Respiration

2.5 ATP Production in isolated Mitochondria and in vivo

2.6 Regulation of the Partitioning of Electrons between the Cytochrome and the Alternative Paths

3 The Ecophysiological Function of the Alternative Path

3.1 Heat Production

3.2 Can we really Measure the Activity of the Alternative Path?

3.3 The Alternative Path as an Energy Overflow

3.4 NADH Oxidation in the Presence of a High Energy Charge

3.5 NADH Oxidation to Oxidize Excess Redox Equivalents from the Chloroplasts

3.6 Continuation of Respiration when the Activity of the Cytochrome Path is Restricted

3.7 A Summary of the Various Ecophysiological Roles of the Alternative Oxidase

4 Environmental Effects on Respiratory Processes

4.1 Flooded, Hypoxic, and anoxic Soils

4.2 Salinity and Water Stress

4.3 Nutrient Supply

4.4 Irradiance

4.5 Temperature

4.6 Low pH and High Aluminum Concentrations

4.7 Partial Pressures of CO2

4.8 Effects of Nematodes and Plant Pathogens

4.9 Leaf Dark Respiration as Affected by Photosynthesis

5 The Role of Respiration in Plant Carbon Balance

5.1 Carbon Balance

5.2 Respiration Associated with Growth, Maintenance, and Ion Uptake

6 Plant Respiration: Why Should it Concern Us from an Ecological Point of View?

References

Box 2B.1 Measuring Oxygen-isotope fractionation in Respiration

2C. LONG¿DISTANCE TRANSPORT OF ASSIMILATES

1 Introduction

2 The Major Transport Compounds in the Phloem: why not Glucose?

3 Phloem Structure and Function

3.1 Symplastic and Apoplastic Transport

3.2 Minor Vein Anatomy

3.3 Phloem-Loading Mechanisms

3.4 Variation in Transport Capacity

4 Evolution and Ecology of Phloem Loading Mechanisms

5 Phloem Unloading

6 The Transport Problems of Climbing Plants

7 Phloem Transport: Where to Move from here?

References

3. PLANT WATER RELATIONS

1 Introduction

1.2 Transpiration as an Inevitable Consequence of Photosynthesis

3 Water Availability in Soil

3.2 Water Movement toward the Roots

3.4 Roots Sense Moisture Gradients and Grow toward Moist Patches

4.1 Osmotic Adjustment

4.3 Osmotic and Elastic Adjustment as Alternative Strategies

5 Water Movement through Plants

5.2 Water in Roots

5.4 Water in Leaves and Water Loss from Leaves

6 Water-use Efficiency

6.2 Leaf Traits That Affect Leaf Temperature and Leaf Water Loss

8 Adaptations to Drought

8.2 Desiccation-Tolerance: Evergreen Shrubs

9 Winter Water Relations and Freezing Tolerance

11 Final Remarks: The Message that Transpires

Box 3.1: The Water Potential of Osmotic Solutes and of the Air

Box 3.2: Positive and Negative Hydrostatic Pressures

Box 3.3: Oxygen and Hydrogen Stable isotopes

Box 3.4: Methods to Measure sap Flow in Intact Plants

4. PLANT ENERGY BUDGETS: ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

4A. THE PLANT¿S ENERGY BALANCE

1 Introduction

2 Energy inputs and outputs

2.1 A Short Overview of a Leaf¿s Energy Balance

2.2 Short-wave Solar Radiation

2.3 Long-wave Terrestrial Radiation

2.4 Convective Heat Transfer

2.5 Evaporative Energy Exchange

2.6 Metabolic Heat Generation

3 Modeling the Effect of Components of the Energy Balance on Leaf Temperature

4. A Global Perspective of Hot and Cool topics

References

4B. EFFECTS OF RADIATION AND TEMPERATURE LEVEL

2 Radiation

2.1 Effects of Excess Irradiance

2.2 Effects of Ultraviolet Radiation

3 Effects of Extreme Temperatures

3.1 How Do Plants Avoid Damage by Free Radicals at Low Temperature?

3.2 Heat-shock Proteins

3.3 Are isoprene and Monoterpene Emissions an Adaptation to High Temperatures?

3.4 Chilling Injury and Chilling Tolerance

3.5 Carbohydrates and Proteins Conferring Frost Tolerance

4 Global Change and Future Crops

References

5. SCALING-UP GAS EXCHANGE AND ENERGY BALANCE FROM THE LEAF TO THE CANOPY LEVEL

1 Introduction

2 Canopy Water Loss

3 Canopy CO2 Fluxes

4 Canopy Water-Use Efficiency

5 Canopy Effects on Microclimate: a Case Study

6 Aiming for a Higher Level

References

6. MINERAL NUTRITION

1 Introduction

2 Acquisition of...