Plant Ecology

Introduction Chapter 1: Stress Physiology 1.1 Environment as stress factor: Stress physiology of plants 1.2 Light 1.3 Temperature 1.4 Oxygen deficiency (Anaerobiosis and hypoxia) 1.5 Water deficiency (drought) 1.6 Salt stress (osmotic stress) 1.7 Heavy metals 1.8 Aluminium 1.9 Xenobiotica 1.10 Biotic stress: Herbivory, infection, allelopathy Chapter 2: Autecology: Whole Plant Ecology 2.1 Thermal balance of plants 2.2 Water relations of plants 2.3 Nutrient relations of plants 2.4 Carbon balance Chapter 3: Ecology of Ecosystems 3.1 The ecosystem concept 3.2 Processes in stands and ecosystems 3.3 The biogeochemical cycles 3.4 Biodiversity and ecosystem processes 3.5 Case studies at the scale of ecosystems Chapter 4: Syndynamics, Synchorology, Synecology 4.1 Historic-genetic development of phytocenoses and their dynamics 4.2 Synchorology: Basis of spatial distribution of plants 4.3 Interaction between vegetation and abiotic and biotic environments - synecology Chapter 5: Global Aspects of Plant Ecology 5.1 Global change and global institutions 5.2 Global material cycles 5.3 Human influence on carbon balance and significance for global climate 5.4 Significance of changes in land use for carbon cycles 5.5 Influence of human activities on biodiversity 5.6 Socio-economic interactions Subject Index

Erwin Beck is Emeritus Professor of Plant Physiology. He got his doctoral degree in Plant Systematics from the University of Munich. From1975 until 2007 he was Full Professor of Plant Physiology at the University of Bayreuth. He has authored more than 200 scientific publications and edited several books. He was President of the German Biologists Association, and of the German Botanical Society, and Treasurer of the International Union of Biological Sciences. Since 2008 he chairs the Commission of Biodiversity Research of the German Research Foundation. He received several awards and is Honorary Professor of the Technical University of Loja (Ecuador).

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