Proceedings of the International Symposium on Systems Approaches for Agricultural Development, 2-6 December 1991, Bangkok, Thailand

Growth and development of the rice plant. Climatic environments and its influence. Mineral nutrition of rice. Nutritional disorders. Photosynthesis and respiration. Rice plant characters in relation to yielding ability. Physiological analysis of rice yield.

Rice in Deep Water gives a detailed description of the complex agroecosystem and the growth and development of deepwater rice, a fascinating crop grown by subsistence farmers in the deltas and floodplains of Asia and West Africa flooding to depths of 2-3 metres. An account of the various cultural methods and socioeconomic conditions of the farmers is given, current research efforts to increase productivity discussed and research priorities suggested. The book is designed and profusely illustrated so as to emphasize the complexity and dynamic nature of plant and environment, an aspect so often poorly appreciated and misunderstood.

The first book to chronicle how innovation in laboratory designs for botanical research energized the emergence of physiological plant ecology as a vibrant subdiscipline Laboratory innovation since the mid-twentieth century has powered advances in the study of plant adaptation, evolution, and ecosystem function. The phytotron, an integrated complex of controlled-environment greenhouse and laboratory spaces, was invented by Frits W. Went at the California Institute of Technology in the 1950s, setting off a worldwide laboratory movement, and transforming the plant sciences. Sharon Kingsland explores this revolution through a comparative study of work in the United States, France, Australia, Israel, the USSR, and Hungary--in the latter two, offering new interpretations of the response to Lysenkoism in Communist states. These advances in botanical research energized physiological plant ecology. Case studies explore the development of phytotron spin-offs such as mobile laboratories, rhizotrons, and ecotrons. Scientific problems include the significance of plant emissions of volatile organic compounds, symbiosis between plants and soil fungi, and the discovery of new pathways for photosynthesis as an adaptation to hot, dry climates. The advancement of knowledge through synthesis is a running theme: linking disciplines, combining laboratory and field research, and moving across ecological scales from leaf to ecosystem. The book also charts the history of modern scientific responses to the emerging crisis of food insecurity in the era of global warming.

This collection of essays is the first relatively comprehensive survey of the environmental history of China.