Alice in the Land of Plants : Biology of Plants and Their Importance for Planet Earth

Why is it that plants do not need to move? How does a nonmotile organism have sex or defend itself? Why are some plants virtually immortal? What is the mechanism that allows plants to exploit a practically inexhaustible extraterrestrial energy source? How do plants regulate the composition of our planet’s atmosphere? Why have there not been mass extinctions among plants as there have been among animals? How do plants communicate with one another? In the end, are plants intelligent organisms? These are some of the questions the author discusses to demonstrate that plants are wrongly considered to be simple organisms lacking specific behaviour and intelligence. This book promises to be as pleasant a surprise as Alice’s experience in the white rabbit’s warren, in which she encountered a world very different from ours. The author explains the biology of plants following Einstein's maxim that everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Why is it that plants do not need to move? How does a nonmotile organism have sex or defend itself? Why are plants asymmetric and not of a fixed size? Why are some plants virtually immortal? Why is cloning a routine matter in the plant kingdom? What is the mechanism that allows plants to exploit a practically inexhaustible extraterrestrial energy source? How do plants regulate the composition of our planet's atmosphere, its water cycle, the cycle of matter and energy, and ultimately our climate? Why have there not been mass extinctions among plants as there have been among animals? How do plants perceive the animate and inanimate worlds? How do they communicate with one another? In the end, are plants intelligent organisms? These are some of the questions this book addresses in an attempt to convince readers that contrary to popular - and wrong - belief, plants are not simple organisms lacking specific behaviour and intelligence and thus are unworthy of our interest. In fact, this book promises to be as pleasant a surprise as Alice's experience in the white rabbit's warren, in which she encountered a world very different from ours Annotation Why is it that plants do not need to move? How does a nonmotile organism have sex or defend itself? Why are some plants virtually immortal? What is the mechanism that allows plants to exploit a practically inexhaustible extraterrestrial energy source? How do plants regulate the composition of our planets atmosphere? Why have there not been mass extinctions among plants as there have been among animals? How do plants communicate with one another? In the end, are plants intelligent organisms?These are some of the questions the author discusses to demonstrate that plants are wrongly considered to be simple organisms lacking specific behaviour and intelligence. This book promises to be as pleasant a surprise as Alices experience in the white rabbits warren, in which she encountered a world very different from ours. The author explains the biology of plants following Einstein's maxim that everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Introduction....Pages 1-16 Basic Plant Organisation: How it Differs from that of Animals....Pages 17-44 Why Trees are Almost Immortal and Other Related Issues....Pages 45-111 Short Evolutionary History of Plants....Pages 113-160 Sex in Nonmotile Organisms....Pages 161-207 The World through the Eyes of Plants....Pages 209-241 The Defence of a Stationary Organism....Pages 243-284 Symbioses Galore....Pages 285-310 Deviations from the Basic Biological Type....Pages 311-321 Are Plants Intelligent Organisms After All?....Pages 323-342 Back Matter....Pages 343-372 Introduction Basic plant organization : how it differs from that of animals Why trees are almost immortal and other related issues Short evolutionary history of plants Sex in nonmotile organisms The world through the eyes of plants The defense of a stationary organism Symbioses galore Deviations from the basic biological type Are plants intelligent organisms after all? Epilogue.