Cognitive Ecology of Pollination

Cognitive Ecology of Pollination
Author: Lars Chittka
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2005-08-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780521018401

Important breakthroughs have recently been made in our understanding of the cognitive and sensory abilities of pollinators, such as how pollinators perceive, memorize, and react to floral signals and rewards; how they work flowers, move among inflorescences, and transport pollen. These new findings have obvious implications for the evolution of floral display and diversity, but most existing publications are scattered across a wide range of journals in very different research traditions. This book brings together outstanding scholars from many different fields of pollination biology, integrating the work of neuroethologists and evolutionary ecologists to present a multidisciplinary approach.

Plant-Animal Communication

Plant-Animal Communication
Author: H. Martin Schaefer
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2011-04-07
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0191620971

Communication is an essential factor underpinning the interactions between species and the structure of their communities. Plant-animal interactions are particularly diverse due to the complex nature of their mutualistic and antagonistic relationships. However the evolution of communication and the underlying mechanisms responsible remain poorly understood. Plant-Animal Communication is a timely summary of the latest research and ideas on the ecological and evolutionary foundations of communication between plants and animals, including discussions of fundamental concepts such as deception, reliability, and camouflage. It introduces how the sensory world of animals shapes the various modes of communication employed, laying out the basics of vision, scent, acoustic, and gustatory communication. Subsequent chapters discuss how plants communicate in these sensory modes to attract animals to facilitate seed dispersal, pollination, and carnivory, and how they communicate to defend themselves against herbivores. Potential avenues for productive theoretical and empirical research are clearly identified, and suggestions for novel empirical approaches to the study of communication in general are outlined.

Pollinators and Pollination

Pollinators and Pollination
Author: Jeff Ollerton
Publisher: Pelagic Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2021-01-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1784272299

A unique and personal insight into the ecology and evolution of pollinators, their relationships with flowers, and their conservation in a rapidly changing world. The pollination of flowers by insects, birds and other animals is a fundamentally important ecological function that supports both the natural world and human society. Without pollinators to facilitate the sexual reproduction of plants, the world would be a biologically poorer place in which to live, there would be an impact on food security, and human health would suffer. Written by one of the world’s leading pollination ecologists, this book provides an introduction to what pollinators are, how their interactions with flowers have evolved, and the fundamental ecology of these relationships. It explores the pollination of wild and agricultural plants in a variety of habitats and contexts, including urban, rural and agricultural environments. The author also provides practical advice on how individuals and organisations can study, and support, pollinators. As well as covering the natural history of pollinators and flowers, the author discusses their cultural importance, and the ways in which pollinator conservation has been portrayed from a political perspective. The book draws on field work experiences in South America, Africa, Australia, the Canary Islands and the UK. For over 30 years the author has spent his career researching how plants and pollinators evolve relationships, how these interactions function ecologically, their importance for society, and how we can conserve them in a rapidly changing world. This book offers a unique and personal insight into the science of pollinators and pollination, aimed at anyone who is interested in understanding these fascinating and crucial ecological interactions.

Biology of Floral Scent

Biology of Floral Scent
Author: Natalia Dudareva
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2006-03-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1000611655

As with nearly all living creatures, humans have always been attracted and intrigued by floral scents. Yet, while we have been manufacturing perfumes for at least 5000 years to serve a myriad of religious, sexual, and medicinal purposes, until very recently, the limitation of our olfactory faculty has greatly hindered our capacity to clearly and ob

Pollination and Floral Ecology

Pollination and Floral Ecology
Author: Pat Willmer
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 790
Release: 2011-07-25
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0691128618

Pollination and Floral Ecology is a very comprehensive reference work to all aspects of pollination biology.

How Plants Communicate with their Biotic Environment

How Plants Communicate with their Biotic Environment
Author: Guillaume Becard
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2017-03-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0128016205

How Plants Communicate with Their Biotic Environment addresses how plants perceive the presence of organisms (other plants, microbes, insects and nematodes) living in their proximity, how they manage to be attractive when these organisms are friendly, and how they defend themselves from foes. Specific chapters delve into ecology and defense mechanisms, allelopathy and the role of allelochemicals in plant defense, plant signaling, and plant communication with microbes and animals, including herbivores. In addition, the book presents discussions on communication and its role in plant pollination. This comprehensive resource presents tactics that can be taken from the lab, to the bench, to the forest. - Gathers, under a common general outline, a comprehensive knowledge issued from distinct scientific communities - Combines three life science disciplines, including ecology, evolutionary biology, and molecular biology - Addresses a topical subject as the natural biological processes described represent basic knowledge that help develop low input sustainable agriculture - Written by renowned scientists in their field

Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry

Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry
Author: J. B. Harborne
Publisher: Gulf Professional Publishing
Total Pages: 340
Release: 1993
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780123246868

Ecological biochemistry concerns the biochemistry of interactions between animals, plants and the environment, and includes such diverse subjects as plant adaptations to soil pollutants and the effects of plant toxins on herbivores. The intriguing dependence of the Monarch butterfly on its host plants is chosen as an example of plant-animal coevolution in action. The ability to isolate trace amounts of a substance from plant tissues has led to a wealth of new research, and the fourth edition of this well-known text has consequently been extensively revised. New sections have been provided on the cost of chemical defence and on the release of predator-attracting volatiles from plants. New information has been included on cyanogenesis, the protective role of tannins in plants and the phenomenon of induced defence in plant leaves following herbivory. Advanced level students and research workers aloke will find much of value in this comprehensive text, written by an acknowledged expert on this fascinating subject. The book covers the biochemistry of interactions between animals, plants and the environment, and includes such diverse subjects as plant adaptations to soil pollutants and the effects of plant toxins on herbivores The intriguing dependence of the Monarch butterfly on its host plants is chosen as an example of plant-animal coevolution in action New sections have been added on the cost of chemical defence and on the release of predators attracting volatiles from plants New information has been included on cyanogenesis, the protective role of tannins in plants and the phenomenon of induced defence in plant leaves following herbivory