Annals of Botany 93: 616-617, 2004
© 2004 Annals of Botany Company
Larcher, W. Physiological plant ecology. 4th edn
Physiological Plant Ecology. 4th edn.
Larcher W. 2003.
Berlin: Springer.
£30.50 (hardback). 513 pp.
At the coffee table, we sometimes philosophize about daunting challenges. Master students have their thesis in mind, PhD students mention their next research paper, staff members talk about the review article they are trying to write. But we fall all silent when we think about the enormous effort it takes to write a textbook. Such a daunting task is a true Sisyphean labour!
Walter Larcher has indeed rolled his intellectual stone to the top again, in the form of a revised and updated fourth edition of his textbook on ecophysiology. This new edition has the same number of pages as its predecessor, but the book has increased in thickness by 50 %, due to a change in paper quality. The book is divided into six sections, of which ‘Carbon Metabolism’ and ‘Plants under Stress’ take up 25 % of the entire text. The sections on ‘Physical Environment of Plants’ and ‘Water Relations’ are somewhat smaller (15 % each) and the least number of pages is devoted to ‘Mineral Nutrition’ and ‘Developmental Aspects’ (10 %). New to this edition are text boxes dealing with a number of more specific topics (such as chlorophyll fluorescence, phloem transport and CO2 enrichment) that are written by guest authors.
In my view, a textbook aimed at a more or less advanced level can cater for the eager student if three criteria are fulfilled. First, it should provide a framework of thought, which is necessarily simplified, but challenges at the same time the reader with topics where ideas are in conflict or knowledge is scarce. Secondly, it should give the student a feel of what normal values are for different processes and parameters, and where these values become peculiarly high or low. Thirdly, with students having less and less time to spend working through voluminous texts, it should be relatively easy to navigate, to locate answers on specific questions and to find leads for suitable further reading.
Concerning the first aspect, this book is impressive in the amount of knowledge that it gathers together. Larcher’s long experience of ecophysiology enables him to broaden and enrich the knowledge of even the most advanced students. I do miss, though, some weighing of evidence in controversial areas where consensus has not yet been reached. For example, I am not that convinced that herbaceous species with a high growth rate also have the highest rate of photosynthesis per unit leaf area, or that species with soft leaves have much lower construction costs than those containing a high concentration of defensive compounds. Intuitively, such statements are very appealing but I think that they lack a firm foundation in the scientific literature.
With regard to the second point, I find the book invaluable. Larcher included meta-analyses in his book almost before they were invented. He includes many tables for a variety of parameters where he gives indications about the range of normal values for different functional groups. This really helps the reader categorize the information. What also may help is that the information is filtered, in the sense that many graphs readily convey their message, while still including real data. Clarity has been aided substantially by having unnecessary information removed from diagrams before they were redrawn. However, further improvements could have been made. Some units still do not accord with SI standards, and usage is not always consistent. For example, photosynthesis is mostly given as µmol CO2 m–2 s–1, but sometimes as µg m–2 s–1 or mg dm–2 h–1. In other cases, old-fashioned units are removed and simply replaced by ‘relative values’, although original values could have been recalculated readily. This is unfortunate, as standardization would have helped students to place observations in a consistent framework. In other respects, also, certain of the graphs and tables could have profited from more attention. For example, the term ‘sciophytes’ is used in a graph and table, but not explained in the text. In another graph, it is mentioned that the ambient CO2 concentration is 335 ppm, a value which was probably correct when the 1st edition appeared but is now a serious underestimate.
The third characteristic of a good textbook is that it is easy to find what one is looking for. On the whole, the chapters are well structured, and there is a subject index to retrieve specific aspects. Occasionally the index fails to include vital terms such as ‘functional equilibrium’ in biomass allocation, or even ‘biomass allocation’ itself, but these are exceptions. More of a problem is that there are no references in the text. This may improve readability for first year students, but at the more advanced level, I feel it as an unfortunate omission since it is often unclear how statements of fact or conclusion are really justified. Moreover, as most topics treated are necessarily short and condensed, extra literature pointing to further reading would have been helpful. A number of references are given in the legend of tables and graphs, but they often only indicate the source of the original data used, not necessarily the best article for further reading.
The book is translated from a German edition, entitled ‘Ökophysiologie der Pflanzen’ and is published by Springer-Verlag. This publisher clearly dominates the niche, as it also publishes another textbook on the ecophysiology of plants, with a very similar title (‘Plant Physiological Ecology’ by Lambers et al., 1998). One can ask if the introduction of these two books, aimed for the same niche, has led to co-evolution or specialization. The answer, I would say, is a bit of both. Each book is aimed at the same group of students. The Lambers et al. book appears more modern in its approach and content; paying relatively more attention to some aspects of cellular physiology and molecular biology. It also contains photographs that help a great deal in visualizing plant structures. On the other hand, the Larcher book is much cheaper (£22), not unimportant for a student book. It has greater depth in the ecological side and is invaluable due to its compilation of values for various functional groups. I am happy to have both on my shelf.
LITERATURE CITED
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Lambers H, Chapin F, Stuart P, Thijs L. 1998. Plant Physiological Ecology. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 540.
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