Abstract

Principles of Soil and Plant Water Relations combines biology and physics to show how water moves through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. This text explores the instrumentation and the methods used to measure the status of water in soil and plants. Principles are clearly presented with the aid of diagrams, anatomical figures, and images of instrumentation. The methods on instrumentation can be used by researchers, consultants, and the military to monitor soil degradation, including measurements of soil compaction, repellency, oxygen diffusion rate, and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity.
Intended for graduate students in plant and soil science programs, this book also serves as a useful reference for agronomists, plant ecologists, and agricultural engineers.
* Principles are presented in an easy-to-understand style
* Heavily illustrated with more than 200 figures; diagrams are professionally drawn
* Anatomical figures show root, stem, leaf, and stomata
* Figures of instruments show how they work
* Book is carefully referenced, giving sources for all information
* Struggles and accomplishments of scientists who developed the theories are given in short biographies.
"Unlike most other textbooks Mary Beth devotes many chapters solely to specific instrumentation...I would highly recommend it for students and professionals alike."
- Jan W. Hopmans, University of California, Davis
"...an excellent text for a graduate or advanced undergraduate course, as well, and indeed I expect it to become the standard for this purpose."
-T.M. Yanosky, U.S. Geological Survey, in JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY, VOL. 34, AUG. 2005
"...perfect foundation for university courses on the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum...a powerful reference tool for plant and soil scientists alike."
- Malcom J. Morrison, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, ECORC, in Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment
"The author's great biological, physical and mathematical skills are very well presented...I greatly value this book and I can highly recommend it."
-A. Dzierzynska in ACTA PHYSIOLOGIAE PLANTARUM
"It is an excellent reference book for undergraduates, postgraduates and established scientists alike."
-Glyn Bengough, in EXPERIMENTAL AGRICULTURE
"...the book has a great deal to offer anyone interested in soil and plant water relationships."
- John Robers, in WEATHER
"This book will appeal to both students and practising researchers....There is something for everyone in this book." - Brent Clothier, HortResearch, New Zealand
"This is a book that will become one of my standard references, close to hand on my bookshelves." - Michael Unsworth, Oregon State University, author of Principles of Environmental Physics
"Students and researchers...will greatly benefit, for years to come, from this exceptionally well presented and illustrated book." - M. Hossein Behboudian, Massey University, New Zealand
"A very valuable and innovating discourse." - Wilfried Ehlers, Institut fur Pflanzenbau und Pflanzenzuchtung Universitat Goettingen, Germany
"[This book]...is a compressive review of our current ideology of water movement and storage within plants and soil." -James K. McCarron, Adams State College, Colorado