All Flesh Is Grass

by Seckbach, Joseph; Dubinsky, Zvy

• ISBN13: 9789048193158
• ISBN10: 904819315X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-11-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

This new book takes us through a journey from early life to modern agriculture. The thirty eight authors present current studies on the interrelation of plants-animals. This topic has always fascinated man, as evidenced even by the first chapters of Genesis. The world of aqueous and terrestrial fauna appeared on early earth only after the flora covered the areas with the green pigmentation. Almost all life depends upon sunlight via the photosynthesis of the botanical world. We read abut the harnessing of bee pollination of crops to make it an essential component of modern agriculture endeavor. Some plants seduce insects for pollination by their appearance (e.g., disguised orchids entice visitors); there is the production of sweet nectar as a bribe in flowers to attract bees, butterflies, and honey-sucking birds. A particular outstanding phenomena are the carnivorous plants that have developed trapping and digesting systems of insects and higher animals.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
List of Authors and Their Addresses	p. xi
Evolution of Plant Animal Relationship
Evolution of Plant-Animal Interactions	p. 9
Insects Interactions
The Leaf Cutting Ant-Plant Interaction from a Microbial Ecology Perspective	p. 39
Intestinal Spirochetes of Termites	p. 67
The Plant-Aphid Universe	p. 93
Insect-Plant Interactions: The Gall Factor	p. 121
Pollination and Seed Dispersal
Ants as Pollinators of Plants and the Role of Floral Scents	p. 151
Crop Pollination in Modern Agriculture	p. 165
Bee Cognition and Crop Pollination: Proven and Potential Applications	p. 185
Zoochory: The Dispersal of Plants by Animals	p. 201
Animals and Humans Involvement
Grazing Livestock, Our Connection To Grass: A Mediterra nean Insight: Why They Eat What They Eat, and How It Affects Us	p. 219
Herbivore-Plant Interactions and Desertification in Arid Lands	p. 239
Microscopic in Size: Macroscopic in Impact. Diatom-Human Interactions	p. 259
Plant Defenses
Biochemical Plant Defenses Against Herbivores: From Poisons to Species	p. 289
The Xanthium Genus: Cocklebur Toxins Against Hostile Surroundings and Its Pharmacological Properties	p. 313
Marine Environments
The Diversity of Epizoic Diatoms: Relationships Between Diatoms and Marine Invertebrates	p. 327
Epizoic Diatoms on Gastroped Shells: When Substrate Complexity Selects for Microcommunity Complexity	p. 349
Managing the Interactions Between Plants and Animals in Marine Multi-Trophic Aquaculture: Integrated Shrimp and Valuable Low Food Chain Organisms with Seaweeds	p. 367
Marine Microralgae/Cyanobacteria-Invertebrate Symbiosis: Trading Energy for Strategic Material	p. 385
The Role of Rhodolith Beds in the Recruitment of Invertebrate Species: from the South western Gulf of California, Mexico	p. 417
Fueled by Symbiosis, foraminifera Have Evolved to be Giant Complex Protists	p. 429
Carnivorous Plants
Ecophysiological Look at Plant Carnivory: Why Are Plants Carnivorous?	p. 457
Reversing the Roles of Predator and Prey: A Review of Carnivory in the Botanical World	p. 493
Organism Index	p. 519
Subject Index	p. 523
Author Index	p. 531
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