Aquatic Photosynthesis

Aquatic Photosynthesis is a comprehensive guide to understanding the evolution and ecology of photosynthesis in aquatic environments. This second edition, thoroughly revised to bring it up to date, describes how one of the most fundamental metabolic processes evolved and transformed the surface chemistry of the Earth. The book focuses on recent biochemical and biophysical advances and the molecular biological techniques that have made them possible.

In ten chapters that are self-contained but that build upon information presented earlier, the book starts with a reductionist, biophysical description of the photosynthetic reactions. It then moves through biochemical and molecular biological patterns in aquatic photoautotrophs, physiological and ecological principles, and global biogeochemical cycles. The book considers applications to ecology, and refers to historical developments. It can be used as a primary text in a lecture course, or as a supplemental text in a survey course such as biological oceanography, limnology, or biogeochemistry.

Paul G. Falkowski is Board of Governors Professor in Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology in the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and the Department of Geological Sciences at Rutgers University. He has published numerous articles in "Science, Nature", and "Scientific American". John A. Raven is Boyd Baxter Professor of Biology at the University of Dundee, Scotland. His books include "Energetics and Transport in Aquatic Plants".