Photobiology

Lars Olof BjörnLund University, Department of Biology, Lund, SwedenSouth China Normal University, School of Life Science, Guangzhou, China.

• The Nature of Light and Its Interaction with Matter.- Principles and Nomenclature for the Quantification of Light.- Generation and Control of Light.- The Measurement of Light.- Light as a Tool for Biologists: Recent Developments.- Terrestrial Daylight.- Underwater Light.- Action Spectroscopy in Biology.- Spectral Tuning in Biology  I: Pigments.- Spectral Tuning in Biology  II: Structural Color.- Photoactive Proteins.- Molecules and Photochemical Reactions in Biological Light Perception and Regulation.- Photoreceptive Proteins and Their Evolution.- Signaling Crosstalk under the Control of Plant Photoreceptors.- The Diversity of Eye Optics.- The Evolution of Photosynthesis and Its Environmental Impact.- Photosynthetic Light Harvesting.- How Light Resets Circadian Clocks.- Photomorphogenesis and Photoperiodism in Plants.- The Light-Dependent Magnetic Compass.- Phototoxicity.- Ozone Depletion and the Effects of Ultraviolet Radiation.- Vitamin D: Photobiological and Ecological Aspects.- The Photobiology of Human Skin.- Light-Promoted Infection.- Bioluminescence.- Role of Ultraviolet Radiation in the Origin of Life.- Hints for Teaching Experiments and Demonstrations.- The Amateur Scientist’s Spectrophotometer.

"This interesting and informative text, edited and largely written by Bjorn (emer., Lund Univ., Sweden), an expert in many aspects of the photobiology of plants ... . The treatment of plants and animals is balanced, and useful comparisons and evolutionary relationships are discussed for photoreceptor molecules and processes. ... Each topic gives sufficient background for non-experts to gain an appreciation of the subject matter. ... Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners." (L. C. Davis, Choice, Vol. 52 (12), August, 2015)