Book: UV-B Radiation and Plant Life

Book front cover

The new book “UV-B Radiation and Plant Life: Molecular Biology to Ecology” edited by Brian Jordan is about to be published by CABI with contributions by several UV4Plants members. Source: UV-B Radiation and Plant Life: Molecular Biology to Ecology at CABI’s website. The publisher’s blurb: Ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B) has profound effects on plant growth and development, and exposure varies with ozone depletion and across geographic regions, with ecosystem and agricultural consequences. This book deals with large-scale impacts but also how UV-B affects plants at the molecular level is also fascinating, and the UV-B photoreceptor has only recently been characterised. While UV-B radiation can be damaging, it also has a more positive role in plant photomorphogenesis. Consequently UV-B treatments are being developed as innovative approaches to improve horticulture. This book is a timely synthesis of what we know and need to know about UV-B radiation and plants.  Table of contents  Part 1: The UV-B Environment 1: Towards an Understanding of the Implications of Changing Stratospheric Ozone, Climate and UV Radiation 2: Quantification of UV Radiation 3: UV Radiation and Terrestrial Ecosystems: Emerging Perspectives Part 2: UV-B Induced Changes to Plant Physiology, Morphology and Secondary Metabolism 4: UV-B Changes in Secondary Plant Metabolites 5: UV-B…

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Web site news

Our web hosting provider has upgraded the server hardware, and this seems to have notably improved the response time of both of our sites, this web site and the UV4Plants Bulletin web site. Today I did software updates. At this web site, the social sharing buttons are now in a more visible floating bar on the left side of posts and pages. The changes at the Bulletin’s web site are more significant. I upgraded OJS (Open Journals System) to version 3.0.2.0, which seems to have solved the problem of icons not been always displayed. I enabled new features through plugins: 1) Social sharing buttons in individual article pages; 2) preview of PDFs in the web browser with option to download the file; 3) Hypothesis.is shared annotations support is enabled. The third item needs additional explanation. Hypothesis.is is a shared annotaion system based on open standards. Only a few days ago Highwire Press announced that it will adopt it for more than 3000 journals and eBooks. To use this system you will need to create an account at https://hypothes.is/ where you can also find information on aims and also use instructions.  

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New Book: Exploring Ultraviolet Photography

A book has been recently published, which looks very useful for anybody with an interest in UV photography. It is brief, and explanations clear, but thorough about technical details. Lot of good practical advice is provided, and in the final chapter examples of different applications of UV photography are given. I haven’t yet finished reading it, but what I have read I have liked. I proper review will be published in the Bulletin. Prutchi, David (2017) Exploring Ultraviolet Photography: Bee Vision, Forensic Imaging, and Other Near-Ultraviolet Adventures with Your DSLR. Buffalo, N.Y.: Amherst Media, Inc. 127 pages. ISBN13 9781682031247. Price: 31,70 € at Book Depository and 37.95 USD (today at 24.11 USD) at Amazon US. And a booklet from 70 years ago from Kodak, costing originally 0.25 USD. Some interesting examples of the use of UV photography, and UV-excited fluorescence images are shown. Kodak (1947) Kodak Data Book on Infrared and Ultraviolet Photography. 2nd edition. Rochester, N.Y.: Eastman Kodak Co. 40 pages. Available at the Internet Archive.

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Scientists Discover First Fluorescent Frog | The Scientist Magazine®

The polka dot tree frog (Hypsiboas punctatus) glows under a blacklight, due to the presence of three fluorescent molecules in its lymph tissue and skin. Source: Scientists Discover First Fluorescent Frog | The Scientist Magazine® These are not plants, but still I know some UV4Plants members will find this post and the original PNAS article interesting. I am suitably posting this from Buenos Aires.

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